Experience the best of Sde Boker

Sde Boker is a kibbutz on the high plateau of the central Negev, founded in 1952 and best known as the retirement home of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister. His modest wooden hut has been kept as he left it, and he and his wife Paula are buried nearby on a cliff top overlooking the wide, dry valley of Zin.

Just below the plateau, Ein Avdat National Park follows a canyon of white chalk cliffs, where spring-fed pools sit among reeds and ibex scramble on the ledges. A short drive south, Avdat, a Nabataean town on the ancient incense route, is a World Heritage site. Ben-Gurion University keeps a desert research institute at neighbouring Midreshet Ben-Gurion, and the great Ramon crater opens further south.

Negev food draws on Bedouin and kibbutz traditions: flatbread baked over fire, sweet tea scented with sage, goat's cheese from small dairies and wine from vineyards on the highlands. The desert air is dry and the nights are cool even after warm days. Wildflowers appear after wet winters, and the cooler months are the pleasant time for walking the canyon.