Shooting stars night 2026 - program and costs

After a period in which we designed and got agreements, (btw, thanks for your patience❤🙏) finally we can release the program of the shooting stars night in the Ramon Crater we like to do every year!

The trips has been designed for 24h full immersion in the desert, to get the best of the experience while escaping the hottest hours.

First of all, we chose the 13th-14th August because of an ideal combination of bus availability, end of the week time and moon and stars calendar (we are avoiding the days in which the moon is bright, because it would ruin the experience). Typically, the Perseids peak is around 11th-12th August, but these days are in the middle of the week and it would be more challenging to coordinate everyone.

Costs and conditions

What are the costs we expect to have?

• Bus ride (the only mandatory and complicated one!) 
• Entrance to the Alpaca farm (facultative)
• Entrance to Mitzpe Ramon visitor center (facultative)
• Entrance to Avdat citadel (facultative)
• Morning breakfast/meal

The Bus ride fee

        

        This is the most complicated issue to deal with this trip, because it requires trust among people                 who don't know each other and it is strictly linked to the final number of participants. We asked             for a quote, so the price we got is for approximately 30 participants with a big bus, which is 180             NIS per person. 

        The price can change if we don't reach the estimated quota or if we need to switch to a smaller                  vehicle. Last moment change in the number of participants could affect the price too! That's why           we ask your cooperation in following our requests and let us know of any change of your mind               before we pay.

What about the meals?

• Last year we organized such as each one could bring their own food. We intend to keep the same format this year.
• Some of us has camping equipment such as mini stoves and cutlery in case someone wants to heat up their food.
• If we want, we can organize a small expense for having common food, or a partial potluck where we can exchange recipes and tastes☺
• The only real meal we will do in the campground is the dinner; we advise you to have some snack for the early morning, and we will bring coffee to wake everyone up!

How do we pay?

• if the trip is confirmed, we will collect the money for the bus within two days and we will pay the bus company by transfer. We will publish the receipt and we will involve the participants in the steps of the payment, since this is the most delicate part (everyone needs to trust each other!).
• In order to be clear and loyal to each other, we will ask you to sign our document that testify as a payment agreement. We ask you to return it while paying the bus fee.
• We are going to collect money via bank transfer (we will send you the bank coordinates) or for the ones who can be in TAU, we can accept cash.
• The ones outside TAU who can't pay with the bank account can coordinate with a fellow and give cash to that person, while letting us know that the person is paying for two people.
• We asked for the full price with the receipts to be able to take action should something go wrong (as a matter of clarity, transparency and legality). 
• The rest of the trip is up to you. Bring the money (or the credit card) according to what you wish to do!

What if the trip does not happen or I can't make it anymore?

• If the trip does not happen and we manage to get the money back from the company, we commit to return the money to all of you, but this depends on the bus company (we will make sure of this detail).
• If you can't make it, notify us ASAP, but we have a rule for which if you are counted as participant and you paid the bus fee, we won't return your money because your withdrawal means that everyone has to pay more the bus ride, and we have to negotiate or deal with problems posed by the bus company. 

Pick up points

On the 13th, we will start with picking up people who signed for the bus in Tel Aviv, in three specific spots (sorry, they are not negotiable according to the bus company rules), which are Tel Aviv University (gate 5), Savidor train station and a bus stop in the area of haHagana train/Bus station. 

We agreed with the bus company we will start the pick up at 14:00 (at TAU) and then we will head south. We plan to have all participants accommodated on the bus in 30 minutes, so we stress the importance of being on time, and communicate with us for any issue. 

Check HERE the itinerary with the locations! 

Legend

-yellow stars: activities on the 13th

-purple stars: activities on the 14th

MUST HAVE

Check on THIS list what you need, what you have and what you miss! And let us know! Feel free to download the document for yourself.

On the way to the campground

The travel towards Mizpe Ramon will take approximately 2 hours, and we have planned a stop in the middle for snack and bathroom needs, therefore we recommend to leave Tel Aviv with your full belly, therefore eat before leaving and make sure you have food for the night and the morning, other than your favorite snacks.

We are also planning to stop at Ben Gurion Memorial site as there is a fantastic landscape where we can take nice pics and walk around for a few minutes. 

At sunset time we plan to be already at the campground called Borot Lotz (LINK); unfortunately, we had to revise our plan because the fantastic #Khan Be'erot campsite we usually go to is fully booked and we are a big group, not three-four people.

Borot Lotz could be seen very close to Egypt, but it is within the territory of Israel and we have been there before, it's a very safe place, although insulated. It is 37 minutes away from the city of Mitzpe Ramon and it has basic facilities (bathrooms and some shade), but the sky view is amazing! And the campground is for free!

At this point, we will coordinate among us to make sure that everyone has a place to sleep and proper accommodation. We will discuss this in the group.

Very likely, there will be many people camping there, but there is plenty of space for everyone! The shooting stars night (especially at the peak of the meteor show) are super popular in Israel. 

The night in Mitzpe Ramon

The weather in the Crater can change sensibly day to night. During the day, for example, the temperatures are very high (above 30 degree Celsius), but at night they can drop to 15-16 degree Celsius. 

Last year we were in the middle of  a heatwave, so the temperature at night was actually high (25 degrees Celsius plus or minus), but it is not the norm. Therefore, we suggest you to bring warm clothes and blankets, either for sleeping and hanging out outside to stare at the stars. It can also be windy, and this is even more breezy! Thus, for the best experience we recommend to bring with you a mat or a blanket to put on the ground to enjoy the stars by laying down, and a blanket / sleeping bag to cover yourself with.

A tent is recommended, but for the adventurous ones it is possible to sleep outside with a good mattress and a sleeping bag.

The next morning

In the morning we will pack up and we will have a proper breakfast in the bar close to the Visitor center (Beit Ramona) and then we will have a couple of hour around the city where one can join us to visit the Alpaca Farm (a couple of kilometers outside Mizpe Ramon, prices HERE) or just chill out in the shade, or visit the Sculpture Garden, or the Visitor Center if you are a fan of geology and biodiversity! And since the 14th is a Friday morning, shops and places will still be open, so you might want to have a stroll in the Spice Quarter of the city, which now has turned in an artist community with places to stay or where to grab something to drink and eat.

At 11:00 circa we will leave the town and we will visit the archeological site of the Avdat ruins, which are the ancient remains of a hilltop Nabataean city and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site was located along the Incense Route in the Negev Desert of Israel, and today it is still possible to see a Roman-era tower, a Byzantine church, and an ancient winepress.

Coming back

In the early afternoon - around 13:30 we will pack up and come back to Tel Aviv, possibly around 17:00. The same stops we arranged for the pick up will be also the drop off. One can change their drop off place (for example instead of going to Savidor, they stop in HaHagana) but the bus driver won't allow any modification to the time table.

Our recommendation is to check very well the timetables for the people who come from afar, since traveling on Friday evening could be challenging. If more than one person is traveling in the same direction, consider using the Sherut or the Taxi.

Do you have further questions? Ask Valentina or Bhavana!