If you haven’t visited the Sataf Forest in the Jerusalem Hills recently, this is a great time to do so, especially early in the morning before it gets too hot. Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund has inaugurated a new visitor center that will offer visitors information about the site, including the ancient agricultural practices there, as well as maps for trails.
Officials from KKL-JNF say they hope to increase the number of visitors to the site, which already sees about a million people each year. It is easily accessible from Jerusalem but gives you the feeling of being in nature.
The $4.5 million visitor center has a unique roof. Half of it is solar powered and produces enough energy to power the entire center, while half is covered with vegetation meant to attract wildlife. KKL-JNF is proud of the fact that about a third of the funding for the project came from the Swiss Friends of KKL-JNF. There is a large parking lot, and both parking and entrance are free.
The site hosts two natural springs, where young kids were splashing around right under a sign that forbids entry into the water, apparently because there are no lifeguards. During the week, the site is not crowded at all, although it can get busy on weekends.
“We understand amid two years of war the value of being in nature,” said Ifat Ovadia-Luski, chairwoman of KKL-JNF.
There are well-marked trails that lead to the spring as well as the 8 km. Har Eitan loop that is popular with walkers.
The French-style café for after a hiking session
With all that hiking, you’re bound to get hungry. Sataf is a new French-style café that offers excellent pastries. (I made a point of tasting several of them as a gift to my readers. No need to thank me.)
Baker Stephanie Bitton had a café in Moshav Ya’ara near the Lebanese border, which closed, although the factory is still open. One of the pastries at Sataf is named after Biton’s nephew, Yorai Cohen, who was killed on October 7.
The pastry, which was Yorai’s favorite dessert, is a shell filled with crème patisserie and a dollop of passion fruit on top. There is a photo of Yorai next to the dessert and cards with QR codes that tell his story.
There are also sandwiches and salads, including several vegan options. While all of the pastries are made in Bitton’s factory, which has a mehadrin teudah (high-level kashrut certificate), Sataf is open on Shabbat, so it does not have a teudah.
To make things more confusing, if you put “Café Sataf” in Waze, you end up at a nearby coffee food truck, not Sataf, which is open every day from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.