The 8 Best Places to Snorkel in Eilat (2026)

Updated August 2026 · 8 picks

The best place to snorkel in Eilat is the Coral Beach Nature Reserve, where a marked reef trail starts a few metres from the shore. Add the Japanese Gardens reef at Princess Beach, Dolphin Reef and the Satil wreck for variety. Eilat sits on the northern tip of the Red Sea, so the reef is genuine coral and reachable without a boat. Eight spots, below.

1. Coral Beach Nature Reserve — Coral Beach, southern Eilat

Israel's best reef, protected since 1964, with marked trails starting metres from shore.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Families · Couples · Solo

The reserve protects roughly 1.2km of fringing reef, the northernmost coral reef in the world of this quality, and it is the reason Eilat is a snorkelling destination at all rather than just a beach town.

Two bridges cross the reef table so you enter in deeper water without walking on coral, and buoyed trails lead you along the reef edge past the drop-off. Visibility is regularly 20 metres or better, and you will see butterflyfish, parrotfish, lionfish, moray eels and a great deal of hard and soft coral.

There is an entry fee, gear rental, showers, shade and a snack bar. Go on a weekday morning if you can — Saturdays are busy.

Good to know: Enter at the southern bridge and drift north with the current, then walk back along the beach.

Google Maps Website

2. The Japanese Gardens — Southern shore, near the Taba crossing

The best free reef in Eilat — dense soft coral at the far southern end, near the Egyptian border.

₪ BudgetBest for Couples · Solo

Locals call the stretch of reef at the southern end of the shoreline, off the beach below Princess Beach, the Japanese Gardens for the density and colour of the soft corals growing on it.

It is a genuine rival to the nature reserve and it is free, but there are no facilities, no lifeguard and the entry is over rocks, so it suits confident swimmers who bring their own gear.

It is the last beach before the Taba crossing, about 12km from the centre of Eilat, so you need a car or a taxi to get there.

Good to know: Reef shoes are not optional here — the entry is sharp rock and there is no sand.

Google Maps Website

3. Dolphin Reef — Southern beach road, Eilat

Snorkel in an open-sea enclosure with a resident bottlenose pod that comes and goes freely.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Families · Couples

Dolphin Reef keeps a group of bottlenose dolphins in a large netted section of open sea that they can leave, and the site is set up so you can snorkel or dive in the water alongside them with a guide.

It is not a performing-dolphin attraction — there are no shows and no forced interaction, and the dolphins ignore you as often as not, which is rather the point. The beach itself is shaded, sandy and pleasant even if you never get in.

The guided in-water sessions are expensive and book out; general beach entry is much cheaper and still lets you watch from the piers.

Good to know: Book the guided snorkel session weeks ahead — beach entry alone can be walked up to.

Google Maps Website

4. The Satil wreck — Off Coral Beach, Eilat

A decommissioned missile boat sunk as an artificial reef, in shallow enough water to freedive.

₪₪₪ UpmarketBest for Couples · Solo · Groups

The Satil, a retired Israeli Navy missile boat, was sunk off Coral Beach in the 1990s as an artificial reef and has since been colonised by coral and fish.

It sits deep enough that it is primarily a dive site, but the top of the superstructure is shallow enough that a competent snorkeller can see the outline clearly from the surface on a calm, clear day.

Almost all of the Coral Beach dive clubs run it as a standard shore dive, and it is the usual first wreck for people doing their open-water certification in Eilat.

Good to know: Go with a dive club rather than swimming out yourself — the surface traffic here is real.

Google Maps Website

5. Almog Beach — Coral Beach area, southern Eilat

Free reef access next door to the reserve, with a lifeguard and somewhere to leave your bag.

₪ BudgetBest for Families · Groups

Almog Beach sits immediately north of the nature reserve and shares the same reef system, so the marine life is broadly the same without the entry fee.

It is a proper public beach with a lifeguard, showers, shade and a kiosk, which makes it the practical family choice — someone can sit on the sand while the others snorkel.

The reef here is more broken up than inside the reserve, so you swim over patches rather than a continuous wall, but it is still live coral and a good place to get used to the water.

Good to know: Swim south towards the reserve boundary — the coral gets noticeably better as you go.

Google Maps Website

6. Migdalor Beach — Southern beach road, Eilat

The quietest reef entry in Eilat, next to the lighthouse and the dive clubs.

