So this trip didn’t exactly work out as planned… It was our first attempt at traveling over the weekend, and we realized why we hadn’t done it before.  Our plan was to drive down to Eilat (with a stop or two on the way) and then spend a couple of nights in Eilat. Turns out, everyone and their mother was thinking the same thing… Eilat was packed, hotels were sold out or expensive, and we couldn’t get tickets to the coral reef (still needed to get tickets to the national parks in advance due to the corona restrictions). Long story short, we spent a night in Eilat and then decided to come back to Tel Aviv and venture back after the weekend.  Turned out to be a great decision. 

Day 1. We started out heading south. Our plan was to get to Eilat in the evening and to take our time, so we made a quick detour at Divira Forest (in the Southern District) and followed a scenic road through the park, getting out at one point to see some old ruins. If we did it again, we would get a slightly better car, since most of the roads through the park were unpaved and our cheap-ass rental car wasn’t ideal for venturing too far into the middle of nowhere.

We drove around the area for a bit and then headed down to Mamshit National Park, a site has some impressive Nabatean ruins just outside Dimona in the Negev.  We took the slightly longer scenic drive along the Dead Sea. (On our second trip back to Eilat a few days later, we took the same route and stopped at Masada, which is right along the Dead Sea – So it is also a viable option for a stop along a trip down south). 

We spent around 2-2.5 hours walking around Mamshit, and from there, headed down to Eilat. As Eilat was pretty packed, we had limited options for hotels. (All of the nicer ones were either sold out or ridiculously priced). 

We ended up staying at a basic hotel near the bus station – It wasn’t terrible, but there are definitely nicer, more convenient places to stay. It was about a 45-minute walk into the boardwalk area of the city. 

Note about hotels: The nicer hotels in Eilat are in two areas. The first (where most of the hotels and big resorts are) is in the Marina are and Hotels Zone. That’s where the boardwalk is with the retail shops and restaurants. (It’s more big name, commercial retail than small shops as Eilat is a tax-free zone).  The second is further south, toward the Egyption border (where the coral beach is). There’s not a ton going on there, but it’s more conveinent to snorkling, scuba diving, etc.  It’s about an hour and a half walk, or 20 minute drive, from the Marina/Hotel Zone area to the coral beach area. 

At any rate… after we checked into the hotel, we walked down to the marina area and had dinner and a few drinks at Mike’s Place. 

Day 2. Had we planned better, we would have spent the day at the Eilat Coral Beach Nature Park. But we planned poorly and were unable to get a ticket (due to Covid-19, reservations were required and entry was limited). So instead we did what we probably would have done the following day, with an added bonus of stopping at an awesome lake hidden in the Eilat mountains just outside of Timna Park.

The area is identified on Google Maps as “Hidden Lake Timna.” It’s right off of Route 90. If heading north, just take a left at the sign that says Timna (the brown sign with the factory image on it, not the sign for Timna park – if you hit that, you went too far). Then, follow the dirt road to the right – it looks like the remnants of an industrial park. Nothing pretty about it. In a short while, you’ll come to a large dirt area that kind of looks like it could be a parking lot.  Keep going and park just up from that. The lake is in the middle of the mountains – it’s about a 15-20 minute walk. The trail down starts between a bunch of giant black tires. Just walk down the path and it will eventually lead to the lake. (Note all the cars that apparently fell off the mountain and were never removed).

There were a few other people there, but otherwise it was like having a beautiful private lake all to ourselves. 

From there, we continued north on Route 12 (a smaller but beautiful road that winds through the Eilat mountains) towards the Red Canyon.  (Since we decided not to stay in Eilat another night, our ultimate goal was to get back to Tel Aviv – but the Red Canyon is pretty close to Eilat). 

There are a number of places along the route to pull over, so we pulled over at one and walked around a bit.

We got to the Red Canyon on the later side of the afternoon, probably around 4pm or so, and there weren’t many other people there.  Note: The parking area is down a somewhat lengthy dirt road. While many of the entrances to hikes and nature reserves require driving down unpaved, rocky, roads, this one was actually pretty bad because of the loose nature of the sand that covered it. We “hydroplaned” several times and there were a few times I thought that we were going to get stuck. So, I recommend renting a decent car.

The trail to the red canyon is pretty short – about 45 minutes or so – and I did it hobbling on my f’ed up foot, in flip flops (not recommended, but clearly possible). It was definitely worth the stop!     

After the Red Canyon, we drove back to Tel Aviv, having decided to come back to Eilat after the weekend when it wasn’t so crowded.  On our return drive back down two days later, instead of Divira Forest and Mamshit, we stopped at Massada, which is right off the highway that runs along the Dead Sea. A few photos from Massada are below, but otherwise this post continues as if we hadn’t broken up the trip and stayed in Eilat. 

“Bonus” drive back to Eilat. On our return trip to Eilat a few days later, we took the route along the Dead Sea and stopped at Massada. Not a place either of us planned on visiting (as both of us had been there before and it’s usually full of tourists and hot as f-ck), but we had a park pass and it was on the way, so we figured why not… On the plus side, we were one of literally only five people there, which made it super easy to take the tram up and walk around. On the negative side, it was hot as f-ck.

Day 3. Our third day (technically, the first full day after we came back to Eilat) we spent at the coral beach national park. We ended up buying our own sets of snorkles from a shop in the maraina area (were most of the hotels are) the night before rather than renting them at the park – The snorkles were actually better than the ones that they rent at the park, and weren’t much more expensive – cheaper had we decided to spend anothre day snorking, which we initially thought we were going to do. We spent a good five hours snorkling – we got to the beach at around 9am to grab a spot in the shade and left at around 2pm.

After showering and relaxing a bit, we decided to drive into the city and grab some lunch and check out the shopping (I needed a new pair of shoes).

Day 4. We took it easy, got breafast at the hotel, and then decided to slowly head back to Tel Aviv. We stopped just outside of Eilat at Hai-Bar Yotvata, an animal sanctuary where they have animals that became extinct in Israel. Basically, you pay to get in and then drive along a dirt road through the sanctuary. So, it’s kind of like a scenic detour, but with animals. It was definitely worth the detour!