Eilat sits on 11 km of coast at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, wedged between Egypt and Jordan, with Saudi Arabia visible across the water. It is a free trade zone with no VAT, which is part of why Israelis holiday there, and it has warm water and reliable sun all year.
The reef
The northernmost coral reef in the world lies directly off the southern beaches. The Coral Beach Nature Reserve protects 1.2 km of it, with marked snorkelling routes over a reef table that starts a few metres out. More than 270 coral species and 2500 fish species are recorded in the gulf. Because the gulf is deep and enclosed, its corals have proved unusually heat-tolerant and are studied as a possible refuge as seas warm.
Diving
Shore diving is the norm and the sites are close together: the Japanese Gardens, Moses Rock, the Satil wreck sunk deliberately in 1994, and the Caves. Visibility is typically 20 to 30 m and the water 21 degrees in winter to 27 in summer. The Underwater Observatory Marine Park has a chamber below the surface for those who do not dive, and rehabilitates sea turtles.
Birds
Eilat sits on the flyway between Europe, Asia and Africa, and hundreds of millions of birds pass twice a year. The Eilat Bird Sanctuary at the northern edge of town, built on a former rubbish dump, is one of the best migration watchpoints anywhere, with peaks in March and April and again in autumn. Raptor passage over the mountains is spectacular.
The desert behind
Eilat is the base for Timna Park, the Red Canyon, and the Eilat Mountains, whose granite and magmatic rock is geologically distinct from the limestone of the rest of the country. The Israel National Trail begins or ends here.
The town
Eilat is unashamedly a resort: a hotel strip, a marina, a promenade and a lot of families. Nobody comes for the architecture. It is also the departure point for Petra in Jordan, an hour away across the Yitzhak Rabin crossing, which is done as a day trip or overnight.
Practicalities
Ramon Airport, 18 km north, handles domestic and some international flights. Buses from Tel Aviv take five hours. Summer temperatures exceed 40 degrees but humidity is low; the popular season is winter, when it is 21 degrees and the rest of the country is cold and wet.