Things to do
Sights, museums, parks, beaches, activities for kids and day trips, each checked against its own page.
29 places
Parks, trails & springs · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
Central Israel's largest forest (22,000 dunams, adjoining Modiin Forest) with hiking routes, marked mountain-bike single tracks, picnic areas, lookouts and archaeological sites. Six signed entrances include the Maccabim Gate near the Tombs of the Maccabees.
Photo: StateofIsrael, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab)
Parks, trails & springs · Shilat junction
Educational tourism site on an ancient tell where visitors try ancient crafts with reconstructed tools: threshing and grinding wheat, an olive press, a wine press, a village house, synagogue, blacksmith and coin mint. Activities for children and special events are held.
Photo: israel zeller ישראל זלר, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.5 (opens in a new tab)
Attractions & sights · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A park of scale models of Israel's landmarks near Latrun, with a free map tour, a puzzle trail and a QR-code navigation game.
Photo: ליעד 747, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
Parks & playgrounds · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A reserve of about 2,500 dunams by the Ben Shemen forest that shows the plants and farming of the Bible and Talmud along signposted trails, with about 7 km of paths accessible to wheelchairs.
Photo: ישראל פרקר, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.5 (opens in a new tab)
Parks & playgrounds · Modiin
Modi'in's municipal nature park with a large artificial lake, an amphitheatre and a free water-spray park that runs for 30 minutes every hour (Sun-Thu 15:00-17:30, Fri 12:00-17:30, Sat 10:00-17:30; until 18:30 in July-August).
For kids · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A zoo inside the Ben Shemen Youth Village, run by the pupils who live there, with mammals, reptiles, birds and fish, animal petting and feeding, milking and pony rides.
Parks & playgrounds · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A valley in Nahal Gamzo in the Ben Shemen forest with the al-Habis cave, where monks' sleeping niches and crosses are carved, linked by legend to the sage Nachum Ish Gamzo; the old Roman road from Lod to Jerusalem passes nearby.
Parks, trails & springs · Mateh Binyamin (council services)
Regional tourism information center with maps and touring suggestions for the Binyamin region, about 15 minutes' drive from Jerusalem.
Parks & playgrounds · Modiin
A 600-dunam hill on Modi'in's north-eastern edge with lookouts, archaeology and military history, best from November to April when wildflowers and almond trees bloom. You can drive to the top from Klil HaChoresh St.
Parks, trails & springs · Hashmonaim
Fenced community dog park. Owners register and show proof of rabies vaccination to get the entry code.
Museums & heritage · Modiin
A museum in Modi'in's city centre that tells the city's story from the Hasmoneans to the modern city, with a guided tour, an interactive room and a 3D film ride.
Attractions & sights · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A Byzantine-era building with a sheikh's tomb in the Ben Shemen forest, about 800 m from the Maccabean Graves, which some 19th-century scholars took for the Hasmonean family tomb; today some Haredi visitors venerate it as the tomb of Matityahu.
Day trips nearby · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A 4th-century Roman family tomb on Route 444 at the edge of El'ad that you can walk into, with a temple-like facade, two stone sarcophagi and a dovecote room later turned into a Muslim prayer place.
Attractions & sights · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A hilltop site off Route 443 south of Kfar Ruth with Second Temple remains, a Roman fort and two-storey watchtower still standing, and a Byzantine monastery church with mosaics; the view takes in the Jerusalem hills, Samaria and the coastal plain.
For kids · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A rescue centre for confiscated, smuggled and ex-laboratory monkeys at the entrance to Kfar Daniel, off Route 443, with guided visits, feeding times and workshops.
Attractions & sights · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A family visitor centre at a silver workshop in Kfar Daniel: you walk over a gallery with eight explanation points and watch the craftsmen turn silver grains into finished pieces.
Parks, trails & springs · Lapid
Ridge between today's Lapid and Kfar HaOranim where the 1948 Shilta-al-Burj battle shaped the armistice line in the Modiin sector until 1967; the story is told at the memorial in Shilat.
Day trips nearby · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
The Givat Koach (Kula) forest between Ben Shemen, Shoham and Rosh HaAyin, with picnic tables, play equipment, memorials and the ruins of a Crusader tower and hall built by the Hospitallers after 1181, now a national park.
Attractions & sights · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
The moshav on the edge of the Ben Shemen forest that Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach founded in 1974; it runs a Carlebach tourism centre with Friday fairs, group visits and Shabbat hospitality, and has Byzantine monastery remains.
Parks & playgrounds · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A torch-shaped lookout tower from 1963 in the Ben Shemen forest, symbolising the Maccabean revolt, with views over the forest, the coastal plain and the Jerusalem hills; KKL also uses it as a fire lookout.
Sport & pools · Modiin
A municipal complex with a covered pool, a gym and, in summer, an outdoor park for children up to 12 with two pools, slides and a surf machine; each area has a separate entry fee.
Parks & playgrounds · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A short family walk (under 1 km) along the seasonal Nachal Modi'im to a tall cliff used for abseiling, reached by a KKL dirt track just after the Maccabean Graves exit on Route 443.
Parks, trails & springs · Shilat junction
Memorial with a monument and memorial room with photos of 45 Palmach Yiftach Brigade fighters who fell in July 1948 in the battle for Khirbet Kurikur (Hill 318), near today's Lapid and Kfar HaOranim.
Parks & playgrounds · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
An archaeological mound from the Early Bronze Age, the biblical Gimzo and home of the sage Nachum Ish Gamzo, with views to Latrun, the Lod valley and the coast; best at sunrise or sunset.
Attractions & sights · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
A red, white and gold marble Thai pagoda in the Ben Shemen forest near Mitzpe Modiim, a gift from the people of Thailand for Israel's 50th anniversary.
Sport & pools · Modiin
A municipal climbing centre next to the Water and Sport Park with a 17 m Olympic wall, a 15 m speed wall, bouldering and top-rope walls and children's walls.
Parks, trails & springs · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
Byzantine-period rock-cut tombs traditionally linked to the Maccabees and the starting point of the annual Chanukah torch relay since 1944, with a memorial to fallen soldiers from the Modiin area. A Second Temple-era burial cave lies about 200 m away along the road.
Attractions & sights · Modiin
An excavated site next to Modi'in's Buchman neighbourhood with graves, a bathhouse and a synagogue from the 2nd century BCE, which the excavators believe was ancient Modi'in, home of the Maccabees.
Museums & heritage · Hevel Modiin (nearby sites)
The armoured corps memorial and visitor centre at Latrun, with a large collection of tanks and armoured vehicles, a heroism room, the wall of names and a lookout on the roof of the old police fort. The site is wheelchair accessible.
Day plans
From our network
A few organisations from the Consult With Ari network whose work reaches people in Hashmonaim.
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