landmark
Old Jaffa
One of the oldest port cities in the world with 4,000 years of history, now an artists' quarter with galleries, restaurants, and views of Tel Aviv's skyline.
46 km · about 55 min drive
AsiaIsraelSouthern District
Ashkelon
Southern District, Israel · Asia
About Ashkelon
Ashkelon sits on the route: 10 minutes from Be'er Ganim, 46km from Old Jaffa.
Ashkelon is in Southern District, Israel, with about 140,000 people. You drive on the right here. The nearest town is Be'er Ganim, about 5 km away.
Ashkelon ( ASH-kə-lon; Hebrew: אשקלון, romanized: ʾAšqəlōn, IPA: [ʔaʃkeˈlon] ; Arabic: عسقلان, romanized: ʿAsqalān) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, 50 kilometres (30 mi) south of Tel Aviv, and 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of the border with the GazaRead more
Strip.
The modern city is named after the ancient seaport of Ascalon, which was destroyed in 1270 and whose remains are on the southwestern edge of the modern metropolis.
The Israeli city, first known as Migdal (Hebrew: מגדל), was founded in 1949 approximately 4 km inland from ancient Ascalon at the Palestinian town of al-Majdal (Arabic: الْمِجْدَل, romanized: al-Mijdal). Its inhabitants had been exclusively Muslims and Christians, and the area had been allocated to the Arab State in the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine; on the eve of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War the inhabitants numbered 10,000 and in October 1948, the city accommodated thousands more Palestinian refugees from nearby villages.
The town was conquered by Israeli forces on 5 November 1948, by which time much of the Arab population had fled, leaving some 2700 inhabitants, of whom Israeli soldiers deported 500 in December 1948, and most of the rest were deported by 1950. Today, the city's population is almost entirely Israeli Jews.
Migdal, as it was called in Hebrew, was initially repopulated by Jewish immigrants and demobilized soldiers. It was subsequently renamed multiple times, first as Migdal Gaza, Migdal Gad and Migdal Ashkelon, until in 1953, the coastal neighbourhood of Afridar was incorporated, and the name Ashkelon was adopted for the combined town. By 1961, Ashkelon was ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000. In 2024 the population of Ashkelon was 166,864, making it the third-largest city in Israel's Southern District.
Where to Stay in Ashkelon
Compare prices across Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, and more. Select your dates to see availability.
Filter presets
Pick your must-haves once: provider links open pre-filtered. Each filter lists which sites it applies to.
Compare before you book!
Prices can vary significantly between platforms. We recommend checking at least 2-3 sites to find the best deal for your stay in Ashkelon.
Explore the Area
Discover famous landmarks, scenic roads, and more near Ashkelon.
Loading map...
Frequently Asked Questions
What is there to see near Ashkelon?
Within an hour or so of Ashkelon: Old Jaffa (46 km), Abu Hassan (Ali Karavan) (46 km), Yad Vashem (58 km).
Are there any good drives near Ashkelon?
The nearest famous roads are Scorpions Ascent (Ma'ale Akrabim) and King's Highway.
Where is Ashkelon?
Ashkelon is in Southern District, Israel, about 5 km from Be'er Ganim.
Road trip
Drive to Ashkelon
Add it as a stop and the planner works out the driving, the nights and what's worth seeing on the way.
Start planningWhat's nearby?
Swipe through places to go
Places within a drive of Ashkelon. Keep the ones you like and add them to your trip.
Explore now
Quick Information
- Population
- 144,073
- Continent
- Asia
- Country
- Israel
- Region
- Southern District
- Timezone
- Asia/Jerusalem
- Coordinates
- 31.6693, 34.5715
Tags
Worth the detour from Ashkelon
3 notable places within an hour's drive.
restaurant
Abu Hassan (Ali Karavan)
A Jaffa hummus counter running since 1971, famous for masabacha made with whole chickpeas and extra tahini. It sells out and closes by mid-afternoon, and the queue starts well before that.
46 km · about 55 min drive
museum
Yad Vashem
Israel's official memorial to the Holocaust, with deeply moving exhibits and a striking modernist museum built into a mountainside.
58 km · about 65 min drive
Nearby Destinations
Other places to explore near Ashkelon.
Plan a trip around Ashkelon
Your trip starts here
Plan a road trip from Ashkelon.
Pick the days, drop in the stops, and share it with whoever's coming.