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A figure standing on the clifftop at Masada at sunrise

Masada · Where to stay

Where to stay near Masada

There is one hostel and one campground on the mountain; everywhere else is a drive, and the parks authority puts the eastern gate about 12 km from Ein Bokek and about 18 km from Ein Gedi.

Lorenzo Maimone / Unsplash

Road distance, Arad to Masada

22 km

Arad is the closest town to the mountain and holds the only road access to the western, Roman ramp entrance

Rooms at the Ein Gedi Hotel

166

Spread through the kibbutz botanical garden, as the Tamar Regional Council lists them

A night in your own tent

₪64

Adult rate at the parks authority's Masada West campground, with ₪47 for a child aged 5 to 18

Standard VAT

18%

Israel's rate for 2025, and not charged to foreign tourists on hotel accommodation

Almost nobody sleeps at Masada. The mountain is a national park with a closing time, the only building at its foot on the Dead Sea side is a hostel, and the only other bed on the site is a tent at the parks authority's campground on the Arad side. Everyone else drives in, which makes this guide less a matter of choosing a hotel in Masada than of choosing a direction: the Ein Bokek hotel strip to the south, the kibbutz at Ein Gedi to the north, or the desert town of Arad on the plateau to the west.

Direction matters more here than it would anywhere else, because the mountain runs on a heat clock rather than an opening time. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority closes the Snake Path to climbers as the day warms, as early as 07:00 in extreme summer heat, and opens it for ascent about an hour before sunrise. A bed twenty minutes away is worth more than a better bed ninety minutes away, and that single fact reorders the usual hotel ranking.

What follows is the whole field, best first for a visit built around the climb rather than around the float. Nightly rates are left out on purpose: they move week to week at the Dead Sea and again between a Tuesday and a Friday, so a figure printed here would be wrong within days. Location, character and the trade each place asks are stable, and those are what this page carries.

8 places to stay

The places to stay worth the trip in Masada

Our pick and why, then everything the listing knows, with the date it was pulled.

  1. 01

    HI Masada Hostel

    The only roofed bed at the foot of the mountain

    This is the single building you can sleep in at the eastern foot of Masada, and its whole value is the walk. The Tamar Regional Council's entry puts it right beside the national park, five minutes on foot from the cable car, with rooms carrying a television, a fridge, a coffee corner, air conditioning and a small balcony looking at either the sea or the Ha'Etekim cliffs, plus a wide terrace, a circular pool open from April to October, a basketball court and accessible facilities. It is run by the Israel Youth Hostels Association, which in Israel means a private room with its own shower rather than a bunk in a dormitory, and a building that fills with school groups in season. The trade is plainness and noise against being able to leave for the Snake Path gate in the dark without starting a car. Ein Bokek is a five-minute drive south and the Ein Gedi reserve about twenty minutes north, so it also works as a base for the shore.

    Rooms here go early for sunrise season and for the Tuesday and Thursday sound and light show nights.

    “great location good prices very clean best view ever”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.21,723 ratings

    82% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    מצדה
    Kitchen
    Hostel, Guest house, Lodging
    Map, hours and reviews

  2. 02

    Masada West Campsite

    Waking up at the Roman ramp and climbing before the heat

    This is the parks authority's own night camping ground on the Arad side, minutes from the ramp path, and it is the one place at Masada that puts a traveller above the western gate before first light. The published kit is substantial: hot showers in six women's and six men's cubicles, seven toilet cubicles for each, two accessible toilets, three field kitchens with gas rings and ten washing-up sinks, ten fridges and two freezers, five fire pits, four shade canopies, fifty picnic tables and fifty phone charging points, with mattresses, sleeping bags, hotplates and potjie pots for hire against a signed undertaking and an identity document. You can pitch your own tent, hire a family tent with mattresses in it, or take a bed in the large fixed marquee; the authority also lists larger staff rooms priced by the night. Entry runs from 15:00 to 22:00 on the summer clock and 15:00 to 21:00 in winter, tents and units must be cleared by 11:00, dogs are not allowed, and access is only from Arad on road 3199 and never from Route 90. The parking, one built overnight unit, the group tent, the toilets, showers and field kitchen are listed as accessible, and the site is described as adapted for Shabbat observers.