₪ BudgetBest for Solo · Couples

Migdalor — the lighthouse beach — sits on the southern shore among the dive schools, and it is where a lot of the certification training happens because the entry is easy and the reef starts close in.

It is rockier and less pretty above the waterline than the beaches to the north, which keeps the crowds down; below the waterline it is very good, with a reef shelf and drop-off within easy swimming distance.

Facilities are whatever the adjacent dive clubs offer, which usually includes gear rental, air and a place to rinse off.

Good to know: The dive clubs here will rent snorkel gear to non-divers — cheaper than the reserve.

Google Maps Website

7. Coral World Underwater Observatory — Coral Beach, southern Eilat

The reef without getting wet — a viewing chamber six metres down at the reef's edge.

₪₪₪ UpmarketBest for Families

The observatory is a steel tower sunk into the reef with a circular viewing gallery below the surface, so you stand dry and look out at live coral and passing fish through the windows.

There is also a large aquarium complex, shark and turtle pools and a glass-bottom boat, which together make it the standard rainy-day-equivalent and the answer for anyone in the group who will not snorkel.

It is expensive for what it is, but it is genuinely the best way to show a small child a coral reef.

Good to know: Go late afternoon when the coach parties have left and the light in the chamber is better.

Google Maps Website

8. A Red Sea snorkel cruise — Eilat Marina

Out of the marina to reef spots along the coast, with the gear and the lunch included.

₪₪₪ UpmarketBest for Groups · Couples · Families

Half-day boats leave the Eilat marina for the reef stretches south towards Taba, anchoring at spots that are hard to reach from the shore and generally quieter than the beach entries.

The good operators are small — a dozen or so people — include snorkel gear, and give you two or three water stops rather than one long anchorage with a buffet.

It is the right choice if you want to snorkel more than one site in a day, or if the wind has made the shore entries messy, which happens more often than Eilat's reputation suggests.

Good to know: Ask how many people are on the boat before booking — the difference between 12 and 60 is the whole trip.

Google Maps Website

Frequently asked questions

Where is the best snorkelling in Eilat?

The Coral Beach Nature Reserve, without much argument. It protects the best-preserved stretch of reef in Israel, has two marked snorkel trails leading out through gaps in the reef table, and you swim over live coral within a few metres of the entry bridge. The Japanese Gardens at the far southern end, by Princess Beach, is the second-best and is free.

Do you need to pay to snorkel in Eilat?

Only at the nature reserve and Dolphin Reef. The Coral Beach Nature Reserve charges an entry fee of roughly ₪35–₪40 per adult and rents masks, snorkels and fins on site. Almog Beach, the Japanese Gardens and Migdalor are free public beaches with reef access, though facilities are thinner.

When is the best time of year to snorkel in Eilat?

The water is snorkellable year-round. It is around 21–22°C in February and up to about 27°C in August–September. Autumn is the sweet spot: warm water, clear visibility and fewer people than the summer holidays. In winter a shorty wetsuit makes a long swim much more comfortable.

Is snorkelling in Eilat safe?

Yes, with the usual reef rules. Wear something on your feet at rocky entries, never stand on the coral — it is protected and it cuts — and be aware of fire coral, lionfish and stonefish, none of which are aggressive but all of which punish contact. Currents run north–south along the shore and can be noticeable at the reserve on a windy day.

Can you see the reef in Eilat without swimming?

Yes. The Coral World Underwater Observatory has a viewing chamber six metres below the surface at the edge of the reef, and glass-bottom boats run from the marina. Both are good options with young children or non-swimmers, though neither compares to being in the water.

Do you need to bring your own snorkel gear to Eilat?

Not necessarily — the nature reserve, Dolphin Reef and the dive clubs along Coral Beach all rent masks, snorkels and fins for a modest daily fee. If you snorkel often, bringing your own mask is worth it purely for the fit; rental masks are the usual reason people leak and give up.

1. Coral Beach Nature Reserve — Coral Beach, southern Eilat

2. The Japanese Gardens — Southern shore, near the Taba crossing

3. Dolphin Reef — Southern beach road, Eilat

4. The Satil wreck — Off Coral Beach, Eilat

5. Almog Beach — Coral Beach area, southern Eilat

6. Migdalor Beach — Southern beach road, Eilat

7. Coral World Underwater Observatory — Coral Beach, southern Eilat

8. A Red Sea snorkel cruise — Eilat Marina

Frequently asked questions

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