What's New: An Online Update for Frommer's Israel, Jordan and the Sinai, Part II

Luxury Spa Hotels continue to spring up on the shores of the Dead Sea near Ein Bokek. Among the newest is the 302 room Golden Tulip Dead Sea Hotel (www.fattal-hotels-israel.com), managed by the Israeli Fattal Hotel Chain. Offering fresh new rooms, and a state of the art spa, with the full array of fresh and Dead Sea water pools, Jacuzzis, sauna, steam rooms, and therapeutic and beauty treatments, the Golden Tulip is especially lively. Among its' offerings are an eight lane bowling alley, a choice of four evening buffets, a disco, and a strong program of children's activities. Although it overlooks the Dead Sea, it does not have direct access to a Dead Sea frontage.

The 600-room Hyatt Regency Dead Sea, built in the late 1990s, and long the most luxurious on the Dead Sea's mega hotel zone, has now become the Le Meridien Dead Sea (www.fattal-hotels-israel.com). Like the Golden Tulip, it is now part of the Fattal Hotel Chain. The guest rooms at the Le Meridien remain the most comfortable and luxurious to be found in any of the Spa Hotels of the Dead Sea area, and the pool area and plantings have attained a welcome tropical lushness. My only criticism is that the pool area of the spa, especially the Jacuzzis, could use an updating. Like most hotels in the Ein Bokek zone, Le Meridien has no actual Dead Sea frontage, although you can walk to the Dead Sea shoreline. .

A dramatic, more personal alternative to the mega Spa Hotel scene at the Dead Sea is Kibbutz Ein Gedi (www.ngedi.com/guest_house.htm) which operates a desert resort on a cliff overlooking the Dead Sea not far from Masada. In ancient times, Ein Gedi was a legendary desert oasis, famous for rare plants that were harvested to create priceless incenses, spices and cosmetics (Cleopatra owned a plantation at Ein Gedi). By the early Islamic period (900 A.D.) Ein Gedi was abandoned, and the oasis vanished into the bleak desert rocks. A modern kibbutz was established on the site in the early 1950s, and planted with rare trees and shrubs from all over the world. These plantings have thrived on the mineral-rich earth and the bromine -- and oxygen-rich atmosphere of the Dead Sea, which lies far below sea level (the atmosphere at the Dead Sea contains 10% more oxygen than at sea level).

Today, Kibbutz Ein Gedi is an exotic, leafy paradise, and it is also the only internationally recognized botanical garden in which people actually live. The guest-house units are interspersed among the fascinating plantings of the Botanical Garden. There are three tiers of accommodations: the brand new Arugot Rooms, with desert decafécor and slightly more luxurious surroundings; the older, more utilitarian, standard guest house rooms; and the more spartan country lodgings, which are offered on a room only basis without breakfast. All units are air conditioned, with private baths, TVs, and mini refrigerators. The kibbutz offers a large swimming pool overlooking the Dead Sea, a variety of area tours and desert activities; walks for nature lovers through its amazing gardens, and it also operates a hot springs spa on the shores of the Dead Sea, as well as the Dead Sea's best swimming beach (both open to the public). Guests at Ein Gedi will enjoy interacting with the members of this unusual kibbutz. Ask to see the quilting workshop; the famous (kosher) Ein Gedi Bakery, and the interesting woodworking and metal design studios. Food at the main dining hall is simple but sturdy kibbutz cuisine, however if you'd like an inventive gourmet meal for 2 to 10 people, you can arrange one (under the desert stars if weather permits), prepared by Ein Gedi's talented Chaya Chakhnover. Nearby attractions include the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, encompassing the canyon system in which David hid from King Saul (circa 1000 B.C.); and the ancient Ein Gedi synagogue, with its simple mosaic floor and myterious mosaic inscription that is believed to refer to the secret of Ein Gedi's ancient incense and balm formulas that have been lost to the modern world. The mosaic is dated to the sixth century A.D., but the site itself was in use as a synagogue centuries earlier. There is an official midweek rate of $80 a night (room only) for a double in the Ein Gedi Country Lodgings, but all kinds of deals abound. The Kibbutz Hotels Chain (www.kibbutz.co.il) offers discount rates for Ein Gedi on its 7 to 14 Day package plans.

Finally, a brand new, architecturally dazzling hostel has just opened near the foot of the legendary Masada Fortress, overlooking the Dead Sea. Located in Herod's sprawling desert palace, on a virtually inaccessible cliff top, Masada was the last Jewish holdout at the end of the First Revolt Against Rome in A.D. 73. The night before the final Roman assault, after a three-year siege, the defenders of Masada, including women and children, chose suicide over surrender.

The Masada Hostel (email:www.massada2@iyha.org.il) contains 88 air-conditioned rooms, each with en suite private bathroom (stall showers), TV, and electric kettle. With terraces and air conditioned lounges overlooking the Dead Sea and surrounding desertscapes, and sprawling wings that can help separate guests reserving private rooms from larger groups, the Masada Youth Hostel is a wonderful budget choice for those who want to explore in the Dead Sea region. It's also especially useful for nature enthusiasts, hikers, and for travelers who want to make the traditional (strenuous) ascent up Masada in the cool predawn hours, and see the sunrise over the Dead Sea. Just tumble out of bed, and you're ready to make the climb. Otherwise, you'd have to leave your Tel Aviv or Jerusalem hotel at 2 am and make the long, dark drive down to the Dead Sea for this unforgettable experience. Youth Hostels in Israel are open to guests of all ages, and as long as you're not traveling during summer or Jewish holidays, private double rooms can usually be reserved here. Breakfast is included, and lunch and dinner can be arranged.

The Negev

As Israel has developed and solidified its position as one of the countries in the hi tech, 21st century vanguard, it has become increasingly difficult for travelers to find the idealistic, hardworking, "reclaiming-the-land" society that is so much a part of Israel's world image. The once simple guestrooms of kibbutzim in the Galilee and central Israel have morphed into three and four star country hotels where travelers experience little interaction with the workings of the kibbutz communities. However, three small desert kibbutzim in the dramatic Arava Valley 30 minutes by car north of Eilat -- Kibbutz Lotan, Kibbutz Yahel and Kibbutz Ketura, all far more isolated and less developed than Kibbutz Ein Gedi (see above), are becoming places where Israel's pioneering spirit and vision can be shared.

Founded in the 1980s, largely by Israelis from English speaking countries, these kibbutzim are all are involved in the process of building creative communities the desert, and making the region bloom. All offer very simple guest facilities and a wide variety of programs that allow travelers to interact with both the desert and the kibbutz experience.

Kibbutz Lotan (www.birdingisrael.com/kibbutzlotan or contact Mike Nitzan at lotan-programs@lotan.ardom.co.il) is perhaps the most interesting for visitors, with its Center for Eco-tourism and Creativity that includes programs in desert ecology, alternative building, permaculture, recycling, short and long desert hikes, bird watching, and programs of holistic medicine and massage. You'll be amazed by Lotan's marvelous, inventive buildings fashioned from re-cycled materials. Tours of the region can be arranged, including Bedouin hospitality encounters; Red Sea snorkeling and diving; excursions to the nearby Timna National Park; or even to Petra, in Jordan. There are special programs designed for Youth, and others for families; at times the kibbutz hosts workshops on Arab/Jewish understanding and intercultural communication. Lotan's Desert Birding Programs are becoming world famous.

Accommodations are simple, but air-conditioned, either hostel-style or in private doubles that include kitchenettes and private bathrooms. Meals can be arranged in the kibbutz dining hall, which serves kosher food (vegetables and salads are full of flavor and grown on Lotan's own organic fields). There is a large outdoor kibbutz swimming pool, especially refreshing in the summer.

Nearby Kibbutz Ketura (kerenlolot@ketura.ardom.co.il), with the most comfortable guest accommodations of any of the three kibbutzim in the area (built with a grant from American supporters) and Kibbutz Yahel (www.ardom.co.il/maayan-midbar) also offer a range of tourism programs that make it worthwhile to check them out.

Eilat

Upmarket Eilat has added yet another 5 star hotel to its collection: the new, hi-rise Queen of Sheba Eilat, (www.hilton.com). This hotel is unique for its complete wing of family rooms equipped with kitchenettes (aimed mostly at the Israeli market). The hotel offers a CYBEX health spa, and is about 500 feet away from access to the good beachfronts of its neighboring competitors, the Dan Eilat, the Isrotel Royal Beach, and the Sheraton Herod's Palace.