    Booked through the parks authority's reservation system; groups above thirty and above eighty use separate request forms.

    “It was well organized, great staff and facilities.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.62,484 ratings

    91% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    מצדה
    Kitchen
    Tourist attraction, Hiking area, Parking lot

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Sat00:00-24:00
    Map, hours and reviews

  3. 03

    Ein Gedi Hotel

    Anyone doing the canyons as well as the rock

    The Ein Gedi Hotel is a kibbutz hotel rather than a resort, and the building is the least interesting thing about it. The Tamar Regional Council lists 166 rooms spread through the kibbutz's botanical garden with wide space between the blocks and a private balcony on each, alongside the Synergy Spa on the north-eastern hillside, which faces the Dead Sea on one side and the nature reserve on the other and holds indoor hot mineral pools, outdoor freshwater pools, a Turkish bath, a sauna and twelve treatment rooms. Board is bed and breakfast or half board, buffet style in the restaurant or on a terrace looking at the reserve, and the hotel runs a free cultural programme of guided walks through the garden and the reserve, drumming workshops under the baobab and a monthly moonlit night walk in the Masada marls. It sits well above the shore, so the sea is a drive rather than a step, and the parks authority puts the Masada gate about 18 km south. This is the base for a trip that wants Nahal David and Nahal Arugot as much as the fortress.

    Half board is worth taking here: the kibbutz is not a place you can walk out of to find dinner.

    “Excellent hotel, food is great, spa is nice and pool is huge.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.22,832 ratings

    81% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Ein Gedi
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  4. 04

    Isrotel Nevo Dead Sea Hotel

    The Ein Bokek strip done properly, with a real dinner after the climb

    Nevo stands on the Ein Bokek beachfront, roughly 12 km from the Masada gate by the parks authority's reckoning, which is close enough that a pre-dawn start and a mid-morning return is an ordinary morning rather than an expedition. Isrotel publishes a balcony on every room with most looking at the sea, complimentary beach service, the Esprit Dead Sea Spa with treatments using the sea's mud, and four places to eat including a steakhouse called the Ranch House and a Mediterranean grill by the pool. It also publishes a synagogue, a Shabbat lift and Shabbat clocks, which tells you exactly how the hotel runs from Friday afternoon. The trade at Ein Bokek in general is that you gain a promenade, a maintained free beach and a spa, and you give up any sense of being anywhere but a resort.

    “Great location near the sea, great food and very nice rooms”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.46,709 ratings

    85% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Ein Bokek
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  5. 05

    Herbert Samuel Milos Dead Sea

    Couples for whom Masada is an outing rather than the reason

    Milos publishes 162 rooms and suites in a Greek-styled resort on the Ein Bokek front, with a large pool overlooking a private beach a few steps from the entrance and some suites carrying their own infinity pool and adjoining terrace. The hotel's own material names Masada alongside the Ein Gedi and Nahal Arugot reserves and the springs of Ein Bokek, which is a fair description of how it gets used: a comfortable shore base from which the mountain is a morning. It is a holiday hotel first and a climbing base second, and the gap shows in the timetable, because breakfast starts long after the Snake Path has opened for ascent. Choose it if the float, the promenade and the pool are the point and the fortress is one day of several.

    “Great facilities, great service, great rooms, great food.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.03,183 ratings

    75% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    dead sea, Ein Bokek
    Kitchen
    Hotel, Resort hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  6. 06

    Lot

    A treatment stay at Ein Bokek without the resort scale

    Lot gives its own position as 400 metres below sea level on the Dead Sea shore, looking across at the mountains of Edom with the Judaean Desert behind, and it reads as the quieter choice on a strip of very large hotels. Its Lotus spa publishes a heated Dead Sea water pool, a jacuzzi, a dry sauna and a gym, with two mineral-rich sulphur pools charged separately and aimed at therapeutic and rehabilitative use. The room list runs from sea view and mountain view standards through studios and family rooms to accessible rooms, and the kitchen states kashrut supervision by the Jordan Valley Regional Council rabbinate. Spa hours are published as 08:00 to 18:30 on weekdays and 08:00 to 17:00 on Saturdays and festivals, which is worth reading if the plan is the mountain in the morning and the pools afterwards.

