Sea of Galilee: Israel’s Sacred Freshwater Lake

What can you see and do at the Sea of Galilee?

Most pilgrimage sites cluster at the north end of the lake and are reachable from one another by a short drive. The water is fresh and calm, and if you are into water sports, this is the place to go. One practical note: stay away during Israeli national holidays, the crowds are genuinely overwhelming.

The Ancient Boat (Jesus Boat) — Discovered in 1986 when drought dropped the lake’s water level, this 2,000-year-old wooden fishing vessel now sits in a climate-controlled pavilion at Kibbutz Ginosar. The boat is 27 feet long and 7.5 feet wide. Carbon dating and wood analysis confirm its first-century origins, placing it squarely in the period of Jesus’ ministry. Visitors see the actual hull, preserved by years of careful conservation work after its excavation from the mud.

Capernaum — On the northern shore, this ancient fishing village was Jesus’ base during his Galilean ministry and is called “his own city” in the Gospels. The fourth-century limestone synagogue, built directly over an earlier basalt foundation from Jesus’ time, is the most photogenic structure on site. Archaeologists have also uncovered what tradition identifies as the house of Simon Peter, now protected beneath a modern Franciscan church. Walking the excavated first-century streets gives a clear sense of how compact and densely settled these lakeside communities were.

Mount of Beatitudes — This hilltop northwest of the lake is the traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount. An octagonal church designed by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi in 1938 commemorates the eight beatitudes. The site’s elevation and natural bowl shape explain how Jesus could address large crowds on the hillside below without amplification. On a clear day the entire lake is visible from the church garden.

The Church of the Multiplication (Tabgha ) – On the northwestern shore houses fifth-century Byzantine floor mosaics depicting fish, birds, and local flora. The famous mosaic showing two fish flanking a basket of bread has become one of the most reproduced images in Christian art. The site’s name comes from the Greek Heptapegon, meaning seven springs, and those springs still flow today. The water bubbling up just outside the church wall is the same source that drew settlement here long before the Gospels were written.

Magdala — Excavated and opened in recent years, this first-century fishing town was the hometown of Mary Magdalene. The dig uncovered a synagogue from Jesus’ time with stone benches, frescoed walls, and a decorated stone table that may have held Torah scrolls during readings. Residential quarters, harbors, ritual baths, and market areas fill out the picture of daily life during the Second Temple period. The modern Magdala Center presents the finds alongside a chapel built to complement the ancient remains.

Hamat Tiberias National Park — Just south of Tiberias, this site preserves a fourth-century synagogue whose mosaic floors are among the most discussed in Israeli archaeology. The centerpiece is a zodiac wheel with the Greek sun god Helios at its center, an image that shows how Jewish communities of late antiquity absorbed and adapted Greco-Roman visual culture. Roman and Byzantine baths run alongside the synagogue, fed by natural hot springs that still reach 60 degrees Celsius. You can see the steam rising from the ground on cooler mornings.

Susita (Hippos) National Park — Perched on a plateau above the eastern shore, Susita was one of the ten Decapolis cities, a league of Greco-Roman urban centers in the region. The ruins include a Roman theater, a colonnaded main street, Byzantine churches with mosaic floors, and defensive walls. Excavations have traced continuous occupation from the Hellenistic period through the early Islamic era. The plateau’s height gives an unobstructed panorama of the entire lake, making the military logic of the site immediately obvious.

What else is around the lake?

Tiberias is the main city on the western shore and one of Judaism’s four holy cities. It has the tomb of Maimonides, natural hot springs used therapeutically since Roman times, old city walls, and a lakefront promenade lined with restaurants. Hotels, tour operators, and services for the whole region are based here.

Bethsaida, on the northern shore near the Jordan River’s entry into the lake, was the hometown of the apostles Peter, Andrew, and Philip. Excavations have uncovered city gates, residential areas, a cultic high place, and fishing weights that connect directly to the Gospel accounts.

Degania Kibbutz, founded in 1909 at the lake’s southern tip where the Jordan River exits, is Israel’s first kibbutz. Its museum covers the early settlement period and explains how communal farming communities developed the agricultural and fishing methods that shaped modern Galilee.

Church of the Twelve Apostles in Capernaum, built in 1925, has distinctive red domes and houses icons and frescoes depicting scenes from Jesus’ Galilean ministry. The courtyard looks out toward the water where many of the apostles fished before joining Jesus.