Promenade

Promenade Review

Depending on which part you stroll, a walk on Eilat's tayelet, or promenade, can seem like a luxurious foray or a far more pedestrian (pardon the pun) experience. Start at the quieter, northernmost end, at the Herods Hotel, near the Jordanian border. The 3-km (2-mile) promenade is also known as the Peace Walk, since it is hoped that one day it will continue to Aqaba, Jordan. As you head south, purple and pink bougainvillea pour down from the Royal Beach Hotel's terrace above. Add to your enjoyment by stopping for an ice cream from one of the stands. If you're here at sunset, sit and savor the show-stopping view of the Red Sea turning red, with the dark, reddish gray shapes of the Edom Mountains to the east and the rugged Eilat Mountains to the west. On a clear day, you can see as far as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

A stroll past swanky hotels and loads of shops, coffee bars, and restaurants, with palm-lined beaches on the other side, brings you to the Dutch Bridge, which opens for tall-masted vessels. On one side is the lagoon, or inner marina, where yachts are anchored and various small craft are for hire; on the other side is the marina, where cruise boats of all types wait to sally forth. The promenade winds along beside more beaches covered with sunbathers. The scene includes sophisticated promenaders, the backpack crowd, artists doing quick portraits, vendors selling all sorts of knicknacks, and tattoo artists, all accompanied by meandering street performers. At the intersection of Durban and Arava streets (at the roundabout), you can continue along the waterfront—with the Mul Yam shopping mall on your right—until you reach a small palm-filled plaza with a tiny, cement block-shaped building with a statue of four fighters raising a comrade aloft while a flag "flies" above. This is Umm Rash Rash, where the Israelis first took control of the Gulf of Eilat in March 1949, as determined by the United Nation's partition plan. The small building—the only one that existed then—is a far cry from today's luxury resorts. The promenade effectively ends right before Le Meridien hotel.