The Negev Desert: Craters, Oases and Desert Nights

More than half of Israel's land is desert. The Negev - a triangle of rock, sand and surprising life running from the Judean Hills down to the Red Sea - is the country's empty quarter, and one of its most underrated regions.

Start at the Ramon Crater (Makhtesh Ramon), the jewel of the region. A makhtesh is a rare landform - a deep erosion valley sunk hundreds of meters into the desert - and the Ramon Crater is the largest in the world, some 40 kilometers long and up to 10 wide, looking like a scar from another planet. The visitor town of Mitzpe Ramon sits right on the rim, with viewpoints over the void, a wonderful alpaca farm for the kids, and some of the clearest night skies in the Middle East.

North of Eilat, Timna Park packs 15,000 years of history into a colorful valley: ancient copper mines (the inspiration for "King Solomon's Mines"), an Egyptian temple to Hathor, rock formations like the Mushroom and the Spiral Hill, and a lake for the kids. On the way down, the Desert Wine Route around Sde Boker proves the biblical promise that "the desert shall bloom" - vineyards, olive groves and dairy farms in the middle of nowhere. David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, believed the Negev was the nation's future; he moved here himself and is buried overlooking the Zin Valley.

The Negev was also a highway of empires. The Nabataeans ran their incense caravans from Arabia through four desert cities - Avdat, Mamshit, Shivta and Haluza, now UNESCO World Heritage sites - where you can still walk Roman-paved streets between Byzantine churches, with nobody else around.

Slow down for the people. Bedouin hospitality is a Negev tradition: sweet tea in a goat-hair tent, a hafla feast eaten by hand from a shared tray, and stories from one of the region's oldest communities. October to April is desert season - summer is fierce - and nights are cold even in spring, so pack layers. Our private desert tours pair the crater and Timna with wine, spice-route ruins and a night under an ocean of stars.