Aqaba travel guide

Top 8 sights in Aqaba

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

1. 

   1© Dr. Avishai Teicher · CC BY 2.5

   Coral World Underwater Observatory

   An aquarium at Eilat with an observatory built out on the reef and sunk twelve metres below the surface, so that you look at the coral through windows rather than a mask. It holds over eight hundred Red Sea species and has been open since 1975.

   TiqetsKlook
2. 

   2© watchsmart · CC BY 2.0

   Aqaba Castle

   A fortified caravanserai on the pilgrim road to Mecca, in its present form largely sixteenth century. Arab forces took it from the Ottomans in July 1917 in the attack that opened the Red Sea coast to the revolt.

   TiqetsKlook
3. 

   3

   Aqaba Archaeological Museum

   Jordan's archaeological museum for the Red Sea coast, housed in the family home of Sharif Hussein bin Ali. Its finds come largely from Ayla, the early Islamic port town excavated next door.

   TiqetsKlook
4. 

   4

   Aqaba Church

   A church at Aqaba dated to between 293 and 303 and found by archaeologists in 1998 — the oldest known building anywhere put up specifically as a church, from the decades when Christianity was still illegal. Only the mud-brick footings survive.

   TiqetsKlook
5. 

   5© ד"ר אבישי טייכר · CC BY 2.5

   Kings City

   A biblical theme park that opened at Eilat in 2005, with rides and animatronics staging the Old Testament, and closed after little more than a decade. Its Egyptian-temple facade still stands on the north beach.

   TiqetsKlook
6. 

   6© Ana al'ain · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Tal Hujayrat Al-Ghuzlan

   A Chalcolithic settlement four kilometres north of Aqaba where copper was smelted on a scale that suggests trade well beyond the region — one of the earliest industrial sites known in the Near East.

   TiqetsKlook
7. 

   7© Tamerlan · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Salah El-Din Castle

   A castle on Pharaoh's Island near Taba, at the head of the gulf. The Crusaders fortified it in 1116 to control the pilgrim road; Saladin took it in 1170 and rebuilt it, and it is reached by a short boat crossing from the Sinai shore.

   TiqetsKlook
8. 

   8

   Eilat's Coral Beach

   A nature reserve on the Israeli side of the gulf covering 1.2 kilometres of shore, and the northernmost shallow-water coral reef in the world. It is heavily used for research as well as diving.

   TiqetsKlook

Popular tickets & tours in Aqaba

Live products and prices are provided directly by Klook.

KlookOpen Aqaba activitiesBrowse tickets & toursKKdayOpen Aqaba activitiesBrowse tickets & tours