scenic viewpoint
Mount Arbel
A cliff dropping 380m to the Sea of Galilee, with fortified caves cut into its face by Jewish rebels and a lookout taking in the whole lake to the Golan. Israel's only base-jumping mountain.
16 km · about 30 min drive
Northern District, Israel · Asia
Safed is worth a stop: 10 minutes from Rosh Pinna, 17km from Sea of Galilee.
Safed is a town located in Northern District, Israel. With a population of 36,094, it is an important destination in Asia.
On a road trip, Safed sits in Israel, where you drive on the right. It's in the Asia/Jerusalem time zone. Below you'll find where to stay, things to do nearby, and everything you need to add Safed to your route.
Safed ( SAH-fed; Arabic: صَفَد, romanized: Ṣafad), also known as Tzfat and officially as Zefat (Hebrew: צְפַת, romanized: Ṣəp̄aṯ), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to 937 m (3,074 ft), Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. In 2022, 93.2% of the populationRead more
was Jewish and 6.8% was counted as other.
Safed has been identified with Sepph (Σέπφ), a fortified town in the Upper Galilee mentioned in the writings of the Roman Jewish historian Josephus. The Jerusalem Talmud mentions Safed as one of five elevated spots where fires were lit to announce the Rosh Chodesh and holidays during the Second Temple period.
Safed attained local prominence under the Crusaders, who built a large fortress there in 1168. It was conquered by Saladin 20 years later, and demolished by his grandnephew al-Mu'azzam Isa in 1219. After a treaty with the Crusaders in 1240, a larger fortress was erected and expanded and reinforced in 1268 by the Mamluk sultan Baybars, who developed Safed into a major town and the capital of a new province spanning the Galilee.
After a century of general decline, the stability brought by the 1517 Ottoman conquest ushered in nearly a century of growth and prosperity in Safed, during which time Jewish immigrants from across Europe developed the city into a center for wool and textile production and the mystical Kabbalah movement. It became known as one of the Four Holy Cities of Judaism. As the capital of Safed Sanjak, it was the main population center of the Galilee, with large Muslim and Jewish communities. Despite the fortunate governorship of Fakhr al-Din II in the early 17th century, the city underwent a general decline and, by the mid-18th century, was eclipsed by Acre. Druze and Muslim locals raided the Jewish community in 1834 and 1838. Many Jewish residents perished in the 1837 Galilee earthquake; through the philanthropy of Moses Montefiore, its synagogues and homes were rebuilt. Safed's population reached 24,000 toward the end of the 19th century, divided roughly equally between Jews and Muslims, with a small Christian community. Muslim merchants played a key role as middlemen in the grain trade between local farmers and traders in Acre, while the Ottomans promoted the city as a center of Sunni jurisprudence. Safed's conditions improved during this period, with the establishment of a municipal council and several banks.
By 1922, Safed's population had dropped to around 8,700; roughly 60% Muslim, 33% Jewish, and the remainder Christian. Amid rising ethnic tension throughout Mandatory Palestine, Safed's Jews were attacked in an massacre of 19 August 1929 and 22 Jews were killed. The city's population had risen to 13,700 by 1948, overwhelmingly Arab, though the city was proposed to be part of a Jewish state in the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. During the 1948 Palestine war, Arab factions attacked and besieged the Jewish quarter, which held out until Jewish paramilitary forces captured the city after heavy fighting, precipitating British forces to withdraw. Most of the city's predominantly non-Jewish population fled or were expelled as a result of Operation Yiftach and the nearby Ein al-Zeitun massacre, and were not allowed to return after the war, such that today the city has an almost exclusively Jewish population. That year, the city became part of the then-newly established state of Israel.
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Safed offers many attractions including tourist sites, museums, parks, and local restaurants. Explore famous landmarks, scenic roads, and natural wonders on our interactive map and plan your visit.
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Safed is located in Northern District, Israel, Asia. The coordinates are 32.9646 latitude, 35.4960 longitude.
Safed has a population of approximately 36,094 people, making it a town in Israel.
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5 notable places within an hour's drive.
scenic viewpoint
A cliff dropping 380m to the Sea of Galilee, with fortified caves cut into its face by Jewish rebels and a lookout taking in the whole lake to the Golan. Israel's only base-jumping mountain.
16 km · about 30 min drive
natural wonder
The largest freshwater lake in Israel, central to Christian scripture and surrounded by important biblical sites including Capernaum and the Mount of Beatitudes.
17 km · about 20 min drive
natural wonder
Sea-carved tunnels running 200m through white chalk cliffs on the Lebanese border, reached by a cable car advertised as the world's steepest at a 60-degree gradient. The water inside glows electric blue.
39 km · about 45 min drive
ancient ruins
A UNESCO-listed Crusader city with remarkably preserved underground knights' halls, Ottoman bazaars, and fortifications on the Mediterranean coast.
40 km · about 45 min drive
ancient ruins
A UNESCO-listed ancient Phoenician port city with one of the best-preserved Roman hippodromes in the world and extensive archaeological remains.
44 km · about 50 min drive
Other places to explore near Safed.
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