Hamat Gader
Roman thermal baths and open pools in the Yarmouk valley, water to about 50°C.
Laliv g / Wikimedia Commons
- Source temperature
- 50°C
- Bathing temperature
- 42°C
- Bathing
- Outdoor
- Accommodation
- Hotel on site
Hamat Gader sits in the Yarmouk valley where springs surface between roughly 42°C and 50°C. A modern bathing complex of open sulphur pools stands beside the excavated Roman baths, among the largest known in the region.
Balnevia view
Why visit
Very few sites let you swim in the same spring water that fed a major Roman bath complex, with the ruins themselves open alongside.
Recommendations
Hotels nearby
Explore places to stay near Hamat Gader.
The water
Thermal water
- Source
- Hamat Gader springs
- Character
- Sulphur and chloride-rich water among the hottest bathed in the region
History
The baths flourished from the second century AD and were praised across the Roman and Byzantine world; the site includes a synagogue mosaic and later Umayyad-period remains.
Practical information
The sulphur pools are hot and strongly mineral — sessions should be kept short. There is also an alligator farm on site, which surprises most first-time visitors.
Getting there
About 25 minutes by car from Tiberias around the southern Sea of Galilee; access is by road only.