THE HEART OF THE WESTERN GALILEE

Norman Trail

The Norman Trail, also known as the Yellow Stone Trail, is named after Norman, an artist who lives on Kfar Vradim. One day, quite a few years ago, he decided to turn the huge forested hill (Ashkar Mountain) south of the village into a kind of tacit playground. He created little trails and small, sometimes almost invisible signs that lead to the realm of imagination and great hints from fairy tails. For example, you can meet at the “house of Snow White” – which is actually a unique rock. The view from Ashkar Mountain, the Galilean atmosphere and the fantastic rocks in the area make the point worthy of coffee.    

The Artists’ Quarter in Akko: Recommended Half-Day Trip to Old Akko

Safta Maha — Druze Experience

Safta (Grandma) Maha Amer and her husband Amir open their home in the beautiful Druze settlement of Hurfeish. Maha grew up in a village in a traditional home and like most girls her age, she graduated in eighth grade and stayed home to help her mother with the housework. Maha says that she always loved the preparation of the dishes and when there were many events in the village, she used to accompany the preparations and learn from the older women who prepared the food for the celebration. Come hear the moving story of Maha Amer, talk to her about the status of the Druze woman today and in the past, and of course savor breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Come and enjoy the fresh air, the view from the terrace, and of course the variety of authentic delicacies from the Druze cuisine By prior arrangement, you will be served dishes such as shulbato, beef or chicken stew, grape leaves, stuffed cabbage, maqluba, mugrabi (a stew of chickpeas with meat, pumpkin, and burgul), or Druze-style breakfasts. You can also experience cooking workshops or combine all this goodness with a tour of the ancient village to be led by Amir, Maha’s husband, a certified tour guide. Suitable for families and groups of 6 people or more.

Yechi’am Stream

In a dense, mostly shaded, Galilee grove there is a beautiful and pleasant trail along the Yechi’am Stream. The trail starts from the Yechi’am Fortress with a glorious past.

Wine Tasting at the Stern Winery

The Stern Winery Visitors’ Center is located on Kibbutz Tuval on a mountain peak overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. At the entrance to the kibbutz, at the top of a dirt track, you will find an industrial structure that houses the winery, our wonderful wines, and a  unique space furnished with the creations of our master winemaker, Johnny Stern. As part of the tour of the winery, you can enjoy watching the wine-making process in the fermentation tank, a tour of the barrel room, wine tasting, and stories about the winery. You are invited to join the Friends of the Winery Club as well! The wine-tasting takes place in an authentic, cozy atmosphere around heavy wooden tables built by Johnny.

Romantic Experience of Fine Dining & Wine

Farod River and Falls

Right at the foot of Mount Meron, awaits you a magical sight, the Parod Waterfalls. Parod Falls flow for a short period only in winter and spring after the winter rains, but when they flow, visiting them is one of the most spectacular experiences for travelers in the Galilee.

Wine Tasting & Dinner at the Stern Winery

The Stern Winery Visitors’ Center is located on Kibbutz Tuval on a mountain peak overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. At the entrance to the kibbutz, at the top of a dirt track, you will find an industrial structure that houses the winery, our wonderful wines, and a unique space furnished with the creations of our master winemaker, Johnny Stern. Johnny loves the kitchen and he enjoys hosting delicious meals – where he cooks and pairs a glass of wine with each dish. The tasting and the dinner are around a heavy wooden table built by Johnny.

Visit, watch and taste at Kashash Sweets

  Kashash Candy, that goes back four generations, invites you to come in and share their secrets. Come and see how authentic knafeh and baklava are prepared. You are invited to get to know Muhammad Kashash, hear the family stories, let them take you behind the scenes and watch them prepare their delicious knafeh and baklava, and of course sample them. If you’d like, you can ask them to prepare a pistachio or chocolate knafeh just for you, because for them, just about anything is possible. Muhammad says what matters most to him is the satisfied smile of his customers, and that kind of love is discernible in every bite.

