Mitzpe Ramon

Mar 11

tl;dr

Great for: hiking, driving around a "crater"
Ideal duration: 2-3 nights
When to visit: Winter

If you've been to Israel before and have done most of the greatest hits, Mitzpe Ramon is a fantastic stop for a couple of days. As we learned later in the trip, "mitzpe" means lookout point, and Mitzpe Ramon is aptly named; the town sits at the edge of Makhtesh Ramon, the largest erosion cirque in the world. While craters are formed by a volcanic eruption or an asteroid crash, a makhtesh is formed when a sea dries up. There are only 7 in the world, and 5 are in Israel; the others are in the Sinai Desert in Egypt and Jordan.

What to do in Mitzpe Ramon

Hike the Makhtesh
Drive around the Makhtesh
Visit the visitor's center
Eat surprisingly great vegetarian and vegan food

Hike the Makhtesh

The best reason to visit the quaint town of Mitzpe Ramon is to hike in the Makhtesh. We recommend doing this in the winter, because it gets up to 92F in the summer. However, you can still hike the Makhtesh in the early morning in the summer.

To find a hike that matches your hiking ability and desired length, stop by the Visitor's Center. The staff speak excellent English, and you can pick up a map of the crater's roads and trails. The Visitor's Center also has a supposedly awesome exhibit on the geology of the crater, as well as one about an astronaut from Mitzpe Ramon who died on the Columbia. We wanted to see the exhibits, but they were mobbed by school children when we tried to go, so we gave up.

Mt. Ardon

tl;dr

Fit hikers only! Does this make me a fit hiker?! #lifedream

Best for: Fit hikers only
Trail stats: 4.5 miles; ~1300ft; 4-6 hours
Top tip: Hike UP the vertical cliff face and down the gentler side. Your knees will thank you.
Safety tip: Flash floods are common in the Makhtesh. It is not safe to hike during these floods. Ask at (or call) the Visitor's Center to confirm that it's safe to hike.
Getting there: Drive about an hour from Mitzpe Ramon via crappy gravel roads that are nevertheless okay for your regular rental car (and rental car agreement!).

We had one day to hike in the Makhtesh and wanted to make it count -- Mt. Ardon was the perfect choice! The peak of Mt. Ardon sits between two halves of a loop trail that can be hiked in either order. One side consists of a flat path through the floor of the Makhtesh, crossing (usually) dry stream beds that meets the base of Mt. Ardon, and ascends all but vertically from there. After the ascent, there is a narrow path at the edge of the cliff, followed by a short stretch of easy hiking to the peak -- a flat piece of land with a small flat rock on top of it. The other side is gentler; there are some patches of steep hiking, but none as steep as the vertical face on the other side of Mt. Ardon. Both halves have an end in the parking lot and an end at the peak.

We recommend starting with the floor of the Makhtesh for two reasons:

We prefer rough ascents to rough descents. If you have even an inkling of a knee issue, you should too.
The most dangerous part of the hike to be on in the event of a flash flood is at the floor of the crater. You can finish this part straight off the bat in 1 hour by starting with it.

This is the first hike we've done where we did not encounter another living soul the entire time we were on the trail. We could see our car in the parking lot from multiple places along the hike, and it was all by itself the whole time. If you are not comfortable hiking alone, this trail may not be for you. However, we did have decent cell reception at several points along the way. Our parents got a selfie from the peak!

What to bring

Trekking poles: Ian has been hiking with poles ever since his knee injury. Ariel still doesn't use them on minor hikes, but both of us were REALLY glad to have them on this hike. It's tough. Do your knees a favor: bring poles. If you forget them like we did, you can buy new ones at the Visitor's Center.
Water: In the winter, 0.5 liters per person per hour is sufficient. In the summer, you need 1 liter per person per hour. We love these Camelbak 3L reservoirs!
Hiking boots: If there's a hike that's an ankle sprain waiting to happen, it's this one. Wear your best ankle-locking hiking boots. Ariel in particular loves her Lowas.
The usual: Lunch, snacks, sunglasses, baseball cap, Darn Tough socks (!!), day-hike sized backpack. We wore light weight long sleeved wool shirts and leggings, at times paired with an outer layer, and that was perfect.

We finished this hike, including lunch, in around 4.5 hours. We are not speedy hikers, but we are pretty experienced at this point.

Drive around the Makhtesh

After we finished our hike, we still had more than an hour of daylight left, so we drove a short ways to Ein Saharonim, a small spring inside the crater. There is an ancient Nabatean fort, and then the very short trail continues into the spring. From the fort, you can't see anything particularly exciting, but the spring was unexpectedly breathtaking -- truly an oasis in the desert. Beautiful reeds, a soft trickling stream, songbirds flitting around from tree to tree. If you have the time, Ein Saharonim is worth a 30 min stop!

Visitors' Center

Stop by for hiking advice, hiking poles, and a map of the crater. We're told the exhibits here (22NIS/person) are excellent, but we'll have to come back to see for ourselves.

Right near the visitor's center, there's also a tiny "zoo" called Bio Ramon for small, injured animals that are native to the Makhtesh. Bio Ramon either releases animals back into the desert when they are healed, or houses them for life if they can't be re-introduced. There's also a great video on the desert wildlife, which you are vanishingly unlikely to see when you are hiking, as most of the animals are active at night. And it's illegal to be in the Makhtesh at night without a special permit.

Eat Surprisingly Awesome Veggie and Vegan Food

Ian and I may never have this problem again, but due to jet lag, we sprang out of bed at 5:30am, and nothing was open at 6:45 when we wanted breakfast! Fortunately, Mauna opened at 7. A tiny outdoor cafe that advertises only as a healthy option, Mauna is actually 100% vegan, with creative and delicious sandwiches and smoothies, and a phenomenal chai drink somewhere between an American chai latte and a traditional Indian chai. We loved the food so much that we wound up ordering sandwiches to go, and ate them during our hike!

The next morning, we ate at Cafe Spice Quarter, a big spot with high ceilings in a hostel that feels very homey with its decor and home cooking. It's also completely vegetarian without advertising itself as such. We enjoyed the Israeli breakfast of dips, homemade bread, an omelet each, and an Israeli salad.

We also enjoyed dinner at Hahavit, which serves great pub style food with Mediterranean flare. We head the burgers are great, but can personally vouch for the shakshuka, schnitzel, and chocolate soufflé.

If we had more time in Mitzpe Ramon...

We'd check out the art galleries! We didn't spend much time in the town itself during the day, as we were mostly hiking. There are also a few more restaurants we'd like to try: