Get in
Visitors to Taba arrive either north from Israel, south from Egypt or by air to Taba International Airport. On leaving Israel, a departure tax of 70NIS (Jul 2006) is charged. For entering Egypt, most nationalities can receive a free Sinai permit allowing 14 days within Sinai itself. You must have an advance visa if you wish to proceed out of the Sinai. Whether you have a visa or not, you'll be charged 40LE (Jul 2006) as "Sinai tax".
When crossing the border, there are 150 meters of no-man's-land between the Egyptian and Israeli checkpoints. Touts may offer you the use of carts to carry your bags, but will charge for this service.
On the Egyptian side, long-distance taxis await at the traffic circle. Negotiate fares carefully, at last check rides to Dahab cost around 50 Egyptian pounds.
On the Israeli side, local bus 15 connects to Eilat's Central Bus Station and also the Jordanian border at Arava.
Coming from Cairo there is a bus, usually leaving at 10 PM from the main bus station in Cairo. If you need help finding the bus station there is a tourist information stand in the main Cairo train station, they speak English and are generally helpful. Cost is around 50LE one way. The bus has a colorful crowd of almost all men. The bus is generally a descent new-ish model, not unlike long haul buses in the states, but like everything in Egypt it will likely be in some state of disrepair.(Avoid sitting near the toilet.)
It is not advisable to discuss further travel plans, as in going to Israel, aloud or with other travellers as this may elicit unwanted attention.
Do
Buy
Sleep
Budget
Beer Sweer, an area located just some 15 km south of Taba, on your way to Nuweiba, offers lots of small beach camps. All have a restaurant section, and bamboo straw huts, where the Stars shine though at night. The camps are directly on the beach, with possibility to simply sleep on the beach, beside the sea. Figure on US$15/day including food and drinks.
Splurge
Cope
Currency
Both the Banque du Caire and Banque Misr have currency exchange booths within the Egyptian checkpoint (sometimes irregular opening hours, go along ASAP if you need to change money). Money and cheques can also be exchanged at the Taba Hilton Hotel.
Get out
Taba (Arabic: طابا, Hebrew: טאבה) is a small Egyptian village near the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. Taba is the location of Egypt's busiest border crossing with neighboring Israel. Little more than a bus depot and a luxury hotel (complete with casino), Taba's primary function is to serve travellers from Israel on their way to destinations in Egypt, and as a weekend getaway for Israelis to gamble and scuba-dive. It is the northernmost resort of Egypt's Red Sea Riviera.
Never populated by more than a handful of Bedouins, Taba rates a minor historical footnote as the last portion of Sinai to be returned to Egypt under the terms of the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.
Taba was on the Egyptian side of the armistice line agreed to in 1949, and returned to Egypt when Israel withdrew from the Sinai in 1957. However, when Israel reoccupied the Sinai after the Six-Day War (1967), a 400-room hotel was built at Taba. When Egypt and Israel were negotiating the exact position of the border in preparation for the 1979 peace treaty, Israel claimed that Taba had been on the Ottoman side of a border agreed between the Ottomans and British Egypt in 1906 and had, therefore, been in error in its two previous agreements. After a long dispute, the issue was submitted to an international commission composed of one Israeli, one Egyptian, and three outsiders. In 1988, the commission ruled in Egypt's favor, and Israel returned Taba to Egypt later that year.
As part of this subsequent agreement, Israeli travellers are permitted to visit Taba visa-free for up to 48 hours, making Taba a popular tourist destination. The resort community of Taba Heights is located on the south side of Taba. It features several large hotels and recreation facilities including a new desert style golf course.
On October 7, 2004, the Hilton Taba was hit by a bomb that killed 34 people (BBC), including Israeli vacationers. Twenty-four days later, an inquiry by the Egyptian Interior Ministry into the bombings concluded that the perpetrators received no external help but were aided by Bedouins on the peninsula. (Reuters) (BBC)
Transportation
Since Taba existed only as a small Bedouin village, there was never any real transportation infrastructure. More recently, Taba International Airport was built and handles charter flights, though Eilat Airport is a mere 10 kilometres away. Many tourists enter via the Taba Border Crossing from Eilat, Israel and a marina is scheduled to be built in the new Taba Heights development.
Since Taba existed only as a small Bedouin village, there was never any real transportation infrastructure. More recently, Al Nakb Airport, located on the Sinai plateau some 35 km from Taba, was upgraded and renamed Taba International Airport (IATA: TCP, ICAO: HETB), and now handles half a dozen charter flights a week from the UK as well as weekly charter flights from German, Belgium, France and the Czech Republic. Many tourists enter via the Taba Border Crossing from Eilat, Israel and a marina has been built in the new Taba Heights development, some 20 km south of Taba, and which has frequent ferry sailings to Aqaba in Jordan, although these are restricted to tourists on organised tours.
See also
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