Getting to the Tiberias Marathon 2027, and getting home

Start times, and where the 2 pages disagree

Per the race site's participant information page (in Hebrew), the outer compound and kit pickup open at 04:30. Marathon and half marathon: gathering at 06:30, start at 07:00. 10 km: gathering at 07:15, start at 07:30. 5 km: gathering at 09:30, start at 10:00. The expo, in the Hof Gai hotel plaza, opens at 07:00. The organizers say times may shift slightly with the number of runners in each race, and recommend checking the site the evening before.

Where: per the map on the participant information page (in Hebrew), the gathering compound, start and finish are at Hof Gai beach in Tiberias. From Tiberias central bus station it is about 1.4 km, roughly 18 minutes on foot.

The English page of the same site lists times 30 minutes earlier: marathon and half marathon at 06:30, 10 km at 07:00 and 5 km at 09:30, and says the final schedule will be published before race day. This page follows the Hebrew one, where 06:30 is the gathering time. Rather than plan on a guess, ask the organizers: tiberiasmarathon2026@gmail.com.

Roads expected to close from 04:30

Per the organizers, the roads are expected to close at 04:30 on race day. The courses run along the western and southern shores of the Sea of Galilee. As of 26 October 2026 the race site has not published which roads close or a traffic map, so we do not know whether you can still drive to a car park after 04:30, or from which direction. That is a question for the organizers: tiberiasmarathon2026@gmail.com.

From Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Beer Sheva, the fastest route enters Tiberias from the west on road 77. At night, on empty roads, the drive to Hof Gai beach takes roughly 1 hour from Haifa, 1 hour 45 minutes from Tel Aviv, 2 hours 15 minutes from Jerusalem, and 2 hours 45 minutes from Beer Sheva.

Driving alone in the middle of the night before a race? You can also share the drive and the fuel with runners or supporters from your area. More on that below.

Parking: what the organizers say

This is everything the race site says about parking, as of 26 October 2026: regulated parking will be available across Tiberias and around the Kinneret compound, following the signs and the stewards, and it is recommended to arrive early and use public transport or organized shuttles. The site has no list of car parks, no parking map, and no shuttle of its own. If you need to know where to park, or whether there is a shuttle from your city, write to tiberiasmarathon2026@gmail.com.

When to leave home

An estimate only: your race's gathering time, minus the empty road drive time rounded up to the quarter hour. These times have no margin at all: finding parking, walking to the compound and collecting your kit on race morning all add time, and so do fog and rain. If you would rather not deal with closed roads, arrive before 04:30.

• Before the roads close. Be in Tiberias by 04:30. Leave Tel Aviv by 02:45, Jerusalem by 02:15, Haifa by 03:30, Beer Sheva by 01:45.
• 07:00 start, 42.2 and 21.1 km. Be in Tiberias by 06:30. Leave Tel Aviv by 04:45, Jerusalem by 04:15, Haifa by 05:30, Beer Sheva by 03:45.
• 07:30 start, 10 km. Be in Tiberias by 07:15. Leave Tel Aviv by 05:30, Jerusalem by 05:00, Haifa by 06:15, Beer Sheva by 04:30.
• 10:00 start, 5 km. Be in Tiberias by 09:30. Leave Tel Aviv by 07:45, Jerusalem by 07:15, Haifa by 08:30, Beer Sheva by 06:45.

Public transport on a Friday before dawn

There is no train to Tiberias. On the Ministry of Transport timetable for Fridays in November 2026 (January is not published yet), from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Beer Sheva, the only buses that reach Tiberias before the 07:00 and 07:30 starts are the Jerusalem night lines, 912 and 959. They leave at midnight and 00:30, on the night between Thursday and Friday, and reach Tiberias central bus station at about 02:10 and 02:35, about 2 hours before the compound opens.

The first daytime bus reaches the central bus station from Haifa (line 430) at about 07:10, from Tel Aviv (line 836) at about 08:55 and from Jerusalem (line 962) at about 09:20, and from there it is about 18 minutes on foot to Hof Gai beach. That is too late for the 07:00 and 07:30 starts. For the 5 km, with gathering at 09:30, the bus from Haifa or Tel Aviv may work, without much margin. We found no direct bus from Beer Sheva to Tiberias in the timetable. Check the timetable again nearer the date.

Kit pickup

Per the Hebrew participant information page, kit pickup opens at 04:30 on race morning, together with the outer compound. Any earlier pickup for 2027 has not been published. The race site home page still shows the 2026 notice: people who registered late collected their kit on Thursday from 15:00 to 20:00, or on race morning from 04:00 until the last start. That was 2026, and 2027 may be different.

Getting home on a Friday, before Shabbat

The marathon cut off is 6 hours, so about 13:00 for a 07:00 start. The half marathon has 3 hours, the 10 km 1 hour 30 minutes and the 5 km 50 minutes. Shabbat candle lighting on 8 January 2027 is 16:27 in Tiberias, 16:11 in Jerusalem, 16:20 in Haifa, 16:32 in Tel Aviv and 16:34 in Beer Sheva (per Hebcal).

With the drive times above, to be home before it you need to leave Tiberias by roughly 13:45 for Beer Sheva, 13:55 for Jerusalem, 14:45 for Tel Aviv and 15:20 for Haifa. Those times have no margin at all. If you finish the marathon near the cut off and live in Beer Sheva or Jerusalem, that leaves less than an hour, so arrange the way back in advance: with your supporters, or with runners heading to the same area.

Buses: on the November 2026 Friday timetable, between about 10:00 and 13:30, 10 buses leave Tiberias central bus station for Jerusalem (961, 962, 912), a bus leaves for Haifa (430, 434) about every 30 minutes, and for Tel Aviv (836) about every 40 minutes. The January times, including the last bus before Shabbat, are not published yet.

Staying in Tiberias the night before

Sleeping in Tiberias saves the drive in the middle of the night and the worry about the 04:30 road closure. Per the registration page, there is a pasta dinner at the race village in the Hof Gai hotel on Thursday 7 January at 19:00, with a voucher. The organizers point to their hotels page (in Hebrew) for booking a room.