    4.53,156 ratings

    88% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    ד.נ ים המלח, Ein Bokek, 86930
    Kitchen
    Hotel, Bed & breakfast, Day spa
    Map, hours and reviews

  7. 07

    Hotel Inbar Arad

    The western approach, and the shorter climb up the ramp

    Inbar is the full hotel in Arad, on Yehuda Street at the entrance to the town, and its own site gives the Dead Sea as twenty-five minutes away. It publishes an indoor heated pool, a sauna, a fitness room and a treatment room, a dining room serving breakfast, lunch and dinner by reservation rather than a standing buffet, and a kashrut certificate; the same page points visitors at Masada and the sound and light show, Ein Gedi, Tel Arad and the Arad motor park. What it really buys is the western approach, since Arad holds the only road access to the Roman ramp, and the climb from that side takes about half an hour at an intermediate grading instead of an hour at a high one. It also buys altitude: the town sits several hundred metres above the shore, and a summer night in Arad is a different proposition from a summer night at Ein Bokek.

    “Rooms are in good condition.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    3.7887 ratings

    59% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Yehuda St 38, Arad
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  8. 08

    Yehelim Boutique Hotel

    A small, quiet room on the ramp side, for people who prefer a house to a hotel

    Yehelim is a small hotel on Moab Street on the eastern edge of Arad, filed under hotel, bed and breakfast and extended stay, and it is the alternative to Inbar for anyone basing on the western side. Its own website sat behind an automated challenge every time this guide tried to open it, so nothing here comes from the operator and the usual detail, meaning room count, breakfast arrangements and cancellation terms, could not be confirmed at source. What can be said is positional, and for a Masada trip position is most of the answer: the eastern edge of Arad looks down the escarpment towards the southern basin, the town is 22 km by road from the mountain and holds the only access to the western entrance, and the elevation, which runs from roughly 361 to 631 metres across the town, is why people come here for the air. Write to the hotel with specific questions before paying anything, because in this category there is no chain standing behind the booking.

    “The rooms have a coffee machine, electric kettle and small refrigerator.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.8449 ratings

    97% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Moab St 72, Arad, 8903227
    Kitchen
    Hotel, Bed & breakfast, Extended stay hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

The decision

Which side of the mountain you sleep on decides your climb

Masada has two entrances and they do not meet. The eastern one, off Route 90 on the Dead Sea side, has the covered car park, the museum, the cable car, the Snake Path and the hostel. The western one, at the foot of the Roman siege ramp, is reached from Arad on road 3199, and the parks authority is explicit that this is the access: from Arad, and not from the Dead Sea road. Arad is the closest town to the mountain, 22 km away by road, and holds the only road to the western side. Choosing a bed is therefore choosing a path, because getting from one gate to the other means driving round the southern basin.

On the eastern side the two realistic bases are Ein Bokek and Ein Gedi, which the parks authority places about 12 km and about 18 km from the entrance. Ein Bokek is a purpose-built hotel strip on the southern basin: a row of large spa hotels, a promenade, and a public beach maintained by the Tamar Regional Council, which provides free chairs and umbrellas, showers, changing rooms and a narrow path into the water for wheelchair users. It has everything a resort has and nothing a town has, which is either the appeal or the objection.

Ein Gedi is the other eastern option and a different proposition entirely: a kibbutz on the slope above the nature reserve, its hotel spread through a botanical garden, with the springs and canyons of Nahal David and Nahal Arugot at the bottom of the hill. It is further from Masada and closer to the walking. It suits a two-day plan that treats the mountain as one morning among several rather than as the reason for the trip.

Arad is the western answer and the one most visitors never consider. It was founded in November 1962 as Israel's first planned city, sits on the boundary of the Negev and the Judaean deserts about 25 km west of the Dead Sea, and its ground runs from roughly 361 to 631 metres above sea level, which is a kilometre and more above the shore. Three things follow. The Roman ramp path takes about half an hour and is graded intermediate, against about an hour and a high grading for the Snake Path. The campground at the ramp is the only bed within walking distance of a gate on that side. And the nights are dry and cool in a way that Ein Bokek's, four hundred metres below sea level, never are.

