Ein Yabrud

The area is access sensitive!

Directions:

The trip takes about 20 minutes by car from Ramallah. There are two ways to get to the location by car depending on whether or not the road next to the Beit El settlement is open.

Option 1 (if the road is open):
From Al-Manara circle in Ramallah drive northeast on Ersal Street towards Bir Zeit for about 4 km. Take a slight right onto route 463 and follow it for about a kilometre. Take a left onto route 466 (the old Nablus road) and follow it for about 3.6 kilometres northwards past Beit El settlement (on your right) and Jalazun refugee camp (on your left). When you reach the intersection at the Dura El Qari’a village take a right, pass through the village and follow the winding road up the valley. After roughly 2.5km, you will pass a school on your right and arrive at a sharp left turn that leads to the village of Ein Yabrud. Take a right here and follow the road past large houses until the asphalt ends and a dirt road continues. Follow the dirt road for about 100 meters and park the car. Accessing the cliff is a little tricky since there is no easily discernible trail leading to it. Hike south-west wards from the car just slightly down into the valley. Keep to the left (eastern) side of the valley as you get deeper into it. After about 5 minutes the Falahi Sector will appear on your left.

Option 2 (if the road is closed):
From Al-Manara circle in Ramallah drive northeast on Ersal Street towards Bir Zeit for 4 km. Don’t turn right onto route 463 but continue on the road for another 400 meters. In Surda, take a right up a steep hill towards the large golden mosque. If the main road is closed, there will be plenty of other cars using this route. Take a right at the T-intersection and follow the road until it joins the old Nablus road in front of Beit El settlement. Take a left and drive northwards leaving Beit El settlement on your right and Jalazun camp on your left. From here, follow the directions in Option 1 (above).

Option 3 (public transportation):
The Ein Yabrud cliffs can be reached easily and cheaply by “service,” the yellow minibuses that are omnipresent in Palestine. The service to Ein Yabrud village departs at the tunnel directly across the street from “Area D” youth hostel near Jamel Abdul Nasser mosque. This is right next to the big bus station for buses to Jerusalem. The service to Ein Yabrud costs roughly 7 shekels. On weekdays it runs during daylight hours but only departs one the bus is full. If it is not busy this can take up to 40 minutes. On weekends the connections are far less frequent, especially on Fridays it is almost non-existent. Ask the service driver to drop you off at the school just before the road takes a sharp lefthand turn at the entrance to the village. You can usually hail a service heading back to Ramallah from this same point at the end of the day.