There’s a trail in Israel that most people have never heard of. Which is strange, honestly, because it’s over 1,100 kilometers long and passes through some of the most quietly stunning landscape on the planet. It’s called the Israel National Trail – locals just say the Shvil – and it runs from the northern tip of the country all the way down to Eilat on the Red Sea. Through forests. Riverbeds. Desert. Ruins older than most of the concepts currently running Western civilization.
Sounds romantic. And it is. The planning, though – that’s a different story entirely.
The Trail That Is Still A Secret
The Shvil is now one of the best long-distance trails in the world, along with the Appalachian Trail and the Camino de Santiago. Still, every year, less than 3,000 people walk the whole trail. To compare, over 300,000 people walk the Camino yearly. The Shvil is still pretty much a secret.
Most people take 45 to 60 days to do a thru-hike. You can’t fit that trip in between two weekends. That changes everything about life.
North or South – and Why It Actually Matters
The direction debate never really ends. Walk northbound and you finish at the Mediterranean, which is genuinely poetic as endings go. Walk southbound and you reach Eilat – the Red Sea, turquoise water, and desert heat that feels almost personal.
Most experienced hikers recommend going south-to-north between October and March, specifically to avoid walking the Negev in summer. Attempting the Negev in July isn’t really hiking. It’s more of a slow argument with the sun – one you will lose.
A lot of international hikers these days finish in Eilat and keep the journey going, hopping into Jordan to see Petra, then flying to Dubai as a final stop before the long flight home. After weeks of carrying a backpack through rock and dust, many choose to rent luxury cars Dubai for that last leg. Which makes complete sense. After a month in hiking boots, air conditioning and leather seats register somewhere between luxury and medical necessity.
The Stuff the Guides Leave Out
This is where it gets genuinely useful. And a little uncomfortable.
Water Is Not a Detail
Israel receives around 60 days of rainfall each year, with the majority of it falling between November and March. So water supplies along the path vary from unreliable to entirely dry. In the southern desert, there are lengths of 20 to 30 kilometers without anything. No spring, no tap, nothing.
There’s an informal network of trail angels – Israeli families and volunteers who leave water caches, cook meals for strangers, occasionally offer a couch. It’s real, it’s generous, it’s one of the more quietly moving things about hiking the Shvil. It’s also not a backup plan. It’s a bonus. Carry more water than the guidebook suggests. Then add more. The desert is not impressed by optimism.
Military Zones, Ancient Pottery, and Other Surprises
Parts of the trail pass through active IDF training areas. Some sections need advance coordination. Others close without much English-language notice. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority website is where to check. Check before each segment.
Also, and this gets overlooked more than it should: the trail crosses dozens of archaeological sites. Some go back 5,000 years or more. Picking up even a pottery shard is a criminal offense under Israeli law. Every year someone learns this the hard way. Worth knowing before, not after.
Gear That Actually Earns Its Weight
Packing for the Shvil is genuinely tricky because the terrain shifts so dramatically sometimes within the same week. Feet tend to have strong opinions about this transition. What experienced hikers consistently bring:
- A sleeping bag rated to at least 5°C (desert nights are aggressively cold in a way that first-timers don’t expect), a reliable water filter, trekking poles for the rocky north, and a detailed offline map;
- Blister prevention in multiple forms, because one strategy won’t survive all the terrain types this trail throws at you.
What Nobody Expects to Remember Most
Ask someone who’s finished the Shvil what stayed with them. The landscape comes up, sure – the Galilee forests, the Ramon Crater, the coastal cliffs. But then, almost always, they talk about people.
Trail angels who leave cold watermelon outside their gates. Bedouin families who wave hikers over for tea. Kibbutz residents who stop their cars to hand out fruit to dusty strangers. None of this is organized. It just happens.
Walking 1,100 kilometers through a place forces a kind of attention that no itinerary can manufacture. The Shvil doesn’t explain Israel. It does something more honest: it simply shows it, unfiltered, one dusty kilometer at a time.
Bring good shoes. Start early. And for the love of everything, sort out the water before you need it.