Wadi David


Ein Gedi Nature Reserve’s most accessible – and popular – pools and waterfalls are situated along Lower Wadi David (Nahal David Tachton), ie the area downstream from David’s Waterfall (Mapal David; one hour return). The entrance pavilion has bathrooms where you can change into your bathing suit, free lockers (ask staff for a key) and free cooled drinking water.

The refreshments counter and adjacent shop sell sandwiches, ice cream, snacks and drinks, including espresso. If you don’t have an empty bottle for water, ask staff for one that’s on the way to being recycled.

To get to Upper Wadi David (Nahal David Elyon), which is significantly less crowded, head up the trail that climbs the south wall of the canyon. A bit past tiny Shulamit’s Spring (Ma’ayan Shulamit) is a T-junction: go right and you’ll head down the slope to the section of Wadi David above David’s Waterfall, including Dodim Cave (Lovers’ Cave); hanging a left takes you to a Chalcolithic Temple (3000 BCE), the pools of Ein Gedi Spring (most of whose mineral water is diverted and bottled by Kibbutz Ein Gedi) and, near the base of Wadi Arugot, an archaeological site known as Tel Goren (7th to 8th century BCE).

Wadi David can get crowded, especially on Jewish holidays and on days when raucous coach loads of schoolkids are around. The first 400m of the trail, to the first waterfall, are fully accessible to wheelchairs.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Ein Gedi Nature Reserve

0.1 MILES

This reserve consists of two roughly parallel canyons, Wadi David and Wadi Arugot, each of which has its own entrance complex and ticket office. It is…

2. Ancient Synagogue

0.46 MILES

Situated about midway between the Wadi David and Wadi Arugot ticket offices, this 5th-century-CE synagogue sports a superb mosaic floor decorated with the…

3. Wadi Arugot

1.04 MILES

Generally less crowded but no less lovely than Wadi David, Wadi Arugot has a couple of streamside trails, rich in vegetation, that afford hikers an…

4. Ein Gedi Botanical Garden

1.28 MILES

These famous botanic gardens, near the entrance to the kibbutz, are home to about a thousand species of indigenous and exotic plants, from near…

5. Masada National Park

10.68 MILES

The plateau atop Masada, which measures about 550m by 270m, is some 60m above sea level – that is, about 490m above the surface of the Dead Sea. The…

6. Mujib Biosphere Reserve

10.7 MILES

This wonderful reserve, which ranges from an altitude of 900m above sea level to 400m below, was originally established by the Royal Society for the…

7. Masada Museum

10.86 MILES

An outstanding and remarkably vivid introduction to Masada’s archaeology and history, this museum combines 500 evocative artefacts unearthed by…

8. Castle of Herod the Great

15.22 MILES

Machaerus is known locally as Qala’at Al Meshneq (Castle of the Gallows), a fitting name given that it is renowned as the place where John the Baptist was…