Hi all,

Well, it's almost 2 weeks to our 10 night Israel vacation...very excited. My wife and I have most of travel plans hashed out but the one thing we don't have is a transport from our hotel at Dead Sea to Eilat. We were quoted $215 by our Israeli travel agent. If I am not mistaken the ride is a bout 2.5 hrs long. Can someone give some hints or other suggestions? Thanks!

The large inter-city buses are comfortable and inexpensive. Full air-conditioning. Ein Boqeq (the Dead Sea hotel area) to Eilat is NIS 55 - about US$ 12.40 at today's exchange rates.

They pick up outside of most hotels in the Dead Sea area, or from the main road.

Schedules in English are here: http://www.egged.co.il/Eng/

i would highly encourage you to drive the route yourself. it is one of the most beautiful drives i have ever seen/made in my life. rolling red desert with the occasional wild camel or two and flawless roads. nearly every sign has english as well. you can drop of the rental car in eilat if you dont want it any more although i would suggest keeping it and going to see the Red Canyon, an amazing slot canyon just outside of Eilat. Happy travels!

also, due to a nice exchange rate your car+gas will cost a fraction of the bus trip, try avis or other major international rental agencies.

Thanks all. Ksose, do you happen to know if one can rent a car in Dead Sea as this sounds like a great idea? Thanks in advance!

I second the suggestion of renting a car. But as far as I know there is no rental agency in the Dead Sea area. Most people arrive there with a car. Could you rent the car before going there either in Tel Aviv or Beer Sheva?
The trip is really easy and unique. You could drive to Eilat on the Arava Road and return through Mizpe Ramon.

you will have to check if you can rent a car in the dead see. check web sites for avis, budget, hertz (regular crew). my inclination says probably not but you never know. if anything, i would guess that maybe a local purveyor rents cars, but then you might not be able to drop off in eilat. best of luck!

I google search of "car rental" and "dead sea" found that Hertz claims to have a location at Ein Boqek, at something called the "Mor Center". For 3 days in May the rate was between $84 and $138, depending on the model of car.

I also checked and true,Hertz seems to be the only rental company with a station in the Dead Sea. Ein Bokek is just by the hotels. I strongly recommend that you rent a car and drive to Eilat and back.