Springs, horses, and beaches: Top attractions for family outings

When planning a family nature trip, there's often a need to incorporate attractions to deepen the experience, making it more interesting, challenging, and, most importantly, bonding.

We all get stuck in the grind - parents in traffic and long work hours, and kids in intensive studies - and suddenly realize we hardly have any quality family time. The approaching holiday season is a great opportunity to strengthen connections, engage in shared activities, and simply enjoy. To save you from racking your brains about where to go and what to do, I have found some enjoyable recommendations for the whole family.

Kibbutzim Stream

Let's start with a beautiful area, considered one of the most beautiful in Israel: The Emek Hama'ayanot Valley. This region offers a world of nature and countless springs. One of them is the Kibbutzim Stream. The stream runs through the entire Emek Hama'ayanot Park with a constant water temperature throughout the year. Walking along the stream is easy and safe, ensuring you and your children a pure delight.

The Kibbutzim Stream trail is a wet trail, which means the entire family walks together in the water - enjoying the water, the beautiful surroundings of the stream (vegetation and nature), and each other's company, all while disconnecting from tablets and phones - purely relaxing quality time in nature.

The trail is not very long, and there are paths along the entire stream where you can exit and return to the beginning of the trail. Towards the end of the trail, there's a fantastic attraction for kids - a thick pipe through which the kids slide, just like at a water park, leading to the second part of the stream (separated by a stone bridge).

You can combine the water trail with some attractions such as: Driving an electric vehicle (available for rent at the park entrance), which allows you to travel easily along all the springs in the park. Stop at every lovely spot to enjoy the beauty of the springs, dip your feet, and continue. Another option is biking within the park.

How to Get There: Enter "Emek Hama'ayanot Park" into Waze.

Park entrance is free. Golf cart rental incurs a fee.

Horseback Riding at Dor Beach

Another highly recommended attraction is a horseback ride along the northern coastal plain. For example, in the beautiful Dor Beach area, you can swim at Dor Beach and then, around sunset, go on a horseback ride along the coastline with the entire family. This way, you combine the enjoyment of swimming in the sea (which is at its best this time of year with pleasant water temperature and no scorching sun) with a family activity full of movement and experience.

How to Get There: Enter "Dor Beach" into Waze.

The recommendations were provided by Gil Aharoni, a travel blogger, owner of the travel website "Bli Li Letayel" and the Facebook group "Travelers Who Enjoy and Share." For more great recommendations from Gil, visit the website "Bli Li Letayel" and join the group: "Travelers Who Enjoy and Share," Instagram page: baliletayel.