A Tour of Old Akko – Between Houses & Local Encounters with Tour Guide Ayelet Bar-Meir

Ayelet Bar-Meir is a tour guide, loves encounters, stories, and nature that creates unique trips to man, culture, and nature in the Galilee. Among her flagship tours is the Old Akko Tour, which includes visits to homes and riveting encounters: a walk through the alleys of Old Akko: alleys, stories of homes, the church, sea, and port. The tour includes a visit within the old and new arabesque including a view from the roof and hospitality at the Effendis house with painted ceilings including tasting local cuisine. “The Galilee is an area with a unique charm – a meeting of landscapes and people from east and west, where there is both strength and serenity, mountain peaks, green groves, springs, rare flowers, and abundant animals intertwined with the human story in a unique cultural fabric. The Galilee is an area that has been populated by different religions, diverse forms of settlement, many opposing views, and neighborly relations.”

Chef Meals on Demand with Hagit Lidror

A personal meal cooked especially for you! Enjoy a private vegetarian or vegan meal. It can be brunch, lunch, or dinner. A rich, seasonal, ever-changing menu with: salads, soups, pies, dips, various dishes, and desserts. A meal can host 8-50 people at your house, your vacation house, or in Klil.  

Wine Tours of the Galilee

Jonatan Koren is a true man of the earth, a highly experienced and widely respected vigneron and winemaker. A graduate of Ohalo College in Northern Israel, Jonatan constantly expands his professional training, having completed numerous courses both in Israel and at leading vineyards and viticultural centers around the world. With expertise that encompasses the entire process of growing and producing wine, Jonatan’s particular passion is producing high-quality organic wines, and his original creations have met with international award-winning success. In 2018 he established the unique ‘Twin Wineries’ project, a partnership, and collaboration between Israeli and Portuguese wineries designed to promote the wine and culinary cultures of the two countries. “I love what I do — I make wine. For me, wine embodies the balanced combination of philosophy, sociology, geography, agronomy, physics, chemistry, and the spirit. The ability to put all this to work, and at the end of a fascinating process to put it all into a bottle, that’s magic. I like simple things, hard work, and quality materials. I believe that in order for something to be good, it needs to be precise.” Jonatan will take you on a private visit to some of his favorite wineries in the Galilee of Israel where you can taste the best of the award-winning boutique wineries. Meet the fascinating winemakers who have made the Galilee such a vibrant center for wine culture. Tour the vineyards — and of course, taste great wine and eat great food along the way!

A Trip to Akko – Homes and Stories in Akko with Naaman Mazor

Naaman is a tour guide and a 20-year veteran in the field. His childhood in Jerusalem, his youth in Haifa and his residence in the Golan and the Galilee have shaped his love for the landscapes of the Land of Israel and its history. Naaman served as a tour guide and as a tour coordinator at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and at “Egged Tours and Leisure”. In addition, he is a Taglit and tourist guide, and was a partner in the establishment of “Psagot Tours”, which deals with trips to all sectors with a different flavor. Naaman fell in love with the city of Acre, with its authenticity and the combination of old and new, and he lives there with his family. He specializes in a variety of trips to clientele from Israel and abroad. Among Naaman’s leading tours, is: A Trip to Homes and Stories in Old Acre. A tour into the depths of the Acre alleyways, including a visit to the unique buildings and houses of the city’s people; coffee, tea and local delicacies. The trip will be immersed in fascinating stories from the present and the past of the city … Among the houses we will visit during our tours – Miriam House, Ghattas House, The Effendi’s House. Additional tours offered to the public: an additional range of trips in Acre, trips in the Galilee and the Golan, trips for family events, team building days and fun for groups. You can also book themed tours such as: cultural and floral mosaics in the north, artists and arts in the Galilee, trips to hidden sites, acquaintance with Galilee prominent figures and tours that emphasize the rich nature of the Galilee. On his walks, Naaman also combines puzzles and amusing stories with a thorough introduction to the country’s landscapes

Tour of the Malka Brewery at Tefen

“This is where we spend our weekdays. The heart of our enterprise. This is where it all happens.” In the course of the tour, you will get to see the brewery from the inside, inhale the scent of brewing beer, taste our quality raw products and sample the full range of the brewery’s fine beers. The tour of the brewery gives visitors an inside look into the secret of Malka Beer’s success. We receive guests at the Visitors’ Centre/Beer Salon right above the brewery, where they have a clear view of the work in progress down below. We invite you to become a part of the revolution in the beer-drinking culture underway in Israel. *Tours by prior arrangement only.

