Crusader Castle

North Coast


The wreck of a once-imposing Crusader castle, known in Latin as Castrum Pergrinorum and in French as Château Pèlerin (Pilgrims’ Castle), sits on a promontory about 750m west of Atlit Beach. It's inside a military base used for training by Israel’s marine commandos and so can’t be visited, but you can see it from the beach.

Built in the early 13th century, historians believe that at its height the castle held as many as 4000 soldiers. It was badly damaged in an 1837 earthquake, plundered for stone by the Ottomans soon after, and has remained skeletal ever since.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby North Coast attractions

1. Atlit

0.55 MILES

With brown-sugar sand and stiff breezes, Atlit is graced by good waves – but it's a shame about the backdrop of pylons and cranes (gaze towards the ruined…

2. Atlit Detention Camp

0.98 MILES

In 1939, as the situation of the Jews of Europe became increasingly dire, the British government issued a white paper limiting Jewish immigration to…

3. Nisco Museum

2.61 MILES

This offbeat collection of mechanical music instruments was assembled by New York–born Nisan Cohen, who's happy to play records from his Yiddish music…

4. Ein Hod Gallery

2.71 MILES

A good intro to Ein Hod's artistic community is this gallery of local sculptures and paintings. The exhibition space dates to 1953, when the creative…

5. Studio Magal

2.73 MILES

Ceramics (including Judaica), mosaics and expressionist paintings (oil and watercolour), the latter by Ben-Tzion Magal (1908–99).

6. Janco–Dada Museum

2.77 MILES

Glimpse into the creative mind of Marcel Janco at this 1983-built museum dedicated to his life and works. It was Janco’s idea to establish this community…

7. Beit Oliphant

6.17 MILES

Signposted as Beit Druze, this was the home of the Christian and early Zionist Sir Laurence Oliphant and his wife Alice between 1882 and 1887. The…

8. Shrine of Abu Ibrahim

6.2 MILES

This square little building is fronted with Jerusalem stone and topped with a small red dome. The shrine is dedicated to Abu Ibrahim, who the Druze…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "israel-and-the-palestinian-territories/mediterranean-coast/attractions/crusader-castle/a/poi-sig/1505754/361048",
      "destination": "North-Coast",
      "continent": "Middle-East",
      "country": "Israel",
      "region": "North-Coast",
      "position": "superzone"
    }