Fodor's Expert Review Mount Yoash

This lookout point along the border road with Egypt is an easy trip from Eilat. Head west along Route 12 into the Eilat Mountains Nature Reserve. After 12 km (7½ miles), turn left at the orange sign for Mount Yoash and continue 1 km (½ mile) up a rough and winding stone road. Park and take in knockout views of the alternating light and dark ridges of the Eilat Mountains, the mountains of Edom rising behind the Jordanian city of Aqaba, and the Nahal Geshron gorge emptying into the Red Sea at Taba, in Egypt. A beautiful two-hour hiking trail begins in the parking lot. The Jordanian army operated a strategic post here until 1949, when Israeli forces took it during the last campaign of the War of Independence. The raising of a makeshift Israeli flag here marked the end of the war.