This years league table of Israel's most popular tourist sites has just been released. The table has seen some changes since last year with ancient sites moving up and modern ones moving down:

1. Masada, the ancient fortress in the Negev desert overlooking the Dead Sea is now Israel's most popular tourist site. Click here for more...
2. The stunning ancient harbor of Caesarea is now Israel's second most popular tourist site. Visitor numbers here are even higher than this suggests as the large concerts held here throughout the summer attract even more visitors who dont enter the national park officially. Click here for more...
3. Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo, previously Israel's most popular tourist site, is now third. This isnt such a big attraction for overseas visitors and has probably fallen as more overseas tourists have come. It does, however, have a good selection of animals and is great for kids.
4. The Ramat Gan Safari is another site far more popular with Israelis than foreign visitors.
5. Hamat Gader's hot springs attracted 500,000 visitors last year. The springs, located seven kilometers east of the Sea of Galilee have proven very popular and are possibly the biggest surprise on the list
6. Eilat's Underwater Observatory
7. The stunning Banias waterfall
8. Yamit 2000 water park
9. Tel Aviv Luna Park
10. The Qumran National Park

One thing this list doesnt include is sites for which you dont have to pay to enter. The Western Wall, Old City of Jerusalem and White City of Tel Aviv, would almost certainly feature high on this list if this was included, although their dual function as a city and place of worship mean that entries arent counted.

There is a great selection amongst this list for all tastes, but this barely scratches the surface of the huge variety of sites there are to visit in Israel...

Posted by www.touristisrael.com at 03:15 Comments