Day 1. We rented a car in Tel Aviv and drove to Mitzpe Ramon. It was about a 2.5 hour drive. We stopped at the visitors center in Mitzpe Ramon and walked around a bit to get an overview of the crater.
We then got back into our car and drove down into it to do some hiking. (See Wadi Ardon and Harut Hill Hike). It was about a 40-45 minute drive to where we parked the car for the hike. The hike was pretty cool.
After the hike, we got back into the car and drove to Eilat. We used Eilat as our base because there aren’t a ton of cities in the Negev and it seemed like a good base. Plus, it was the off-season and so even the fancy hotels were pretty cheap.
Day 2. The next day, we drove out to Timna Park in the Eilat Mountains (it’s about 30 minute drive from Eilat). It was incredible! There are a ton of trails (the woman at the visitor’s entrance where we bought the tickets was very helpful and gave us some good recommendations). We pretty much spent the entire day at the park until the park closed. (See Timna Park).
After leaving Timna Park, we returned to Eilat. We walked around a bit along the waterfront (mostly just big retail stores as the city is a tax-free haven) and grabbed some dinner and a few drinks.
Day 3. The next day we got up early and headed back north through the Negev to Lot’s Cisterns. (The drive is about 2.5 hours but the last 30 minutes was on a super rocky road in the middle of nowhere, about 6km from the Egyptian border). We did the Red Loop Trail (See Lot’s Cisterns Hike). It was a really pretty, 4km easy trail that took about 1.5 hours.
On our way back, we stopped at Wadi Hawarin to watch the sun set. We took the Blue Trail for a bit, but the sun was setting and so we turned around after about 20 minutes. But it was well worth it to walk out there and see the sunset!
From there, we headed back to Tel Aviv (about a 2 hour drive).