A visit to the ecological settlement Clil

Action Race in Akko with Omri Avidar

Omri Avidar is a certified tour guide and leads adventure tours. He resides in Kfar Vradim and has loved traveling the Israeli trails since childhood. He is the fourth generation in Israel and the son of a founding family, one of the founders of Petah Tikva and a pioneer of the Labor Battalion, and a son of Palmach parents from whom he derived his love for the land and the country. In 2013, after years in a senior position in high-tech, he decided to make his passion a reality and has since enjoyed sharing with the travelers the beauty of the Galilee, its sites, and its people. Omri is a graduate of the “Tour Guide and Adventure” course at the University of Haifa. A man of the land, he tends to combine nature and the terrain in his trips, often with his jeep. In addition, he runs tours throughout the country and experiential team building days, “Action Race” in Akko, a competitive race-style game similar to The Amazing Race designed for families and organizations adapted to the alleyways of Old Akko and its people. It is about 3 hours long and includes an ice breaker, an explanation of Acre with the help of costumes and volunteers from the crowd, starting the game and its tasks and sharing experiences, and awarding the winning team at the end! The tasks are varied and challenging. There is an option to add meals, a cruise, a tour of the outdoor market, and… Omri guides in Hebrew and English.

Wine Tasting at the Kishor Winery

The Kishor Winery’s Visitors’ Center is located in the heart of the village of Kishorit, in a charming building overlooking our vineyard and the Galilean woods surrounding it. You are invited to visit, watch a short movie that tells the story of the village and the winery, taste our wines and hear from our expert winemakers about how it’s done. Whenever it can be arranged you can also tour the vineyards and experience at first hand the growth of the vines according to the seasons.

Between the Wineries & Nature Spots of the Western Galilee

Tzuf – Health, Honey and Bees

After returning to the Galilee with his family, Tuvia Orr placed two Beehives on his land in the Ecological village Clil and began to produce organic honey. After giving friends and neighbors a taste of the honey, the connection was immediate and the beehive began to grow. Slowly the business grew and together with carefully picked beekeepers – Tzuf was established. At Tzuf they believe in doing good – Doing good to man through food Doing good to the bees while treating them with respect Doing food to mother nature and the environment The bees are a miraculous wonder and their relationship with mankind is crucial. The bees are responsible for more than 70% of the pollination of our food. Without the bees, our diet would have been extremely dull. Their social life and cultural behavior are fascinating and that is even before we talked about honey and its amazing nutritional values. Alongside the honey, Tzuf produces healthy, sweet spreads that are an excellent replacement for the over-sweetened spreads on the market today, believing our sweet food must be healthy as well. Today Tzuf Markets honey all over the country. Tuvia’s love for bees continues to fascinate him and he enjoys telling the story of the “queen of the sun”.

Asal Alnor Visitors Center

Out of this love, Ghassan Saleh opened the Asal Alnor Visitor Center in Old Peki’in. The Asal Alnor Visitor Center is a center that deals with the study of the bee kingdom and where you can learn about the life of bees, their uniqueness, and their benefit to nature, the environment, and humans. The center offers a variety of enriching and experiential activities suitable for groups, families, and individuals of all ages. The place also includes a store for honey and its products where you can find a wide variety of products produced on-site – pistachio and nut spreads based on honey, honey with nuts, chocolate filled with honey, and more. Ghassan Salah has extensive knowledge in the field and is happy to share his knowledge so he started a home beekeeping course at the Asal Alnor Center.