Eilat is Israel's corner of guaranteed sunshine: at the country's southern tip, where the Negev Desert sinks into the warm, clear waters of the Red Sea, this resort city offers beaches, diving and relaxation 365 days a year. From its shore you can see the mountains of Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia all at once, a landscape of borders and desert surrounding a sea of intense blue.
Its greatest treasure lies underwater: the Red Sea coral reef, the only one in Israel, a garden of corals, colourful fish, turtles and rays that you can explore with a snorkel just a few metres from the shore or by diving deeper. On top of that there is the Underwater Observatory, the coral reserve, desert trips —Timna, the Red Canyon— and the nearby legendary Petra, in Jordan.
This guide tells you how to make the most of Eilat: where to dive and snorkel, which reserve and which parks to visit, how to look after the fragile reef, how to get around, when to go and how to combine the sea with desert adventure. It is a tourist city in a region of sensitive borders; we cover it with facts, context and respect, so you can enjoy the Red Sea safely and well informed.
The Eilat area, at the end of the Gulf of Aqaba, has a long history as a crossing point and trading post: caravan routes linking the Mediterranean with Arabia and Africa passed through here, and biblical tradition places the port of Ezion-Geber, associated with King Solomon, nearby. Over the centuries, the site was coveted for its strategic value as an outlet to the Red Sea. In its modern form, Eilat was born practically from scratch after the creation of the State of Israel: in 1949, at the end of the first Arab-Israeli war, Israeli forces reached the coast and established the country's presence there, giving Israel its only outlet to the Red Sea. Since then it has grown as a port and, above all, as a tourist destination, taking advantage of its year-round sunny climate and the coral reef. Today it is a resort city in a very sensitive border area, neighbouring Jordan's Aqaba and Egypt's Sinai. The detailed history is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The great desert of the south and the lowest point on Earth: the fortress of Masada, the oases of the Dead Sea, the Bedouin heritage of the Negev and the Red Sea at Eilat.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, where Eilat stands today, has been a crossroads for thousands of years. Here, at the end of a long arm of the Red Sea wedged between deserts, the routes linking the Mediterranean with Arabia, East Africa and the Indian Ocean all meet. Whoever controlled this spot held a strategic key: the southern outlet to the great trading seas of the ancient world.
The region's history is tied to copper. In the nearby Timna Valley, to the north, some of the oldest copper mines in the world were worked more than 3,000 years ago. The Egyptians and local peoples mined them, and left behind tunnels, camps and even a temple to the goddess Hathor. That metal was essential in ancient times, and it gave economic weight to an area that was otherwise dry and almost empty.
Biblical tradition places the port of Ezion-Geber in this area. It is linked to King Solomon, and according to the stories, sea expeditions set out from there for the legendary land of Ophir in search of gold. The place names Eilat and Elot also appear in ancient texts as points on the edge of the desert. Whatever archaeology can or cannot confirm, these references show how early this corner of the gulf found its place in the region's memory.
Through Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the settlement on the gulf passed between different peoples and empires. It was almost always a stopping point rather than a major city. The Nabataeans, the same trading people who built Petra (now in Jordan, not far away), ruled the region's caravan routes for centuries. They carried incense, spices and other goods between Arabia and the Mediterranean, and the gulf was one of their outlets.
Control of the area changed hands several times: first with Roman and then Byzantine expansion, and later with the arrival of Islam in the 7th century. Nearby Aqaba (Ayla), on what is now the Jordanian side, was the more important settlement, a port and a stop on the pilgrimage route to Mecca. Crusaders and Muslims fought over the gulf during the Crusades, and Pharaoh's Island, off the Sinai coast, still has the remains of a fortress from that time.
During the long centuries of Ottoman rule, the gulf remained a remote desert area with few inhabitants, crossed by Bedouin tribes and caravans. The resort town we know today did not exist. There was little more than an outpost, and a landscape of mountains and desert dropping into an extraordinarily blue sea. The real transformation of this corner only came in the 20th century, when modern borders appeared.
Modern Eilat was built almost from nothing in the mid-20th century, as the State of Israel was created and fought the wars that came with it. In 1947 the UN passed a resolution proposing to split British Mandate Palestine into two states. When Israel declared independence in 1948, war broke out, and Israeli forces pushed south across the Negev desert. In March 1949, in the final phase of that first Arab-Israeli war, Operation Uvda brought them to the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba. There they raised an improvised flag (the 'Ink Flag') at what would become the country's southernmost point.
Reaching the coast gave Israel an outlet to the Red Sea, a hugely valuable strategic access point. It opened a door to the Indian Ocean and East Asia that did not depend on the Suez Canal. The town of Eilat was founded on that spot over the following years, built from scratch as a port and border town in a very harsh setting of desert and extreme heat.
Across the narrow bay lay Jordanian Aqaba, and not far off was the border with Egypt and Sinai. Being so close to its neighbours made the gulf a flashpoint in later conflicts: the blockade of Israel's access to the Red Sea was one of the factors that led up to the wars of 1956 and 1967. After Israel signed peace agreements with Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994), the border situation became stable. Eilat and Aqaba became peaceful neighbours, although the region is still geopolitically sensitive.
In its first decades, Eilat was mainly a port and border post. Its small population put up with isolation and an extreme climate. But people soon realised that this corner had two treasures with huge tourist potential. The sun shines practically 365 days a year, and underwater there is an extraordinarily rich Red Sea coral reef, the only one in Israel.
From the 1960s and 70s onwards, and more strongly in the decades that followed, Eilat reinvented itself as a destination for sun, beach and diving holidays. Hotels, a marina and a seafront promenade went up, along with the coral reserve and attractions such as the Underwater Observatory. Because the town is so far from the rest of the country, it was given a special tax status to boost its growth: it is exempt from Israeli VAT, which still makes some purchases and services a little cheaper there today.
Eilat became Israel's big winter resort and an international destination, especially for Europeans looking for sun in the cold season. It has a warm sea and a reef, spectacular desert (Timna, the Red Canyon) and Petra close by, so it has something for almost every kind of visitor. The town's own airport sat right in the centre for years. In 2019 it was replaced by the modern Ramon Airport on the outskirts, a sign that Eilat plans to keep growing as a destination.
Today's Eilat is a resort town of tens of thousands of residents, with a steady flow of tourists drawn by the sun, the sea and things to do. Life revolves around the beaches, the marina, the promenade, water sports and, above all, the underwater world of the coral reef. Around the town, the Negev desert offers spectacular scenery. It also has one of the largest concentrations of migrating birds on the planet, which makes Eilat a top destination for birdwatchers in spring and autumn.
That same success brings challenges. The coral reef, the town's natural jewel, is a fragile ecosystem under pressure from tourism, building and climate change. Interestingly, the corals of the Gulf of Aqaba have shown a remarkable resistance to warming water, and scientists around the world now study them. Protecting the reef and balancing development with conservation is an ongoing concern.
Eilat also sits in a very sensitive border region. It shares the narrow gulf with Jordanian Aqaba, it is right next to Egypt's Sinai, and it is close to Saudi Arabia. Peace with Jordan and Egypt has brought decades of relative stability and even some joint projects. Still, the regional situation can change, so check official sources on security before you travel. With that caveat, Eilat still offers what made it famous: a warm, clear sea, a reef full of life and almost constant sunshine, at the point where Israel's desert meets the Red Sea.
