Eilat and the Negev
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Eilat and the Negev - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Sort by:
6 Recommendations
{{numTotalPoiResults}} {{ (numTotalPoiResults===1)?'Recommendation':'Recommendations' }}
0 Recommendations
Loading...
-
1. Carmey Avdat Farm Winery
Set on an ancient riverbed and vineyard, this winery-guesthouse–gift shop complex is the labor of love of Hannah and Eyal Israel, who moved here in 1998. Pick up a handy map of the property, which includes ancient stone terraces and rock drawings, a small olive grove, and assorted fruit trees and herb bushes. Then ask Eyal to show you around the winery, where he'll share the story of how he came to plant new vines on an ancient terrace with a 1,500-year legacy. You can sample the delicious kosher wines and learn about Eyal's fascinating journey to wine making—even create your own customized wine label (NIS 90). At the farm store you can buy wines, local fruit, and local pottery. You need to call ahead for scheduling and pricing information.
-
2. Ben-Gurion's Desert Home
Thousands of people make the pilgrimage to this site every year. David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), Israel's first prime minister, was one of the 20th-century's great statesmen. He regarded the Negev as Israel's frontier and hoped that tens of thousands would settle there. When Ben-Gurion resigned from government in 1953 (later to return), he and his wife, Paula, moved to Kibbutz Sde Boker to provide an example for others. "Neither money nor propaganda builds a country," he announced. "Only the man who lives and creates in the country can build it." And so, the George Washington of Israel took up his new role in the kibbutz sheepfold. In February 1955, he became prime minister once more, but he returned here to live when he retired in 1963. Set amid the waving eucalyptus trees is Paula and David Ben-Gurion's simple dwelling, a testament to their typically Israeli brand of modesty and frugality. Commonly known as "the hut," owing to its humble appearance, Ben-Gurion's small, one-story, wooden home has a small kitchen, an eating corner with a table and two chairs, and simple furniture throughout. Visitors such as United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld drank tea with Ben-Gurion in the modest living room. Ben-Gurion's library shelves contain 5,000 books (there are 20,000 more in his Tel Aviv home, on Ben Gurion Boulevard). His bedroom, with its single picture of Mahatma Gandhi, holds the iron cot on which he slept (often only three hours a night) and his slippers on the floor beside it. The house is exactly as he left it. Next door, in three adjacent painted-wood buildings, are exhibitions with original documents whose themes are the story of Ben-Gurion's extraordinary life in Sde Boker; his youth, leadership, and army service; and his vision for the Negev. A film showing the footage of kibbutz members actually voting on his acceptance into their community is shown in the visitor center; the shop here sells gifts, jewelry, and books about the "Old Man," as he was known locally.
Off Rte. 40, 84993, Israel08-656–0469Sight Details
Rate Includes: NIS 25, Last admission 1 hr before closing -
3. Ben-Gurion's Grave
Many people visit the revered prime minister's grave in conjunction with a visit to his desert home in Kibbutz Sde Boker, just 3 km (2 miles) north. Walk through the beautiful garden until you reach the quiet, windswept plaza; in the center are the simple raised stone slabs marking the graves of David and Paula Ben-Gurion (she died five years before her husband). The couple's final resting place commands a view of Zin Valley's geological finery: a vast, undulating drape of stone that changes hue as the daylight shifts. The cluster of greenery and palm trees to the right on the valley floor marks Ein Avdat (Avdat Spring).
Off Rte. 40, 84993, Israel08-655–5684Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
4. Ein Avdat National Park
Water flowing from Ein Avdat (Avdat Spring) has cut a beautiful, narrow canyon through the area's soft white chalk, forming a marvelous oasis that offers the ideal respite from your desert travels. Walk toward the thickets of rushes and look for ibex tracks, made with pointed hoofs that enable these agile creatures to climb sheer rock faces. It's not easy to spot an ibex—their coats have striped markings that resemble the rock's strata. Rock pigeons, sooty falcons, and Egyptian vultures (black-and-white feathers, bright yellow beak, and long, pinkish legs) nest in the natural holes in the soft rock and in cliff ledges. The big surprise at Ein Avdat is the Ein Marif pools of ice-cold, spring-fed water, complete with a splashing waterfall. To reach this cool oasis, shaded by the surrounding cliffs, walk carefully along the spring and across the dam toward the waterfall. Swimming and drinking the water are not allowed (you'll not be sorely tempted, though—the water is swarming with tadpoles), but enjoying the sight and sound of water in the arid Negev certainly is. The trail leads through stands of Euphrates poplars, and by caves inhabited by monks during Byzantine days, and then continues up the cliff side (using ladders and stone steps), but you can't follow it unless your party has two cars and leaves one at the destination. The easier and more common option is to walk along the streambed from the lower entrance to the Ein Marif pools at the foot of the waterfall and then return along the same path. Ask for the explanatory leaflet when you pay. Lock your car, taking valuables with you.
-
5. Kornmehl Goat Cheese Farm
Farm/RanchThis farm lets you watch adorable goats being fed and milked daily. You also have the opportunity to buy cheese or to sample the dairy's superb (and often quite pungent) cheeses at the charming restaurant. Perched on a beautiful desert hillside, the wooden restaurant offers indoor or outdoor seating and a menu that includes goat-cheese pizza, bruschetta, and calzones—there's even a tender goat-cheese cheesecake lavished in fruit sauce.
Rte. 40, Mashabbe Sade, Southern District, 80600, IsraelSight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Mon. -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
-
6. Na'ot Goat Farm
Make sure to sample the local goat cheeses that have become cult favorites around the country. At this farm, Gadi and Lea Nachimov craft soft and hard cheeses, yogurt, and other products from a herd of 150 goats who clamber over their land. Sign up for 45-minute tours of the facility.
-
{{ (numCurrentPage-1)*numPageLimit+index+1 }}.
{{ item.neighborhood }} | {{ item.first_keyword }}{{ item.review }}
{{ item.address }}{{ item.phone[0] }}{{ item.details.title }} Details
{{ item.details.content.toString() }}View Tours and Activities -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
No sights Results
Please try a broader search, or expore these popular suggestions:
There are no results for {{ strDestName }} Sights in the searched map area with the above filters. Please try a different area on the map, or broaden your search with these popular suggestions:
