Nahariya is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. In 2015 it had a population of 54,300. The coastal highway number 4 is the main north–south road in the city. Highway 89 starts at the Nahariya Junction in the city and connects it with the Upper Galilee and Safed. The city’s train and bus stations are near the intersection with Highway 89 and 4. Nahariya’s train station is the northernmost station. Sderot Ga’aton runs westward where the mouth of the Ga’aton River with the Mediterranean.
Its name comes from as the Hebrew word nahar which means river. It is a seaside resort on the sunny Mediterranean shoreline. The resort is easily accessible as it is at the end of the train line a few minutes from Rosh HaNikra with its famous white sandstone grottoes. Nahariya is a vibrant small city with a lively nucleus with a wide boulevard lined with shops, restaurants, bars and hotels and the seafront bars and restaurants.
Ruins of a 3,400-year-old Bronze Age citadel have been found near the beach on Balfour Street. The citadel was an administrative centre for mariners who sailed along the coast. There is evidence of commercial and cultural relations with Cyprus and the Mediterranean region. The fortress was destroyed four times through history.
A Byzantine church dedicated to St. Lazarus, was excavated in the 1970s. It was probably destroyed by fire during Persian invasion in 614.
The museum Lieberman House has an exhibition of the early days of Nahariya relating the story of the early German immigrants who chose the seafront patch of land between Akko and Rosh HaNikra despite the risks at settling a new area in the face of the local Arab villages. After purchasing the land from a Lebanese family, the immigrants set forth to work the land, building farms, plantations and roads.
The ruins of a 3,400-year-old Bronze Age citadel have been discovered near the beach on Balfour Street at a site known as Khirbet Kabarsa. There is a church from the Byzantine period which was excavated in the 1970s. Dedicated to St. Lazarus it was destroyed by fire probably during the Persian invasion in 614CE.
Founded by Dr. Selig Eugen Soskin in the 1934 Nahariya as an agricultural village. The company acquired an area of land from the Arab landowner family Toueini. The first two families settled in Nahariya on February 10, 1935 but was soon realized that agriculture was impractical and the town later focused on tourism taking advantage of the natural surroundings and beaches. Nahariya was designated a development town in the 1950s after the nearby ma’abara was integrated.
Nahariya has a Mediterranean climate. Winters are rainy and cool; summers are hot and muggy. Annual precipitation is about 650mm.