Hotel chain Isrotel is no stranger to the southern vacation hotspot of Eilat. Having opened its first hotel in the city in 1980, the King Solomon Hotel, the brand now boasts eight locations, all catering to a different audience each with its own flair.
The Royal Beach, situated in a prime beachfront location, is a five-star resort with all the trimmings for a luxurious stay. The ocean-view room I stayed in was not only beautiful, it also offered a lesson in geography, as you could see Jordan, Egypt, and even Saudi Arabia in the distance.
A hallmark of Isrotel’s goals in the city is to create the ultimate family-friendly vacation experience. They accomplish this through their current offerings – PlayStation game rooms, jungle gyms, ninja courses, and pools at their locations – as well as in their plans for the future. Isrotel is nearing the opening of a new Children’s Kingdom adventure and amusement park. This will accompany additions to the city’s boardwalk.
Executives from Isrotel spoke of the ideal for parents: letting their kids have fun while they enjoy their well-deserved vacation. Peace of mind comes included, as all of Isrotel’s children’s programming is accompanied by well-trained staff to take care of the kids.
Another convenience offered is the fact that most of the brand’s hotels are a short walk from each other. This allows families to visit the neighboring hotels’ dining and entertainment offerings, such as the WOW Celebration show, a musical and acrobatic show, now in its 20th year, similar to what one might catch in Las Vegas.
We watched the show’s cast put together an ensemble that left adults and kids alike in suspense and eager for more.
Something unique that the hotel managers mentioned was the influx of travelers mid-week, versus on the weekends. They noted the lower prices on offer – although this is changing as demand rises – as well as the flexibility of working “from home” and the desire to be home over the weekends.
The other hotels
The other hotels in the city we saw were the Sports Club, which is an all-inclusive hotel that offers all food and beverage included in the price of the stay; the Royal Garden, which hosts the chain’s high-end shopping strip, Agamim, which has a pool running through the property; the Laguna, another all-inclusive resort; Riviera, which has many apartment-style suites; and the Red Sea resort, which is not in the main town but which features Manta, one of the best diving schools in the country.
Something that was not in short abundance during the trip was the great food and drinks available at their hotels. We began at the Ranch House, a kosher meat restaurant that imports much of its meat from the United States. The “American-style grill house,” according to their chef, offered huge portions. Even their desserts were stellar, with everyone giving them the best review any dessert from a kosher meat restaurant can receive: “It tastes like dairy.”
At the Agamim property, we tasted the beverages offered at the hotel bar, Jasper. The innovative menu included drinks such as the Smoking Banana (with banana) and my favorite, The Godfather, an Arak-based cocktail.
We closed out the trip with a meal literally fit for kings – enough food for 50 served to 10 – at the Royal Garden’s dairy restaurant (all the hotels are certified kosher). The extensive offerings of pizzas, fish, salads, and dessert were the best way to cap off the day trip to Eilat.
Both coming and going we traveled by air, Ben-Gurion Airport to Ramon in Eilat and back. While some mentioned they missed the convenience of Eilat’s former airport which was situated prominently in the center of town, the trade-off is that now flights to Eilat can leave from the country’s main airport, rather than the now-closed small Sde Dov airport in Tel Aviv.
This made travel for this Jerusalem-based writer particularly easy. The high-speed train from Jerusalem’s Central Station arrived at the airport in just over 20 minutes. Add to that the quick entry through the domestic Terminal 1, the 28-minute flight, followed by a short taxi to a 30-minute flight to Eilat, and a 15-minute cab to the hotel means you can theoretically be on Eilat’s beaches in under two hours.
As a point of comparison, a trip from Jerusalem to the beaches of Tel Aviv beaches, when factoring in bus traffic within the White City, can take around an hour and a half.
The writer was a guest of Isrotel.
