There are four routes within the park — the Acropolis Trail with red markings, the Roman Army Camp Trail, with red and green trail markings, the Winepresses Trail, with purple, blue, red and green tail markings, and the Caves Trail with blue and red trail markings. None of this is particularly intuitive, and you will need to decide how much walking you wish to do and how much time you have available. Most people will confine themselves to the Acropolis Trail, which is an easy loop and takes about 1½ hours, and 2which can be combined with the Roman Army Camp trail for another half an hour. The brochure describes the duration and level of challenge for each of the trails and what you will be seeing.

 

The entrance pavilion is by the lower parking lot. It contains a model of Avdat in the Nabatean period and a model of the bathhouse. A short movie can be viewed about the Nabatean traders in 15 languages. There is a display of the Incense Route and the goods that were typically transported. This pavilion contains the only restrooms for the complex.

 

Of interest, and it can be viewed from the entrance pavilion, is a vineyard containing vines from exactly the same species as those grown in the Byzantine period. Everyone is waiting to find out how the wine will turn out!

 

For the Acropolis Route, drive up to the upper parking lot for the fortress. This was built in the center of the settlement and used for assemblies and as a refuge for the residents at times of danger. There are also a few remnants of the Nabatean settlement from the Early Roman and the Late Roman periods.

 

You will first come across a Roman tower (#2 in the brochure). It has an inscription in Greek “With good fortune Zeus Obada, help Irenius who built this tower with good augers in the year 188 with the help of the architect Wailos of Petra and Avtichos.” Zeus Obada was probably King Obada II, who was worshipped as a god by the city’s inhabitants. Continue to the street of the Byzantine Quarter (4), which was settled in the Late Roman period. Follow the map to the winepress (14). This has storage cells, a reading floor and collecting vats, and offers a spectacular view of Wadi Sin and Wadit Avdat where the grapes were grown.

 

There are two churches here. The southern Church of St. Theodoros (18) was both a church and active monastery. In the atrium of the church is a model of the church and the atrium is surrounded by rooms where the monks would have lived. The church has a number of marble tombstones with inscriptions dating to 541 to 618 CE. The earliest is that of the martyr Theodoros, for whom the church is named.

 

 The northern church (19) is the oldest church in Avdat. Alongside it is a baptistery for adults and children. Next to this is a reconstructed portion of a gate, the only remnant of a Nabatean temple (21). Inscriptions from the 3rd century CE reveal that this was a temple to Zeus-Obada. The dedication inscription carved into the gate’s lintel is dated to 268 CE. There is an explanatory sign about the Incense Route at the lookout next to the gate.

 

It is worth going to the southeastern gate of the fortress (11) for the view of the Avdat Plateau, the location of the Incense Route, and a Roman army camp. At the foot of the tower is a water channel (13) that drained rainwater from the streets to a large cistern (13).

 

At this point, you will turn back to the upper parking lot. Alternatively, you can continue on the Roman Army Camp Trail, which also returns to the upper parking lot. This is an easy trail, adds about ½ hour and includes the Nabatean settlement (8), Roman army camp (9), pottery workshop, and farmhouse (10).