The new Sheraton Herod's Palace Hotel Spa and Convention Center (www.starwood.com/luxury),the largest and most luxurious hotel complex in Eilat (and in all of Israel) was just opening its doors and not fully operational when we included it in Frommer's Israel 3rd edition. I'm happy to report that it lives up to expectations in every way-it's a dazzle and especially worth trying to visit while Israeli hotel prices are still bargains! The hotel is divided into three separate, but inter-connected buildings. The entire Vitalis Spa Tower, where I stayed, is a tranquil, blessedly child-free haven in a town often overrun with Israeli families. I was happy to see that no amount of cajoling can get a child into the Spa facilities, or into the Sheraton Herod's Business lounge, with its excellent all day buffet (including heavenly caviar and smoked salmon) or even into any of the guest rooms in the Spa Tower. The Spa itself is like nothing else in the country -- set in a perfumed courtyard with a long, large communal jacuzzi (on the pattern of a Roman bath) that seats twenty people; an adjustable massage waterfall; and a full array of exercise, massage, relaxation and beauty programs. Luxurious, calm, perfectly maintained and a pleasure to use, the Vitalis Spa has none of the cold, clinical character of the spa facilities at the many hotels near the Dead Sea.

The main section of the Sheraton Herod's complex, where children ARE permitted, is a delight for both kids and their parents. The children's pool is shaded and spacious, and the adult pool, (where my three-year old niece preferred to float for hours) is so vast that you never feel crowded. Despite the hotel's lofty reputation as the most luxurious in Israel, the staff is not at all pompous, and is fabulous with children. The kids' summer programs are well-designed, and the Sheraton Herod's palm-dotted beach is the most beautiful in town. Of the many well-thought-out elements in this complex, the Seven Spices Restaurant (open to guests from outside the hotel) was unique, offering gourmet but healthy food, with the calorie count and ingredients of each dish specified on the menu. In the heat of Eilat, where fast food and heavy meals take their toll, the Seven Spices, with its light, elegant menu, is a godsend. Although public areas of the Herod's complex are the most spectacular in Eilat, guest rooms themselves are similar to those in most upper 5 star hotels.

The Texas Grill (08/633-8880) on Eilat's North Beach Promenade near the Howard Johnson Neptune Hotel is one of the busiest restaurants in town, specializing in piles of beef short ribs served in a tasty barbecue sauce with crisp potato wedges. There's also sirloin, fried chicken, grilled fish, and dynamite brownies. Moderate prices. Open daily 1pm-midnight.

Tricolor (08/638-3333) in the Meridien Hotel near the North Beach Promenade. An elegant, exquisitely conceived fusion menu of fish and contemporary pasta makes this one of the two finest kosher choices in Israel. Top marks go to the fish couscous; the wonderful house bisque, and an array of excellent sushi and tartare creations. Open Sun-Thurs for lunch and dinner and Saturday after Shabbat.

Casa do Brasil (08/632-3032) 3 Hativat Golani, at the northen entrance to Eilat). This is the best all you can eat Brazilian-style meat restaurant I've encountered in Israel, offering an array of baby lamb chops, Brazilian meatballs, fillet, chicken wings, duck breast and wonderful appetizers and salads, all served in an atmosphere of cheerful hospitality and abundance. Special grills and rotisseries have been imported from Brazil, and the many meats are basted with tasty sauces. It's so wonderful that the owners must be counting on the torrid summer temperatures in Eilat to keep appetites down. There are three tiers of pricings for the dinner extravaganza, ranging from $22 to $30, and a variety of pasta, pizza and fish choices for vegetarians who wander in by mistake. Open daily for lunch and dinner.

Tandoori (08/633-3879) on the Queen of Sheba Lagoon near the Lagoona Hotel, has long been one of the best restaurants in Eilat. It recently introduced a new menu of Goan and South Indian dishes (many based on coconut milk and tropical spices) in addition to its already extensive repertoire of standard Indian regional cuisines. A summer visit to try these new dishes made me appreciate how well suited Indian cuisine is to hot weather (especially when accompanied by air conditioning and by lassi, a soothing Indian yogurt drink). An island of calm and gracious service amid the mass food frenzy of nighttime Eilat, Tandoori is a favorite of my three year old neice, who was welcomed with a little package of treats, and completely charmed by the attentive, patient staff. Open daily for lunch and dinner.