The stock

Hotel, hostel, kibbutz garden, khan and a field kitchen

The Tamar Regional Council, which runs tourism for this stretch of shore, splits its own accommodation register into three categories: hotels, khans and camping, and rural accommodation. That is a more honest picture than a hotel list, because two of the three categories describe most of the beds within reach of Masada.

Hotels here means Ein Bokek, almost entirely. They are large, they are spa hotels rather than beach hotels, half board is common and often the sensible choice because independent eating on the strip is thin, and a kosher kitchen is the norm rather than the exception. Lot publishes supervision by the Jordan Valley Regional Council rabbinate; Isrotel publishes a synagogue, a Shabbat lift and Shabbat clocks at Nevo. None of that is unusual in Israel, but it is worth knowing before booking a Friday.

Khans and camping is the desert category, and at Masada it is the one that matters. A khan is a walled compound with a large communal tent, mattresses on the floor, shared washing and a fire; the parks authority's night camping ground at the western foot is the institutional version, with hired tents, a fixed marquee and a proper field kitchen. Rural accommodation is the Israeli zimmer: a self-contained unit or garden annexe let by the night, with no reception and nobody on site, which is what most of the Arad and Neve Zohar entries are.

The hostel deserves its own line, because the English word misleads. HI Masada belongs to the Israel Youth Hostels Association, and an Israeli hostel is not a dormitory operation: rooms have their own shower and toilet, air conditioning, a fridge and a balcony, and the guest list is as likely to be a family or a school group as a backpacker.

Timing

The paths close on a heat schedule, and that sets the itinerary

The parks authority publishes the heat rules plainly, and they are the reason people book a bed within sight of the rock. In normal hot weather the last ascent by the Snake Path is 10:00 and the last descent 11:00. When it is very hot those move to 08:00 and 09:00. In extreme summer heat they move again to 07:00 and 08:00, the last ascent by the Roman ramp path is pushed to 11:00, and the Runner's Path and the Elazar Ascent shut at 07:00.

Opening runs the other way and is just as fixed. The Snake Path opens for ascent about an hour before sunrise and the ramp path about half an hour before, and the authority recommends reaching the Snake Path around thirty minutes before it opens to buy a ticket and start in time. The park's own gates open at 08:00, so a sunrise climb is a separate arrangement from an ordinary visit, and it is the arrangement almost every nearby booking exists to serve.

No hotel breakfast fits that timetable. Buffets on the Ein Bokek strip begin well after the paths have opened, so a dawn climb means leaving before the dining room does anything at all, and the workable answer is the kettle and the fridge in the room the night before and breakfast on return. At the campground the problem solves itself, because the kitchen is a field kitchen and everyone in the place is doing the same thing at the same hour.

Practicalities

Shabbat, breakfast, parking and a bill with no tax on it

Israeli hotels do not close for Shabbat; they fill up for it. From Friday afternoon to Saturday night the buses stop, much of the country's eating out shuts and the Dead Sea hotels are at their busiest with Israeli guests, so Friday and Saturday are the hardest nights to book and usually the dearest. Expect a lift that stops at every floor unasked, timers on the lights and a kitchen that cooked in advance. The parks authority notes that the Masada West campground is adapted for Shabbat observers too, and publishes a paid late departure at the end of Shabbat and festivals.

Breakfast is included almost everywhere and is not a continental one. The Israeli hotel breakfast is a full spread of salads, cheeses, cured and pickled fish, eggs cooked to order, bread and fruit, and at the Dead Sea it is a meal rather than a snack. Half board is offered widely and is worth taking at Ein Bokek and at Ein Gedi, where the Tamar Regional Council lists bed and breakfast or half board as the two options and walking out to dinner is not available. In Arad the pattern is smaller: Inbar serves its meals by reservation rather than as a standing buffet.

