Getting to Eilat
Getting to Eilat is fairly convenient, although the options are limited to land and air travel. Once in Eilat, it is not difficult to get around the city or the surrounding areas, as Israel has a good bus network and there are also many car and scooter rental agencies where you can hire vehicles. Alternatively, just hail one of the numerous taxis on the roads.
By car
It is very easy to hire a car and drive around Israel. The roads are mostly in good condition, although some have been damaged by the war. Security is excellent in Israel and visitors can feel safe. Eilat is about 450kms from Tel Aviv, 340kms from Jerusalem and 83kms from Beer Sheva to Eilat. There are many entry points into Eilat including crossing the Taba border from Egypt and crossing the Aravea Bridge between Jordan and Israel, near Akaba and Eilat.
By bus
Israel has an excellent bus network service that connects all the major cities. There are four buses leaving daily from Jerusalem for Eilat, with the journey taking less than 5 hours. The bus stops twice, each time for 15 minutes, to give passengers a chance to stretch their legs and have a drink. Approximately 10 buses commute between Tel Aviv and Eliat daily including a night bus that leaves at 00:30. The buses are comfortable and the bus ride is quite enjoyable as it travels through deserts and towns.
By air
Eilat International Airport is located very close to the main hotel and tourist district, making it very convenient for travellers to get to the town. The airport handles mostly domestic flights to and from Tel Aviv and Haifa, and only a few international flights daily. The flight time from Tel Aviv is approximately 1 hour. Eilats airport has only a short runaway and therefore larger planes are directed to Ovda International Airport, which is about 60kms from the city centre.
Ovda International Airport services many daily commercial airlines flights, which arrive from Europe including Paris, London, Amsterdam and some other destinations. Services and facilities at the airport include restaurants, duty-free shopping, exchange bureaux, information desks, car rental agencies, ATMs and more.
From the airport, passengers can easily get an ordinary taxi, limousine, shuttle bus, sherut (limousine-type taxi) or hire a car to get to the city, which is less than 10 minutes drive from Eilat International Airport and about 1 hour from Ovda International Airport.
Taxis
Taxi services, either run by private companies or by enterprising individuals, include sherut taxis and ordinary taxis. Sherut taxis are usually limousine vans that seat about 10 people and follow a specific route, while ordinary taxis do not follow a specific route and will not stop for other passengers along the way.