Eilat

Introducing Eilat

Wedged between Jordan and Egypt, and separated from the Israel of international headlines by 200km of desert, Eilat is a resort town where glitzy, ziggurat-like hotels line an artificial lagoon and glass-bottomed boats ply deteriorating coral reefs.

Its founding fathers – convicts sent here in the 1950s to build the city – now mix with tie-dyed beach bums selling trinkets from India and weekend holidaymakers in search of sin. With an average winter temperature of 21°C, the town is heaving all year, but come summer the temperature rises and so does the sounds of shrieking 14 year olds in bikinis, soldiers on R & R and elderly Russian women who brook no age limit in the wearing of short shorts.

The Miami-style scene is somewhat diminished by coarse and cluttered beaches, and for most visitors Eilat’s real appeal is in its surrounding desert mountains and canyons. Divers, snorkellers, sunbathers and anyone else searching for the Red Sea’s magical underwater should head posthaste for the Egyptian Sinai.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009