Surf Spots around Israel

Herzelia Area:

Here are a bunch of surf spots you might want to check out when you go surfing in Herzelia.

• Dabush Beach (Pic ): This beach is north of the third breaker in Herzelia. It breaks good during the spring and summer mostly when there is a south-west wind going. The waves are mostly lefts with short rights (depending on where you are in the line up) and you can get into a short tube in the shorebreak. The best time to surf this beach would be early in the morning when the wind is still semi offshore (southern wind). Durring the day, the waves become pretty choppy. The beach is a sandy beach with no rocks.
• Zvulun Beach(Pic ): This beach is north of Dabush Beach. Here, you can catch longer rides than Dabush. It breaks in the same conditions as Dabush Beach. The waves are a little bigger then the ones at Dabush beach. The beach is a sandy beach with no rocks.
• Sidney Ali Beach: This beach is the most northern beach in Herzelia, it breaks well only from the end of spring to the beginning of summer. It also breaks on a south west wind. This beach has quite a few rocks (closer to the southern part of the beach) but they do not affect the shape of the wave, you should be carefull...
• Marina Beach: (Pic ) This beach is the south most beach of Herzelia, it is inbetween the Herzelia marina and the first of the three wave breakers. It breaks only during winter "Low Pressure" storms which have strong western winds blowing all day and all night. The best waves are early in the morning (around 5 am) because of the offshores. This is the place to be in Herzelia during the winter.On days when the Marina gets big (Israeli big is considered 6 ft), it might look from the outside like it is closed out, don't worry, drive up the cliff (north) and take a birds eye view on whats happening on the outside sandbar. When the outside sandbar is breaking, the paddle out can be a major bummer, so just walk out to the break on the rocks on the left (south) side of the marina and then jump off past the inside break, or just walk into the marina itself, jump off one of the docks and paddle out through the boat entrance (this is the easiest). This beach is sheltered by two breakers and The waves come in between them, this is what makes them ridable (all the other beaches in Herzelia become closed out mush due to the current which does not exist in the marina).
• Ambatya Beach (Ambatya meaning bathtub)(Pic ): This beach is between the first and second breakers, it is a smaller alternative to surfing the marina during the great winter storms...

Tel Aviv Area:

Here are a bunch of surf spots you might want to check out when you go surfing in Tel Aviv.

• Hilton Beach (Pic ): Hilton Beach can be found infront of the Tel Aviv Hilton Hotel on Yarkon St. The break is is between 2 jetties which protect the waves from any current which might be ruining the waves at other spots. Hilton beach is special due to the fact that it is one of the best reef breaks in Israel (It and backdoor in Haifa). The reef is a sharp "Lava Rock" reef which is pretty shallow in some sections (the waters surface can be as little as two feet over the reef). It can hold swell from 1-7 ft. and since the take off point is small, it can get crowded on good days. Longboarders can dominate this break (it is a great longboard wave). On a good day with offshores, The wave has a nice hollow section for a little tube ride. The wave breaks both right and left. As for parking, about 100 yards north of the Hilton hotel (on the Yarkon St.), there is a big public parking lot which is rarely full.

  More about hilton, written by Eric Flamm :

  General conditions:

  If the swell is a perfect 1 meter and coming dead from the west, the break will do the A-frame, providing both left and right rides. The place to catch the wave is about 10 meters inside the jetties and closer to the north end. Riding a wave left is the better choice, especially for a longboard. The wave will remain open longer and provide better barrel possibilities. The north side is also the quickest way back into the lineup. This is not to say a ride to the right doesn't ever work. All advice given here is general and conditions will vary.

  2 meter conditions:

  Catching the big waves at Hilton means moving past the jetties 5-15 meters and waiting for waves more towards the center of the break. If you find yourself caught in the impact zone from going right, try aiming for the southern jetty. If that doesn't work, catch the current that flows along the south sea wall and mouth of the marina to get back into the line up.

  South side:

  In storm conditions sometimes this is the best place. Wait for waves 20 meters north of the tip of the south jetty and only go right.

