Haifa Travel Guide

Some compare Haifa, beautifully situated on a hill overlooking a broad bay, to San Francisco or Naples. Israel's third-largest metropolitan area (population 300,000) and the capital of the north, Haifa is like a triple-decker sandwich -- the industrial area that comprises Israel's most important port is the lowest tier; the business district (Hadar), higher up, is the second; and the Carmel district, with its panoramic vistas, nestled even higher on the upper pine slopes, constitutes the third. Just to the south of Haifa are magnificent beaches that locals flock to, but few tourists know about. Plans are now in progress to convert these unspoiled beach areas into Haifa's' own "Riviera"; you'll see a great deal of hotel, apartment, and marina construction underway along the shoreline during the next few years. Like much of the intensive development going on along Israel's Mediterranean coast, this project is controversial, with environmentalists and beach lovers who had wanted to turn the area into a national park opposing the loss of Israel's most accessible stretch of natural shoreline.

Haifa Today -- Very different from either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, the city is a pleasure to visit just to get a sense of its beauty and lifestyle. In a society unlike any other in the Middle East, Jews and Arabs live and work side by side; 25% of Haifa's population is either Muslim or Christian. In 1898, Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism wrote his prophecy of the Jewish homeland that would one day be reborn: "Next to our temples, you find Christian, Mohammedan, Buddhist, and Brahmin houses of divine worship . . . my comrades and I make no distinction between people. We ask for no one's religion or race but let him be a Man, that is enough." With its Baha'i Center, churches, synagogues, and mosques, as well as its politically progressive, hard working Jewish and Arabic population, Haifa, more than any other city in Israel, has come to fit that vision.

Haifa is a good base for exploring the northwestern part of Israel. You won't need to rent a car if you base yourself here; many organized day tours originate in Haifa, or, because Haifa is a major transportation hub, you can just use public transportation to explore cities such as Akko or even Safed on your own. In the evening, after a day of touring the area, Haifa offers a good choice of restaurants, films, concerts, and urban strolling to keep you busy.

A Look at Haifa's Past -- Almost every square foot of Israel has been populated since earliest ages, and Haifa is no exception. The prophet Elijah knew this territory well -- from the top of Mount Carmel he won a major victory over 450 priests of Baal during the reign of King Ahab and his notorious Phoenician wife, Jezebel. In late biblical times, the Phoenician port of Zalemona thrived here, with predominantly Greek settlers, and the Jewish agricultural village of Sycaminos (sometimes called Shikmona) clung to the northwestern peak of Mount Carmel (3rd-c. Talmudic literature mentions both towns).

The Crusaders called the area Caife, Cayphe, and sometimes Caiphas. Once a center of glass and cochineal-purple industries, Haifa was destroyed when the Arabs reconquered the area, and it virtually slept until the late 19th century, when Jewish immigration helped bring about a revival.

Haifa got its first shot in the arm in 1905, when the Haifa-Damascus Railway was built. The Balfour Declaration and British occupation boosted it some more, as did a 1919 railway link to Egypt. But the real kickoff came when the British built its modern harbor -- an arduous enterprise begun in 1929 and completed in 1934. Thereupon Haifa began its transformation into the vital trading and communications center it is today, taking on major importance as a shipping base, naval center, and terminal point for oil pipelines.

In 1898, when he visited Palestine and sailed past the spot that was to become modern Haifa, Theodor Herzl had a prophetic vision about the place: "Huge liners rode at anchor . . . at the top of the mountain there were thousands of white homes and the mountain itself was crowned with imposing villas. . . . A beautiful city had been built close to the deep blue sea." Herzl recorded this experience in his book Altneuland (Old New Land), and miraculously, Haifa developed precisely along the lines he predicted. Herzl's dream came alive for hundreds of thousands of homeless, scarred refugees who arrived here after the Nazi Holocaust. As they crowded the decks for their first glimpse of the Promised Land, the hills of Haifa must have seemed like a vision of heaven.

On April 21, 1948, Haifa became the first major city controlled by Jews after the end of the British Mandate and the U.N. Partition decision in 1947. Although Haifa's previous growth had already spurred development of residential areas such as Bat Galim, Hadar Ha-Carmel, and Neve-Shaanan, the new wave of immigration (more than 100,000) gave rise to others: Ramat Ramez, Kiryat Elizer, Neveh Yosef, and Kiryat Shprinzak. Haifa Bay, east of the port, became the backbone of the country's heavy industries, with oil refineries and associated industries, foundries, glass factories, fertilizer and chemical industries, cement works, textile manufacturing, and yards for shipbuilding and repair. Israelis are fond of saying that "Tel Aviv plays while Jerusalem prays. But Haifa works!" A visit here is filled with pleasures and new insights into what Israel is all about.