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Where is the country of Israel located? Israel is a country in the Middle East, with a coastal area along the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Present-day Israel has existed since 1948 and is the only country in the world with a Jewish majority. In recent decades, this has regularly led to tensions and conflicts with neighboring countries, where the majority of the population is Muslim and Islam often leaves its mark on politics and society.

The temperatures in Israel can vary considerably and in the area of ​​precipitation patterns and amounts of precipitation there are also reasonably large variations to be observed within Israel. Israel therefore has to deal with three different climate types. Along the coast there is a warm Mediterranean climate (type Csa according to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification), the northern parts of the Negev have a steppe climate and the south of the rocky Negev desert has a typical desert climate.

Drought

The total amount of precipitation that falls annually in Israel varies quite a bit, but one thing occurs throughout Israel and that is the drought in the summer months. From May to September, rain (and snow) is virtually non-existent. In summer it is not only extremely dry, the sun is also very prominent and you see a completely clear sky for many days. In most places, an average amount of sunshine of 13 hours per day is observed, with a theoretical maximum of 14 hours.

Temperature

Winters are mostly mild, although snow and cold can certainly occur in the mountain areas from November to March. Some years, cold and snow even reach areas that should normally measure values ​​well above freezing. For Eilat on the Red Sea, the maximum temperature in winter is almost always around a comfortable 18 to 24 and it usually stays well above zero at night. On the Mediterranean it is a bit cooler in winter, but frost only comes a few days a year. In the spring, the thermometer takes significant steps forward, eventually arriving at long-term averages of 29 to 38 degrees Celsius.

Climate figures

The figures below are based on long-term average climate statistics. The temperatures are displayed in degrees Celsius (°C).

Best time to visit Israel

Do you want to know when is the best time to travel to Israel? You can determine the best time to travel to a destination based on the weather and climate. In addition, there are other factors that are not directly related to the weather and that can influence the best travel periods for a travel destination. Think, for example, of holidays or festive periods, which makes traveling more interesting or not, because daily life comes to a standstill as a result. The independent state of Israel was established in 1948 and is located in the Middle East. The location in this region results in four climate types: the warm Mediterranean climate, the cold steppe climate, the warm steppe climate and the warm desert climate. In the case of Israel, you can divide these four types across the country from north to south. The northern half of Israel has the Mediterranean climate, the southern part where the Negev desert is located has a warm desert climate and the central part has the steppe climates (warm in the west and cold in the east). On average you can call Israel warm and quite dry. As you go further south, the precipitation decreases with an average of only 20 to 40 millimeters of rain per year in the seaside resort of Eilat. That is less than in any given month in the Netherlands. In terms of temperature, you can see that the winters in Israel can be mild to quite cool locally, which can lead to snowfall in higher elevations. In the summer it is hot everywhere in Israel and it can get downright hot in the warmer places.

Best months

If you want to travel to Israel, you can consider spring and autumn as the best time to travel. For much of the country, May, June, September and the first half of October are ideal. If you want to include places like Lake Tiberias, the Dead Sea and Eilat in a tour through Israel, we would rather choose April or the second half of October. It is otherwise too hot in those places to experience it as pleasant.

Beach Holiday in Israel

Thanks to its location on the Red Sea to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel is a great destination for a holiday in the sun. The best known and by far the most popular resorts are Eilat in the south and Tel Aviv in the west. The months of April, October and November are ideal for a beach holiday in Eilat. From May to September it is actually too hot there. The winter months of December to March are just a bit too cool to choose Eilat as a winter sun destination. you can be lucky with temperatures of 25-26 degrees, but in these months with 20-22 degrees it can also be just a bit too cool to sunbathe on the beach. For Tel Aviv and many other Mediterranean seaside resorts, the period from mid-May to the end of September is ideal for a holiday in the sun. it is then warm, sunny and dry. In July and August it can sometimes be a bit too hot, but on average it is fine on this side of Israel.