Tiberias Hot Springs – Hamei Tiveria

Since we moved to Tiberias we’ve made it a habit to visit the Ancient Tiberias Hot Springs three mornings a week when we can.

It has tremendous health benefits as well as being a wonderfully relaxing experience.

You can see the straight channel leading from the upper covered pool to the middle pool at the center of the photo. Exiting the middle pool is the channel leading out the bottom of the photo to the lower pool not pictured.

The 17 springs at Hamei Tiveria have been known since antiquity and the Talmud explains that the site was located south of Tiberias (although today it is part of the city limits).

Archeologists have concluded that it is on the site of the biblical city of Hammat (Joshua 19:35). The Talmud also describes how the Sages visited the “hot springs” for health reasons. The Midrash relates that the Patriarch Jacob also visited here.

During the Roman occupation, bathing in hot springs was a favorite past-time. Roman baths usually required a complex under-the-floor manual heating system (as you can see in the city of Beit Shean in the Jordan Valley).

The Romans preferred these hot springs at Tiberias and on the opposite side of the lake at Hammat Gader because of the health benefits from the natural minerals in the water.

The water comes out of the ground at a temperature of about 60 degrees Celsius or 140 Fahrenheit! At this temperature you can suffer third-degree burns if you hold your hand under the water for only six seconds.

View of the Kinneret from the Middle Pool

A shallow channel allows the water to cool and leads it to the upper pool, arriving at about 40 degrees Celsius. (104F). That  is pretty hot, but it will not scald you.

A second channel leads the water from the upper pool to the middle pool at 35 Celsius (95 F) – which is often the temperature of the air in the summer here in Tiberias!

A third channel leads the water to the lowest pool at a more comfortable 30 Celsius (86 F).

The whole site is part of the Israel Parks System and is a well-kept garden with picnic tables and stunning views of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) particularly from the upper and middle pools.

Many people claim it helps with joint pain and arthritis.

Others find it helps with their blood pressure.

I find that just relaxing in the warm water, gazing at the azure blue of the Sea of Galilee and enjoying the natural beauty of the Land of Israel is a healing experience for my body and soul.

Also on site are some ancient synagogues with spectacular mosaics.. but that is a story for another post.