So this post is about the best parks to visit at the Arava Valley. So just before Eilat, on all sides of HWY 90, is the endless Arava road; there are hiking trails, lovely tourist gems, and attractions that every traveling family will be happy to stop there with the little ones. Alright, then what is the first place I would recommend to you? So about fifty minutes drive north of Eilat lies one of the largest dunes in the country. A short stroll with the family in this area can be especially enjoyable and leave a great impression. It’s called Holot Kisoi (In Hebrew). On google maps, you can find it as sands Coverage. Here is a link.
Best Parks in the Arava Valley: Holot Kisoi Nature Reserve
This big natural hill is a huge and beautiful sand dune that is like a natural amusement park. The dune sand is consisting of thin, soft sand. In fact, it is quite pleasant and invites children and adults to surf or just roll over it. The view from the top of the dune is breathtaking.
The natural sands are migratory sands that originate from the Sinai Desert. The weathering of limestone and chalk (marine sedimentary rocks) are eroded due to the floods that hit the area during the winter months. Then the winds blow the sand and cause it to concentrate on the eastern slopes of the Ovda valley. The sand is made of about 40% quartz and about 60% calcite. That is why the sands are so pleasant to touch. The place has an overnight picnic site, with allocated places for bonfires. So the place is open (free of charge) all year round and is defined as a nature reserve.
Just nearby there is the famous Leopard Temple which is an ancient archeological site. The Temple was served as a prehistoric place of worship was discovered. The place is one of about 160 open temples discovered so far in the Negev and eastern Sinai; and has been in use for about 4000 years, from the middle of the 6th millennium BCE (Late New Stone Age) to the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE (Middle Bronze Age).
Best Parks in the Arava Valley: Evrona Nature Reserve
Evrona was a road station, in the early Muslim period, in the seventh century CE. It was supplying commodities to the important pilgrimage road that connected North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and its holy sites to Islam. Located in the southern Arava, about 20 kilometers north of Eilat. Nearby is Ein Evrona, a spring, and Doum palms area. Furthermore, there was a large agricultural farm that covered an area of about two thousand dunams. The agriculture on the farm was based on a water supply system from a nearby spring.
Furthermore, Evrona Nature Reserve is made up of a savannah landscape that includes acacia trees; deer herds; salt pools, and magnificent views of the Edom Mountains in the east. How to get there: road number 109 will get you there.
Best Parks in the Arava Valley: Timna Park
Timna Park is located in southern Israel in the southwestern Arava; approximately 30 kilometers north of the Gulf of Aqaba and the city of Eilat. The area is rich in copper ore and has been mined since the 5th millennium BCE. A large section of the park is containing ancient remnants of copper mining and ancient worship places.
The most striking and well-known formation in Timna Valley is Solomon’s Pillars. The pillars are natural structures that were formed by centuries of water erosion through fractures in the sandstone cliff until it became a series of distinct, pillar-shaped structures
