Banyas waterfall, Natural cascade in Safed Subdistrict, Israel

Banyas Waterfall plunges about 10 meters into a natural pool and is part of the Hermon Stream within Banias Nature Reserve. The water flows over smooth rock faces and collects in a turquoise-colored pool before continuing downstream through a narrow canyon.

The area has been an important site for centuries with settlements from Roman and Byzantine periods. Archaeological finds show that people used and revered this place since ancient times.

Banias takes its name from Pan, the Greek god of shepherds, worshipped here in a cave-sanctuary above the spring. Herod the Great built a temple of white limestone to Augustus beside it, and Herod Philip founded the city of Caesarea Philippi around 3 BCE. Visitors can still see the grotto, altar niches cut into the cliff and the temple's foundation walls.

An elevated walkway runs along the stream and offers continuous views of the rushing water and surrounding landscape. The path is well marked and most visitors find the viewpoints without difficulty.

The spring that feeds the fall rises at the foot of Mount Hermon and is one of the sources of the Jordan, which leaves the reserve and runs south to the Sea of Galilee. The pool below the drop sits at the head of a canyon that walkers follow down to the Banias spring cave.