Parking is free and unremarkable at every property in this guide, which is not true of the shore: the central Ein Bokek beach car park is paid through an app, with free overflow lots a short walk uphill. At Masada the eastern car park is covered, and on the western side the parking sits beside the campground itself.

Foreign tourists do not pay Israeli VAT on hotel accommodation. The standard rate reached 18 per cent in 2025, and the tourism waiver covers hotel stays along with car hire, catering and travel agency services; hotels state the position from their own side, and Isrotel's Dead Sea pages carry the line that 18 per cent VAT is not included for Israeli citizens. In practice the front desk wants to see a foreign passport, and the bill is settled in foreign currency or on a foreign card rather than in shekels. The waiver is not permanent: the Finance Ministry moved to abolish it in 2023 and the tourism industry fought the proposal off, so it is worth confirming when booking rather than assuming.

The full list

Every place to stay we found in Masada

All 18 that Google Maps returned for this area, ranked by rating weighted for how many people rated it, so a five from three people does not outrank a four and a half from three thousand.

Every place to stay in Masada, from a Google Maps snapshot taken on 2026-08-13
NameKindRatingRatingsPriceWhere
Yehelim Boutique HotelHotel4.8449n/aArad
LotHotel4.53,156n/aEin Bokek
Dead Sea Sun Guest HouseHotel4.782n/aArad
Kayma by Isrotel ExclusiveHotel4.5240n/aEin Bokek
Leonardo Plaza Dead SeaHotel4.414,507n/aEin Bokek
Isrotel Nevo Dead Sea HotelHotel4.46,709n/aEin Bokek
Isrotel NogaHotel4.23,980n/aים המלח
Ein Gedi HotelHotel4.22,832n/aEin Gedi
HI Masada Hostelאכסניית אנ"א מצדה HI Masada HostelHostel4.21,723n/an/a
Arad HostelGuest house4.0679n/aArad
Herbert Samuel Milos Dead SeaHotel4.03,183n/aEin Bokek
Vert Dead SeaHotel4.06,869n/aEin Bokek
Oasis Spa Club Dead Seaאואזיס ספא קלאב ים המלחHotel4.07,216n/aEin Bokek
Brown Dead Sea Hotelמלון בראון ים המלח (לשעבר אנג'ויי)Hotel3.96,494n/aEin Bokek
David Dead Sea Resort & SpaHotel3.98,903n/aEin Bokek
Herbert Samuel Hod Dead SeaHotel3.83,500n/aEin Bokek
Hotel Inbar Aradמלון במדבר - ענבר ערדHotel3.7887n/aArad
Royal Dead Sea HotelHotel3.43,268n/an/a

Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings and counts move daily and this table does not: it is a snapshot, and it is here so the ranking above can be checked rather than taken on trust. Prices are Google's own price band, not a menu price.

A figure standing on the clifftop at Masada at sunrise

Practical

What to know before you go

  • Decide the path first and the bed second. The eastern gate and the western gate are not connected by a short road, and a hotel on the wrong side costs an hour before sunrise.
  • For a sunrise climb, book something within about twenty minutes of the gate. The Snake Path opens for ascent roughly an hour before sunrise and the ramp path roughly half an hour before.
  • Do not plan on hotel breakfast before a dawn climb. Use the kettle and fridge in the room the night before and eat properly when you come down.
  • Friday and Saturday are the busiest and dearest nights at the Dead Sea, not the quietest. Book them well ahead or shift the stay to midweek.
  • At the Masada West campground, entry closes at 22:00 on the summer clock and 21:00 in winter, and tents and units have to be cleared by 11:00 on the day you leave.
  • The campground hires out mattresses, sleeping bags, hotplates and cooking pots, so a car full of camping gear is not required; you sign an undertaking and leave an identity document.
  • Bring the foreign passport to check-in and expect the room to be billed in foreign currency, which is how the tourist VAT waiver is applied.
  • Dogs are not allowed at Masada National Park or at its campground, which rules out the obvious road-trip arrangement.

Lorenzo Maimone / Unsplash

The figures

Numbers behind this page

Each figure carries the year it belongs to and links the source it came from.

