https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWa_MNm5x8The western complex – access to Masada National Park from the direction of Arad (Route 3199).

• The sound and light show – an audiovisual show held in the amphitheater.
• Roman siege engines – reconstruction of Roman siege engines.
• Overnight camping – permanent tents and campsite (for a fee).
• The ramp – ascent to the site up the ramp built by the Romans takes about 15 – 20 minutes.
• The ancient northern cisterns – a visit to the vast water cisterns carved out of the mountain.

The mountain plateau:

• The Northern Palace – the remains of Herod’s magnificent private palace, built on three levels, with mosaic floors, and reconstructed wall paintings.
• The synagogue – the remains of one of the only synagogues to have been preserved from Second Temple times.
• The Lots room – the room in which potshards were found bearing the names of the Sicarii living at Masada during the Revolt.
• The Byzantine church – the remains of the church of the hermit monks, with a mosaic floor and decorated walls.
• The Western Palace – a spacious palace built during the time of Herod.
• The bathhouse – the remains of a Roman-style bathhouse with many rooms.
• The commandant’s office – a set of rooms decorated with reconstructed wall paintings.
• The southern cistern – a very large cistern for collecting water on the mountain plateau.

The eastern complex:

Access to the Masada National Park from the direction of the Dead Sea (Route 90). At the eastern entrance, there is also a cafeteria, restaurant, souvenir shop, and first aid station.

• Masada Museum – the Yigal Yadin Masada Museum has been open since 2007, a gift of the Shuki Levy Foundation. A visit to the museum can also include a theatrical narrative experience, giving visitors the background and setting the scene before visiting the site itself.
• The cable car – from the eastern entrance complex, a modern cable car goes up to the Snake Path Gate at the top of the mountain.
• The Snake Path – visitors can also ascend to the top of Masada via the Snake Path – which takes about an hour going up, and 30 minutes coming back down.

Details (main points of interest)

The western entrance complex – access to Masada National park from the direction of Arad (Route 3199).

• Sound and light show – as night falls, sound and light shows are presented in the amphitheater at the entrance, telling the story of settlement at Masada.
• Roman siege engines – at the foot of the ramp are reconstructions of Roman siege engines, used by Universal Studios when filming “Masada” in 1979.
• Overnight camping – with permanent tents and camping areas. The campsite is equipped with toilets, hot showers, and cooking areas, for a fee.
• The ramp – to the west of Masada is a ridge that is just 60 m lower than the top of the mountain. In the year 73 CE, when the Romans besieged the Zealots who had made their stronghold on the mountain, they took advantage of a natural rock-fall at this site and built an earthen ramp over it, supported by wooden beams. After a few months the Romans were able to raise a siege tower on the ramp, and destroy the wall. In response, the besieged occupants of the mountain built an improvised wall, but this was torched by the Romans. Above the ramp, a section of the casemate wall is missing, the section that was breached during the siege and through which the Romans entered Masada.
• The northern cisterns – Herod built an impressively large water collection system. Dams built along the Nachal Masada riverbed diverted the floodwaters into channels, which filled 12 vast water cisterns on two levels, quarried out of the northern slopes of Masada. These cisterns could hold 40,000 m³ of water, which was then carried up through the Water Gate by pack animals, to storage cisterns on the mountain plateau.