Eilat: Bird Migration, Reef and Evening Show

Eilat combines a globally significant migratory-bird bottleneck with the coral reef at the Eilat Coral Beach Nature Reserve and an audiovisual evening show at Gan Binyamin Central Park. This offers a choice of different themes when deciding what to focus on: bird migration across the continental land bridge, access to the reef, and the fountain show. If you’re looking for a hotel in Eilat, you can first decide which of these aspects you want to shape your stay.

Eilat at a Continental Bottleneck for Migratory Birds

The city is one of the world’s most important places for migratory birds. Eilat lies on the only land bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa, which serves as a bottleneck for hundreds of millions of migratory birds. This makes its location a distinctive subject in nature and geography: it is not just about the coast, but also about Eilat’s position on a continental connection. Taking these broader geographical relationships into account when choosing a destination offers a different perspective here from a specific reef visit or the evening show.

Reef Access at the Eilat Coral Beach Nature Reserve

At the Eilat Coral Beach Nature Reserve, bridges give divers and snorkelers safe access to the reef’s seaward eastern side without damaging the reef or its inhabitants. The reserve offers a shop, showers, toilets, sun umbrellas, deck chairs and sun loungers. Since the availability of these facilities may change, confirm them with the reserve before your trip. For orientation, the reserve is opposite the Eilat Field School on the road from Eilat to the Taba border crossing.

An Audiovisual Evening Show in the City Park

The Musical Fountain at Gan Binyamin Central Park offers an audiovisual evening show featuring hundreds of colored water fountains that rise up to 30 meters. The focus here is on a performance, not access to the underwater world. The combination of images and sound with the rising fountains gives a city visit a distinctive evening highlight and sets the show apart in theme from the reef and bird migration.

Putting the Themes of Your Trip in Context

To help you decide, the options can be grouped by the kind of experience: bird migration highlights Eilat’s geographical location, the bridges give divers and snorkelers access to the seaward side of the reef, while the Musical Fountain is an evening performance. This lets you first choose between physical geography, access to the sea and evening entertainment, and then decide which focus should guide your travel plans. These themes sit alongside one another, and none has to be more important than the others for every stay.

More Themes in the Wider Destination of the Southern District

Beyond Eilat’s bird migration and reef themes, the wider destination of the Southern District also brings natural and historical sites into view. Avdat National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site along the route of the ancient Incense Route in the Negev highlands. Masada represents the ancient Kingdom of Israel, its violent destruction, and the final resistance of Jewish patriots against the Roman army in 73 AD. The site also preserves the remains of Herod’s palaces, as well as untouched Roman siege works, among the most complete of their kind in the Roman world. These regional examples offer another point of reference when considering Eilat in the broader context of the Southern District.

Discover more destinations: Mashabei Sadeh, Zuqim, Revivim, Ashkelon, Ein Bokek, Mishmar HaNegev, Be’er Ora, Dimona

Go to the wider travel overview: Southern District.