Driving from Tel Aviv to the North East of Israel (Sea of Galilee for example) takes around two hours more or less regardless of your destination.
For an Israeli, this will be considered as a rather long drive and needs a break on the way. If you want to avoid the regular stop at a gas station convenience store, then consider this alternative.
Prepare a lunch box and take route 70 from Zichron Yaakov to Yokneaam. It is a nice scenic route especially in the spring time. On Elyakim Junction (with Route 672) make a short detour by turning right and then after 3 km another turn right towards Kibbutz Ramot Menashe. Drive slowly for about two kilometers and park by a small green gate. Enter the meadow and approach the bench waiting just for you – time for a calm lunch and some time with nature.
Ramot Menashe Park – general information
Ramot Menashe is located in northern Israel, on the Menashe Heights, for which the kibbutz is named. Founded in 1948, Ramot Menashe is surrounded by an open terrain, most of which are agricultural lands worked by members of the kibbutz.
While its main source of the kibbutz’s income comes from industrial activity and agriculture, tourism is also developed there. One of the Ramot Menashe’s main attractions is the Ramot Menashe Park, which is touted as Israel’s “first biosphere.” The park combines planted forests along with wildly grown oak forests, fields, open spaces, orchards, springs, villages, and several flowing streams.
Ramot Menashe Park is listed by the UNESCO as a “biosphere,” making it as Israel’s first-ever biosphere — an example of sustainable co-existence between nature and man in Israel.
Notable sites in the park’s vicinity include the HaShofet River, Juara, the ruins of Beit Rosh and the Kibbutzim Forest, the Cyclamen Forest, Ein Kfar, and Taninim River, apart from the kibbutz Ramon Menashe.
Amenities in the park include a picnic area, marked paths and accessible trails for hiking and a museum.
Getting to Ramot Menashe Park
There are several ways to reach Ramot Menashe Park:
- Route 672 (mentioned earlier), also known as the Dalia-Galed Highway, about 1.5 kilometers south of kibbutz Dalia.
- Ha-zorea Forests, Route 66 (Yokneam-Megiddo Highway), near kilometer marker 28.
- The Cyclamen Forest recreation area near kibbutz Galed (Even Yitzhak)
- The Bat Shlomo gas station, Route 70, near kilometer marker 21. However, this is passable only by 4×4 vehicles.
Some pictures of Ramot Menashe
