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Mitzpe Ramon
Local council in Israel

Mitzpe Ramon

Mitzpe Ramon is a local council in the Negev desert of southern Israel.

Plan a trip to Mitzpe Ramon→From Eilat

It is situated on the northern ridge at an elevation of 860 meters (2,800 feet) overlooking the world's largest erosion cirque, known as the Makhtesh Ramon. In 2024 it had a population of 5,843.

Get in

Getting to Mitzpe Ramon

Highway 40 passes through Mitzpe Ramon on its way from Be'er Sheva (about 1.5 hours away) to Eilat (2 hr). The road goes down from the southern edge of town into the crater itself. The western part of the crater, including Mount Ramon and the Lotz cisterns, can be reached by route 171 that splits off west from highway 40 on HaRukhot junction, about 5 km north of Mitzpe Ramon.

See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Alpaca Farm
  2. 02
    Ilan Ramon Visitor Center
  3. 03
    Bio Ramon

    A museum showcasing the wildlife of the desert and the crater.

  4. 04
    Ramon Crater

    Mitzpe Ramon's biggest sight, Machtesh Ramon is 500 m deep, 40 km long and 10 km at its widest.

  5. 05
    The Albert Promenade

    A trail decorated with impressive environmental sculptures, starting from the Visitor Center and going along the edge of the crater.

  6. 06
    View point from highway 40

    On a small lay-by just where the road passes the town and starts descending into the crater.

Do

Things to do

Treks, bicycle trips and jeep tours of various lengths can be arranged in and around the crater. There are many strange rock formations in odd colors to be seen, as well as desert animals including the nearly tame ibexes who congregate around tourists, looking for handouts. Note that feeding them is prohibited as it threatens the already-endangered species.

  1. 01
    HadaSaar Natural Living

    10 (Spice Routes Quarter), hadasaar@walla.com.

  2. 02
    Mitzpe Ramon Jazz Club

    A performance house with a pretty busy schedule.

  3. 03
    Ga'ash Lookout

    From the JNF grove at Mitzpe departs a dirt road, fit for bikes and 4×4 vehicles, going east along the ridge.

  4. 04
    Ramon Tooth

    A tall conical hill, part of the southern cliff of the crater, just opposite Mitzpe Ramon.

  5. 05
    Mount Ramon

    Standing tall over the westernmost edge of the crater, this peak is highest point remaining from the massive mountain that turned into the Ramon crater.

  6. 06
    Mount Ardon

    Bordering the crater on the east, this place offer a marvelous view of the crater.

How locals move

Getting around Mitzpe Ramon the local way

  • Get inFrom the Arava by Jeep or bicycle, the crater can be reached through the Nekarot stream (red-marked dirt road starting at highway 90 just in front of Ein Yahav) or the Incense Route (black dirt road departing from highway 90 about 2 km south of Tzofar).

From Wikivoyage: Mitzpe Ramon, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Rhododendrites (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.