Israel's vacation capital offers a range of guided tours throughout the city and beyond that will allow you to become more closely familiar with the local culture, enjoy the attractions and vistas, and even cross the border to the neighboring countries of Jordan and Egypt where you can visit UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Eilat Art Tour
Eilat is famous for being a seaside resort town and VAT-free shopping zone, but it is also home to cultural and artistic treasures. The galleries and street art are waiting for you to discover them. The Eilat Art Tour, the result of the city's wishes to let tourists discover its artistic charms, stops at several key stations that tell the city's story.
The tour begins at the Eilat Artists Gallery, the showcase for more than 80 artists who live in or near Eilat and produce brilliant works of art in sculpture, painting, photography, and other objets d'art. The tour continues to the Philip Murray House where, on the ground floor, you'll find an exhibition featuring the work of Nevo Afek, the internationally renowned Eilat-based artist. The young artist, who has high-functioning autism as well as a visual impairment, is considered an artist of international caliber and his works have been shown at important exhibitions all over the world. Nevo Afek's works are exhibited on the ground floor, and the artist is usually there and happy to provide tours to visitors, tell his own story, and show them his works. It's also a great idea to visit the home museum of Amir Elkayam. A veteran multidisciplinary artist, he hosts workshops at his home museum and leads visitors on art tours through the city while explaining the many works of street art and sculpture studding Eilat.
SAP Tour
One of the most exciting, enjoyable, and challenging ways to discover the charms of the Gulf of Eilat is by paddleboard. Paddling on a standup board is a sport activity combining physical effort with great fun. The tour along the Red Sea shore stops at amazing observations spots on the the way. The tour is run twice a week and begins at Neviot Beach (the extreme sports beach).
Desert Tours
Several Eilat vendors offer guided tours of the wondrous desert and Eilat Mountains surrounding the city. During such tours, you have the chance to put some distance between yourself and the urban landscape and instead discover the charm of the desert in any number of ways: in Jeeps, ATVs, and UTVs, on camel back, by bike, or on foot. Among the most recommended sites near Eilat are Timna Park, the Red Canyon, Amram's/Solomon's Pillars, and more. The regions offers many fascinating hiking trails with observation points where you can see the breathtaking views of the mountains and the sea.
Scuba Diving Tours
Eilat is home to the northernmost shallow water coral reef in the word. It is a nature reserve near excellent diving spots such as the Three Sisters, Moses' Rock, and more. There are several scuba diving clubs in Eilat that offer guided underwater tours in which you can go deep-water diving and discover the Red Sea's marine kingdom, encounter fish and corals of every color, and take stunning photographs as mementos to bring home.
Tours of Jordan
From Eilat, it's easy to cross the border to Jordan and visit two UNESCO World Heritage Sites of phenomenal beauty and history. The two ancient and most popular tourist sites in Jordan are Petra, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, and Wadi Rum, also known as Valley of the Moon, where you'll find one of the most beautiful and fascinating walking trails in the entire MIddle East.
Tours of Egypt
The Israel-Egypt border is located at Eilat's southernmost tip, where you can join a guided and tour and cross the border to the Sinai Peninsula. In Egypt, you can visit intriguing venues such as Kasel Zaman and Saint Catherine's Monastery, the most ancient active monastery in the world. Diving enthusiasts tend to cross the border to go to Sinai's gorgeous diving spots, above all the Blue Hole (aka the Blue Lagoon), one of the best-known scuba diving spots in the world.
