Eilat and the Negev
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1. Museum of Bedouin Culture
This one-of-a-kind museum focuses on the Bedouin people, who have long populated the Negev and whose traditional way of life is changing in the 21st century. The study center (marked with an orange sign) is named for the late Colonel Joe Alon, a pilot who took a great interest in this area and its people. Housed in a circular building designed by Israeli architect Tzvi Lissar, the museum tells the story of the Bedouin's rapid change from a nomadic to a modern lifestyle through tableaux of life-size mannequins. They are grouped by subject: wool spinning and carpet weaving, bread baking, wedding finery (including a camel elaborately decorated for the event), donkeys and camels at work, and toys made from found objects such as pieces of wire and wood. The tools and artifacts—most handmade and many already out of use in modern Bedouin life—form an outstanding collection. Another wing of the museum explores the Bar Kochba revolt of the Jews against Romans in the 2nd century AD. Admission includes a cup of thick coffee in a real Bedouin tent, where the sheikh performs the coffee ceremony over an open fire.
Rte. 325, 85335, Israel08-991–3322Sight Details
Rate Includes: NIS 25, Closed Fri. and Sat. -
2. Israel Air Force Museum
For plane lovers, this is a field of dreams. Housed on the Hatzerim Air Force Base, this open-air museum has more than a hundred airplanes and helicopters parked in rows. The fighter, transport, and training (plus a few enemy) aircraft tell the story of Israel's aeronautic history, from the Messerschmitt—obtained in 1948 from Czechoslovakia, and one of four such planes to help halt the Egyptian advance in the War of Independence—to the Kfir, the first fighter plane built in Israel. Young Air Force personnel lead tours (included in the price) that take about 90 minutes and include a movie shown in an air-conditioned Boeing 707 used in the 1977 rescue of Israeli passengers held hostage in a hijacked Air France plane in Entebbe, Uganda. Another attention-getting display is a shiny, black Supermarine Spitfire with a red lightning bolt on its side, flown by Ezer Weizmann, the IAF's first pilot and later president of Israel. The museum also houses an antiaircraft exhibit and a rare collection of historical and instructive films. Tours are available in English, French, and Russian.
Rte. 2357, Israel08-990–6888Sight Details
Rate Includes: NIS 30, Closed Fri. and Sat. -
3. Negev Museum of Art
Located in Beersheva's Old City, this handsomely renovated structure—once home to an Ottoman Mandate–era governor—houses rotating exhibits of classic and modern Israeli art, as well as works by international artists. In summer, it hosts live concerts in its sculpture-laden courtyard. In the same area is the Museum of Islamic and Near Eastern Cultures, set in a 1906 mosque.
60 HaAtzma'ut St., 8415001, Israel08-699–3535Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Sun. -
4. Rota Winery
One of the pioneers of the Negev wine-making scene, Erez Rota lives and works on a secluded, rustic, and mildly hippie-dippie ranch. Rota began making wines over a decade ago, and his vintages have since gained recognition for their complexity and sophistication. Call in advance to arrange a tasting (try the Yael, a nuanced Cabernet-Merlot fusion) accompanied by a selection of local Negev cheeses. On a tour of the property—which is complete with a sculpture garden containing Rota's own metal creations—you'll hear all about how a Tel Aviv artist became one of the Negev's winemakers to watch.
Rte. 222, 85515, Israel054-496–8703Sight Details
Rate Includes: NIS 35 with minimum group of 10, Closed Fri. and Sat. -
5. Tel Beersheva National Park
Traditionally associated with the biblical patriarch Abraham, Tel Beersheva contains the ruins of nine successive settlements, and because of the site's significance for the study of biblical-period urban planning, UNESCO has recognized it as a World Heritage Site. Archaeologists have uncovered two-thirds of a city dating from the early Israelite period (10th century BC). A fine example of a circular layout typical of the Iron Age, the planned city has sophisticated waterworks, as well as a fascinating reconstructed horned altar, and is believed to have been destroyed around 706 BC by Sennacherib of Assyria. At the northeastern end, outside the 3,000-year-old city gate, is a huge well (the deepest in Israel), which apparently once reached groundwater 90 feet below. It served the city from its earliest times, and scholars speculate that it could be the well that is documented in the Bible as Abraham's Well (Genesis 21:22–32). The observation tower is rather ugly, but it does afford beautiful views.
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