About the Eastern Galilee (the Galilee panhandle)
The Eastern Galilee is a wonderful area for vacationing, with many popular attractions and great hikes. If staying overnight, it is a convenient location for visiting the Golan Heights and western parts of the Upper and Lower Galilee.
The Galilee is a mountainous area in the north of Israel that extends from the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge in the south to the mountains of Lebanon in the north. It constitutes about a third of the country. The eastern border of the Galilee is bounded by (and in some definitions includes) the Jordan Rift Valley, Lake Kinneret and the Galilee Panhandle. The latter includes the Hula Valley and the Ramot Naftali mountains. Since it is often included as part of the Galilee, I call this entire area north of Lake Kinneret the "Eastern Upper Galilee". I also include in this section Rosh Pina and the ruins of Hazor and places adjoining the northern edge of Lake Kinneret. (Other sites around Lake Kinneret, including the city of Tiberius, the Beit She’an Valley, the eastern part of the Jezreel Valley, the Gilboa Mountain range and the upper Jordan Rift Valley, can be found on this website in the section "Lake Kinneret and Jordan Valley"). The coastal plain, which includes places such as Acre and Nahariya, is not on this website, even though it could be considered part of the Western Galilee, as the coastal plain constitutes a separate vacation area.
The southern part of the Eastern Galilee southeast of Hazor is not in a valley, even though it is in the Jordan Rift Valley. This is because volcanic larva flowed down from the Golan Heights and filled this part of the Rift Valley up to Lake Kinneret. This explains why the countryside around Korazim National Park looks very much like that of the Golan Heights, which also has an upper layer of black volcanic basalt rock. This plug of basalt from the Golan Heights also interfered with the drainage of the Jordan River and led to the creation of the Hulah Lake. This lake was subsequently drained because of mosquito-infestation, but a remnant was left in the Hula Nature Reserve.
Copyright: Dolní_Galilea.svg: Daniel Baránekderivative work: TheCuriousGnome, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
There are several ways for locating individual sites in the Eastern Galilee on this website. Using your computer, you can click on the purple icons in the Home Page under the heading Eastern Upper Galilee or hover on the heading Eastern Upper Galilee at the very top of of the page and a menu will come down. On your smartphone, click on the item under the heading Upper Eastern Galilee or click on the three horizontal lines for the menu of the entire website.
Suggestions for vacationing in the Eastern Galilee
Hursat Tal is a wonderful park with a large lake for swimming and green grassy expanse for picnicking. Agamon Lake is a popular place for viewing birds and ducks and taking a ride on a buggy car. There are a number of places for renting kayaks and taking a leisurely float down the rivers. This includes Kfar Blum Kayaks, which also has a climbing park. Historic Rosh Pina is an enjoyable site to visit with an interesting history, and the adjoining Rosh Pina stream is a beautiful area for a short hike. It has springs in which the kids can play. Tel Dan has everything – beautiful springs, paths, and Biblical history. Ayun Stream is a very nice hike with a number of waterfalls in all seasons. Snir Stream is a great circular hike that includes walking in shallow water. To cool down in the summer, the water walk in the Majrase is a lot of fun. The Scenic Jordan trail is a pleasant and easy walk. For Biblical history, Hazor should be high on your list of places to visit.
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Then you are sure to love my two new books "In and Around Jerusalem for Everyone - The Best Walks, Hikes and Outdoor Pools" and "The Struggle for Utopia - A History of Jewish, Christian and Islamic Messianism". Both books are available on Amazon and in Jerusalem bookstores. Click on each of the titles for information, reviews and purchase information.
Links to the HOME PAGE and best family activities, hikes and historic sites in the GOLAN, EASTERN GALILEE, UPPER GALILEE, LOWER GALILEE, JORDAN VALLEY & LAKE KINNERET, the SHEFELAH, TEL AVIV-YAFFO and surroundings, NORTH of TEL AVIV, and SOUTH of TEL AVIV.
Do you find my website interesting and helpful?
Then you are sure to love my two new books "In and Around Jerusalem for Everyone - The Best Walks, Hikes and Outdoor Pools" and "The Struggle for Utopia - A History of Jewish, Christian and Islamic Messianism". Both books are available on Amazon and in Jerusalem bookstores. Click on each of the titles for information, reviews and purchase information.