Did you know that it is possible to live an awesome scuba diving adventure in southern Isreal, one that doesn’t require any previous diving experience or certification? The Dolphin Reef in Eilat is a place where you can experience a unique encounter with dolphins in their natural environment. Below we will give you a brief glimpse of the experience in addition to some travel tips, which will hopefully provide you with some inspiration for a truly memorable travel experience, while also proving useful for planning a trip in the area. We do not doubt that you’ll thoroughly enjoy scuba diving with dolphins in Eilat!

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Where is Eilat?

Eilat is Israel’s southernmost city, a busy port and a popular resort town at the northern tip of the Red Sea. Immediately to the city’s east is the border with Jordan and the city of Aqaba.

How to get to Eilat?

Although most people will fly into the country via Tel Aviv, some airlines such as Wizz Air and Ryanair offer direct flights from various European destinations. Otherwise, to get to Eilat you can:
1) Take a domestic flight (50 min) from Tel Aviv to Ramon Airpot (25 min outside of Eilat).
2) Rent a vehicle and drive 310km (roughly 4 hrs)
3) Take the bus from either Tel Aviv (4h30) or Jerusalem (4 hrs)

Why it’s worth the trip to Eilat?

1) Did we not mention the dolphins?

The Dolphin Reef in Eilat, on the shores of the Red Sea, is home to a colourful array of tropical fish, beautiful corals and, most importantly, a school of bottle-nosed dolphins. It was established over twenty years ago with the vision of bringing humans closer to animals sensitively and respectfully. The dolphins are not kept captive — they live in their natural habitat and have free access to the open sea should they choose to leave. Contact with people is based on the free will and choice of the dolphins and their choice to approach guided groups of snorkelers or divers is not based on any reinforcement by feeding them during these encounters.
The entrance fee to the site is NIS 69 (2023) for adults, which will grant you access to the beach and the boardwalks and floating viewing platforms. For more up-to-date information on fees and admission to the site, visit the Dolphin Reef website.

2) Scuba diving with no prior experience needed

As highlighted above, Eilat’s Dolphin Reef is a great place to meet and interact with dolphins. If that isn’t enough, you can jump in the water and go scuba diving among them!

Scuba diving here is available to any confident swimmer aged between 8 – 88 years old and, most importantly, no previous experience is not required! The reason for this is that divers go no deeper than 6 meters (20 feet) and each diver is accompanied by their own personal instructor.

A diving session costs 360 NIS (US100$, 2023) and lasts one hour. Half of that time is devoted to fitting the scuba diving gear and getting instructions; the other half is spent in the water. You can reserve your spot online here: Dolphin Reef website.

If you are not comfortable with the idea of scuba diving, snorkelling is also a great option to enjoy the dolphins.

Note: Because the dolphins and their well-being are the main priority, personal cameras in the water are not allowed.

3) Its proximity to Jordan means you are very close to Petra

Did you know that can easily reach the UNESCO Heritage site of Petra (Jordan) in just a few hours? That’s right, the town of Wadi Musa (the gateway to Petra) is only 134 km from Eilat. The great Ancient City of Petra lies half-hidden in the wind-blown landscape in southern Jordan. It was voted d by popular ballot in 2007 as one of the ‘New Seven Wonders of the World’. It’s truly a sight to behold.

The simplest way to get there is with an organized tour, either with an overnight stay or a return to Eilat later in the same day.

Even for those who aren’t usually tour lovers, taking a tour from Eilat to Petra is usually the best way to visit when taking into account entrance fees, travelling time, and convenience. This website breaks it down and you save about US60$ and lots of transit time if travelling solo. You do save money when sharing a taxi from the border to Petra, but you still have the hassle of having to deal with the border crossing and pre-arranging your entry visa. We know this because we actually entered independently, and found the process of crossing the border and getting a taxi very time-consuming and frustrating.

Even closer to Eilat are the stunning desert landscapes of Wadi Rum. Because we had limited time in the area and were meeting with friends in Jordan’s capital Amman, we sadly had to skip visiting Wadi Rum, and it now still sits very high on our bucket list. It’s ideally combined with Petra if you can fit it into your schedule.

4) Eilat is a beautiful coastal town with a staggering 360 sunny days a year!

Eilat is located in such a beautiful area! From its captivating beaches to its diverse wildlife, Eilat definitely has something for everyone.

There are just a ton of activities you can take part in while in the city. Here are a few options, including discovering the dazzling coral reefs of Eliat on a snorkelling excursion!

Another fun activity is to visit the Underwater Observatory Park (which is 3 km south of the Dolphin Reef and less than 2 km north of the border with Egypt!) — an underwater centre with large and impressive viewing halls 12m beneath the Red Sea, plus aquariums & shark pools.

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Well, that wraps it up! We hope you enjoyed our Scuba diving with dolphins in Eilat (Isreal) page and that it provided you with some inspiration for a truly memorable travel experience, and that it will also prove useful for planning your trip to Morocco.

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Looking for more travel inspiration? Feel free to check out some of our Travel Inspiration pages.