A Mediterranean experience
by Israel Nature and Parks Authority
Akhziv Beach National Park, located about five kilometers north of Nahariya, features a rocky shoreline, inlets and lagoons, and a natural and an artificial sea-water pool - a deep one as well as a shallow one suitable for children. There are also broad lawns and antiquities. In short, everything you need to enjoy hours of Israeli sunshine.
Akhziv is special for the sea anemones, sea urchins and small octopi that can often be seen hiding among the rocks, and in July and August, the sea turtles that lay eggs on the beach.
Small islands, where seagulls nest in summer, are nature reserves in their own right, remnants of once- landlocked calcareous limestone (kurkar) ridges.
Remains can also be seen of the ancient settlement of Akhziv, mentioned in the Bible as a city of the tribe of Asher, and an important Jewish city in Talmudic times.
A mainstay of Akhziv’s ancient economy was the production of purple dye from special snails collected on the beach. In Crusader times Akhziv was called Castel Humbert, ruins of which can still be seen.
In 1271 it was conquered by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars.
Most of the remains you see today are from the abandoned Arab village of Az-Ziv.
How to get there?
On the Nahariya - Rosh Hanikra road (no. 4) about 5 minutes’ drive north of Nahariya.