MeasureFigureAs ofSource
A night in your own tent at the Masada West campground, adult₪642026parks.org.il
A night in your own tent at the campground, child aged 5 to 18₪472026parks.org.il
Family camping tent with mattresses, up to four sleepers₪3502026parks.org.il
A bed in the large fixed marquee, including a mattress, adult₪962026parks.org.il
Rooms, Ein Gedi Hotel1662026deadsea.co.il
Rooms and suites, Herbert Samuel Milos Dead Sea1622026herbertsamuel.com
Road distance from Arad to Masada22 km2026en.wikipedia.org
Standard rate of Israeli value added tax18%2025taxsummaries.pwc.com

The rest of the Masada guide

Things to do in Masada →Where to eat in Masada →Getting to Masada →The best time to visit Masada →

Sources and further reading

Every link below was opened and checked when this page was written. Official statements are marked as such: they are the subject's own account, not an independent one.

  1. OfficialIsrael Nature and Parks Authorityen.parks.org.il
    Masada National Park

    The heat schedule for the Snake Path and the ramp path, the opening times before sunrise, the access to the western side from Arad on road 3199, the dog ban and the accessibility of the campground

  2. OfficialIsrael Nature and Parks Authorityparks.org.il
    Masada West night camping ground, Masada Camp

    Facilities, hire equipment, the published price list, entry between 15:00 and 22:00 in summer and 21:00 in winter, clearing by 11:00, the Shabbat-adapted note and access only from Arad on road 3199

  3. OfficialDead Sea Land, Tamar Regional Councildeadsea.co.il
    Masada Youth Hostel

    Room facilities and balconies, the terrace, the circular pool open April to October, the basketball court, and the five-minute walk to the cable car

  4. OfficialDead Sea Land, Tamar Regional Councildeadsea.co.il
    Ein Gedi Hotel

    166 rooms in the botanical garden, the Synergy Spa and its twelve treatment rooms, bed and breakfast or half board, and the free cultural programme

  5. OfficialDead Sea Land, Tamar Regional Councildeadsea.co.il
    Accommodations

    The region's own three-way split into hotels, khans and camping, and rural accommodation, with the khan, glamping and zimmer entries named

  6. OfficialDead Sea Land, Tamar Regional Councildeadsea.co.il
    Ein Bokek central beach

    Free chairs and umbrellas, showers, changing rooms and drinking fountain, the app-paid car park and the free overflow lots, and the wheelchair path into the water

  7. OfficialIsrotelisrotel.com
    Dead Sea hotels

    The published line that 18% VAT is not included for Israeli citizens, and the three beachfront hotels at Ein Bokek

  8. OfficialIsrotelisrotel.com
    Isrotel Nevo Dead Sea

    A balcony on every room, complimentary beach service, the Esprit spa, four restaurants including the Ranch House, and the synagogue, Shabbat lift and Shabbat clocks

  9. OfficialHerbert Samuel Hotelsherbertsamuel.com
    Herbert Samuel Milos Dead Sea Hotel

    162 rooms and suites, the private beach at the entrance, suites with private infinity pools, and the attractions list naming Masada and the Ein Gedi reserves

  10. OfficialLot Hotellothotel.com
    Lot Hotel Dead Sea

    400 metres below sea level, the Lotus spa and its two chargeable sulphur pools, the room categories, spa opening hours and the Jordan Valley Regional Council rabbinate supervision

  11. OfficialInbar Hotelinbar-hotel.co.il
    Hotel Inbar Arad

    The indoor heated pool, sauna, fitness and treatment rooms, meals by reservation, the kashrut certificate, and the twenty-five minutes it gives to the Dead Sea

  12. ReportingThe Times of Israeltimesofisrael.com
    Tour operators urge Finance Ministry to keep VAT waiver for tourists

    What the tourist waiver covers, including hotel accommodation, car hire, catering and travel agency services, and the 2023 proposal to abolish it

  13. ReferenceWikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    Arad, Israel

    Founded in November 1962 as Israel's first planned city, 22 km by road from Masada and the only access to its western side, and an elevation running from about 361 to 631 metres