  Rocks:

  The only time rocks are a problem is when you ride the wave far into shore, such as when you are leaving the water. If I am following a wave to the bitter end, staying on the open face, I won't be in danger of hitting rocks. Still, the water will be shallow if you are going for the tube ride so fall gently when getting off your board.

  Tips:

  The waves at Hilton start off weak then steepen the closer to shore they get. For high performance maneuvers, try and take off later than you might when you free surf. This will give you more speed for powerful turns or just positioning.

  Hilton Bet (Topsy) : This is the break that is directly north of Hilton. It looks exactly the same like Hilton but the reef is different and it tends to be less crowded. Hilton's north break, nicknamed Topsy, often performs better than Hilton in small-medium conditions. The reason why the crowds stay away is that everyone is on short boards and the wave that breaks by the jetty has a slow section before it breaks on the inside reef.

• HaZuk Beach: This beach is the northern most beach of Tel Aviv. You have to pay an entrance fee but there is a hole in the fence if you walk alittle to the north... I don't realy like the waves here, they are very hard to paddle through, and they are good only before and during the summer. During the winter, you're much better of going to Hilton beach. The beach is a sandy beach with a few rocks along the shorebreak.

  BTW: Zuk in hebrew means "cliff".

• Hof Maravi (Pic ): Hof Maravi, which means "the western beach" is the south most beach in Tel Aviv. It's situated between Tel Aviv and old Jaffa (in fact, when surfing there, you get a beautiful view of old Jaffa). the beach is a great beach break with some sort of man made structure "poking" into the water (what this means is that in the middle of the beach there is a line of stone polls stiking out of the water, from the beach about 15 yards into the ocean). On the left side of this structure the waves break left and on the right side they break right. This beach has a bad reputation of being polluted because whenever there is a sewege spill, it spill at this beach, so be carefull. The crowd here consists of shortboarders, longboarders and bodyboarders and everybody is realy mellow, no localism to worry about. often, the waves here will have better form than the beach breaks in Herzelia.
• Dolphinarium Beach

Haifa Area:

Here are a bunch of surf spots you might want to check out when you go surfing in Haifa.

• Backdoor: Backdoor (named after the legandary right at pipeline) can be found at the Bat Galim (which means "daughter of waves") beach on the souther tip of the Haifa bay. The break faces north so that whenever all the rest of Israel's breaks are closed/blown out, backdoor stays great (because the winter storms have strong southwest winds {which are onshore at all the rest of the beaches, but offshore at backdoor}). Backdoor, as most of Israel's better breaks is "protected" by two jetties. Most consider Backdoor to be the best reef break in Israel. The reef at backdoor (as opposed to the reef at Hilton), Is covered with moss and slime making it soft and not sharp. The wave is a hollow right, thus getting the reputation of the best "tube riding" wave in the country. It's not a very good longboarding wave. About fifty yards down the street, there is a "open ocean" break (no jetties) which I think is called "casino". It is a great longboarding wave. It's a split peak (both lefts and rights are rideable) and whenever it is firing, it will be at least 1 foot bigger than backdoor.

Ashkelon Area:

Here are a bunch of surf spots you might want to check out when you go surfing in Ashkelon.

• Goote Beach(Pic ): Goote beach can be found about 200 yards north of the north most jettie at the Ashkelon Marina. The easiest way to find goote beach , is to find the Mouslem Grave on the cliff (North of the marina), go anouther 100 yards north and walk down the cliff (their are stairs). In general, in Israel, the further south you go, the bigger the waves get, so if in Herzelia there are knee high waves, Ashkelon will probably be waist high, if not chest high. Goote is a sandy beach brake with rocks lining the shoreling. I only surfed goote once, so I don't know how the waves break their all the time. When I was there, the waves were waist high (while Herzelia was knee high) and mushy, a shifty peak that broke left. Goote is considered one of the better breaks in Ashkelon because the jetties around the marina make the waves smaller. I was told that the break just south of the marina holds a great wave durring the winter "low pressure" storms. The locals I met in Ashkelon were great, they even helped me find a break (goote) to surf at.

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