Dolphin Reef, a private beach two miles south of downtown Eilat, has long been one of the city's most pleasant places to swim, with its sands dotted with thatch-roofed shelters and its waters kept as free as possible from rocks and spiny sea urchins. Added pluses include the chance to watch the Dolphin Reef's 12 resident bottlenose dolphins leap and frolic in the water (they are free to come and go as they please) and the supervised Swim/Snorkel/Scuba Dive With Dolphins programs for a charge of approximately $45 per half hour.

Recently the Dolphin Reef has added a wheelchair access pier to its facilities, so that people confined to wheelchairs can enter the water easily and swim with dolphins. There are never any ironclad promises of close-up encounters with the Reef's dolphin community, but these creatures often display unusual sensitivity to visitors who have disabilities. Special changing facilities for visitors in wheelchairs have also been set up.

Dolphin Reef has also installed a somewhat Zen, indoor environment of three serene, densely landscaped Relaxation Pools (sweet water, mineral water and salt water) where for $25 an hour during the day on weekdays, and $35 at night and on weekends, you can float amid soothing, almost subliminal music, massage your mind, and have your body massaged, while you generally unwind. The $7 general entrance fee to the Dolphin Reef Beach is included in these Dolphin Encounter and Relaxation Pool programs and if you do a Swim/Snorkel/Scuba Dive With Dolphins activity, you can bring an additional guest into the beach without charge.

Note that the Dolphin Reef's new phone number is: 08/637-1846. If you want to reserve time in the Relaxation Pools, ask for extension 4. The web site for this increasingly amazing enclave is www.dolphinreef.co.il.

The Sinai

In Sinai, the funky but beautifully sited diving resort of Dahab has taken a big step toward bridging the hippie-yuppie gap with the opening of the new Dahab Hilton (69/530-140; www.hilton.com), a low-rise well-designed place right on the beach, offering wonderful snorkeling opportunities.

The desert coastline around Sharm-el Sheik, at the southern tip of Sinai, continues to fill up with luxury resort hotels, some of them far more dazzling than even the most luxurious from four or five years ago. The new 307-room Ritz Carlton (069/661-919, www.ritzcarlton.com/resorts/sharm_el_sheikh) is among the most incredible of the newcomers-a lavish, modern Arabian Nights vision floating amid vast, artificial reflecting pools, streams and waterfalls, surrounded by lush gardens where once only Bedouin and backpackers camped on the barren desert. The 460-room Hyatt Regency Sharm el Sheik (069/601-234; www.sharmhyatt.com) is a new, sprawling, exotic low rise overlooking the "Gardens" dive site, on a bay beyond the main (now overdeveloped) hotel center at Na'ama Bay. Both hotels are self-contained, well supplied with a variety of restaurants, and are far enough away from the central resort district at Na'ama Bay that most guests tend not to leave the hotel grounds.

Jordan

The beautiful, inventive Taybet Zeman Hotel (9 km, or 5 and a half miles outside of Petra), created from the stone houses and lanes of an old Bedouin village, is now in the Sofitel Hotel Chain. You can make reservations for the Sofitel Taybet Zeman through the Accor/Sofitel International Reservations system: (in the USA 800/763-4835). Although official rates remain at $175 to $250 for a double room with breakfast, you may find specials as low as $69 for a double, breakfast included. This is a fabulous deal for one of the most charming and unusual hotels in the Middle East.

Much to the dismay of romantics and adventurers, the Petra National Park closes at sunset, even though this mysterious, long-hidden site is especially evocative in the evenings, and was once a great place to camp at night. Camping is still forbidden, but recently, the park service has been offering Monday and Thursday night candle light tours, starting at 8:30pm for JD12 ($18) -- a great way to spend the evening if you plan to be in Petra on those days.

The new 215 room Aqaba Movenpick Hotel (03/203-2040;) is now open. Located on the beach not far from the town center, it's the newest and most interestingly designed 5 star hotel in Aqaba. Rates run from $205 to $230 for a double room, breakfast included, but again, there are all kinds of specials. Reservations through Movenpick Hotels (in the USA 800/344-6835).

Contact the Author

Robert Ullian is available for special Walking Tours of the Old City of Jerusalem and consultation about travel and guiding in Israel, in association with Judy Goldman, author of the Underground Guides to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and David Perlmutter, specialist in off-road and nature tours (licensed Israeli guides). Contact Robert Ullian aramullian@yahoo.com or David Perlmutter, davidper@netvision.net.il.