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Eilat Dolphin Reef

Eilat, HaDarom, Israel

The public area of the dophin reef

A dolphin seen at the Dolphin Reef

The Eilat Dolphin Reef is a beach in Eilat that also has a walkway visitors can walk out on to see dolphins. The dolphin reef also has a couple other animals, like a peacock. In addition to swimming (in part of the Red Sea that the dolphins can't get in), visitors can also sit on the wooden walkway and stick their feet in the water. If you want to get closer to the dolphins, you can also pay extra to go snorkeling or scuba diving.

After paying your admission fee, the first part of the dolphin reef (before you get to the water) has some other animals. It also has a small restaurant, and bathrooms (that are pretty dirty).

From there, visitors can go to the small beach area. The beach area is segregated from the dolphin area, so dolphins don't go in the beach water. Visitors can also walk along the wooden platform, and sit off the side. The dolphins are quite active throughout the day. They jump and do tricks on their own.

Approximately every two hours, the dolphins have a "feeding time" where a dolphin trainer comes out on the walkway and gives some fish to the dolphins. This is a great opportunity to see the dolphins up close, since they come right up to the wooden walkway.

The snorkeling and scuba diving are quite expensive. If you want to go, make sure you allow lots of time. The package requires that you spend 30 minutes "training", and then you spend 30 minutes going on a set swim around the dolphin reef. Although it looked like the swimmers occasionally got good views of the dolphins, most of the time, the dolphins just ignored them.

Getting There

The Dolphin Reef is quite far from the Eilat Promenade and the hotels, so you should probably drive or take a taxi to get there. There was a parking lot at the reef. A taxi will probably cost 10-15 NIS from the main promenade.

Cost

Entrance to the Dolphin Reef is 53 NIS. Snorkeling costs 233 NIS, and scuba diving costs 280 NIS.

Estimated Visiting Time

You can treat this as a day at the beach. You could really spend a full day here. The beach is quite nice and peaceful. You could also spend hours watching the dolphins swim around. They are quite fun and entertaining. If you plan to come for a short visit, keep in mind that snorkeling or scuba diving takes about one hour.