  14. ReferencePwC Worldwide Tax Summariestaxsummaries.pwc.com
    Israel: Other taxes impacting corporate entities

    The standard rate of Israeli value added tax, given as 18% for 2025

Where to stay near Masada: common questions

Can you actually sleep at Masada?+

Yes, in two places, and only two. The HI Masada Hostel sits at the eastern foot beside the national park entrance, a few minutes on foot from the cable car and the Snake Path. The parks authority's Masada West campground sits at the western foot beside the Roman ramp, reached from Arad on road 3199. Everything else described as being at Masada is in fact at Ein Bokek, Ein Gedi or Arad.

Should I stay at Ein Bokek or in Arad?+

It depends entirely on which path you intend to climb. Ein Bokek is about 12 km from the eastern gate, where the cable car and the Snake Path are, and gives you a spa hotel, a promenade and a free maintained beach. Arad is 22 km from the mountain on the western side and is the only road access to the Roman ramp, where the climb takes about half an hour at an intermediate grading rather than about an hour at a high one. You cannot switch sides on the morning without a long drive round the basin.

Is it worth staying overnight rather than coming from Jerusalem?+

For a sunrise climb, yes, and for a summer visit it is close to necessary. The Snake Path opens for ascent about an hour before sunrise and the parks authority closes it as early as 07:00 on days of extreme heat, so a day trip that starts in Jerusalem at a civilised hour arrives after the path has shut. If the plan is the cable car and a late-morning visit in winter, a day trip is perfectly reasonable.

What is the campground actually like?+

It is a serviced field camp rather than wild camping. The parks authority publishes hot showers, toilets, accessible toilets, three field kitchens with gas rings and washing-up sinks, fridges, freezers, fire pits, shade canopies, picnic tables, phone charging points and wireless internet. You can bring your own tent or hire a family tent, a couples tent or a bed in a large fixed marquee, and mattresses, sleeping bags, hotplates and cooking pots are available for hire on site.

Is breakfast included, and can I get it before a dawn climb?+

Included almost everywhere, and no. The Israeli hotel breakfast is a substantial buffet of salads, cheeses, fish, eggs and bread, but it starts well after the paths have opened for ascent. Anyone climbing at dawn should use the kettle and fridge in the room the night before and treat breakfast as the reward on return.

What happens on Shabbat?+

Hotels stay open and get busier. From Friday afternoon to Saturday night the buses stop and much of the country's eating out closes, while Israeli families fill the Dead Sea hotels, so those are the hardest and usually the dearest nights of the week to book. Expect a Shabbat lift, light timers and food cooked in advance; the parks authority states that the Masada West campground is adapted for Shabbat observers and offers a paid late departure at the end of Shabbat and festivals.

Do tourists pay VAT on the hotel bill?+

No, not on the accommodation. Israel's standard VAT rate reached 18 per cent in 2025 and the tourism waiver covers hotel stays along with car hire, catering and travel agency services, which is why Isrotel prints on its Dead Sea pages that the 18 per cent is not included for Israeli citizens. Bring the foreign passport to check-in and expect the bill in foreign currency or on a foreign card. The waiver has been proposed for abolition before and survived, so confirm it at booking.

Is parking a problem?+

Not at the hotels, which all park guests free, and not at Masada, where the eastern car park is covered and the western car park sits beside the campground. The exception is the beach: the main car park at Ein Bokek central beach is paid through an app, with free overflow at the Palms and Conference lots a short walk uphill.

Can I bring a dog?+

Not to Masada. The parks authority prohibits dogs both in the national park and at the Masada West campground, so a road trip with a dog needs somebody to stay with the car, or a different plan. Individual hotels set their own rules and most of the large Dead Sea hotels do not take pets.

Which base is best for a family?+

Ein Bokek if the children want a pool and a beach, the campground if they want a fire and a tent. The Ein Bokek hotels are built around pools, spas and half board, and the beach there provides free chairs, umbrellas, showers and changing rooms. At the western campground the parks authority hires out family tents with mattresses and prices children aged 5 to 18 separately from adults, and the ramp climb is the shorter and gentler of the two paths.

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