Timna Park

Timna Park combines incredible scenery and fun activities for the entire family with a fascinating historical tale.

The park is located approximately 25 kilometers north of Eilat, in the middle of the Red Sea Desert. The horseshoe-shaped park, created by tectonic plate movement tens of millions of years ago, spreads out over an area of 60 square kilometers and is part of the Syrian-African rift.

This extraordinary locale contains within it an astonishing "window" to the geology of the region. On one side are tall, dark, jagged granite peaks. Lying opposite, the softer, rounded red and white sandstone stripes festoon the park. The spectacular landscape of acacia trees and desert plants, along with herds of wandering gazelles and ibex, is displayed against the dramatic backdrop of the mountains.

Copper mining began in Timna more than 6000 years ago, at the end of the fifth millennium BCE.

Timna boasts the world's earliest copper mine, dating from the time when man first began to smelt this metal. Here, also, the technological revolution started, when metal began to be used in daily life. The Egyptians established an enormous copper mining operation in this breathtaking location, between the fourteenth and twelfth centuries BCE from the reign of Seti I through Ramses V. Their partners in this venture were the Midianites from the northern Arabian Peninsula. The ancient Egyptians used donkeys to transport the copper ingots to the only natural port on the Gulf of Eilat, located at Coral Island. Some researchers speculate that this island was also the site of the port that was built and renovated by King Solomon in "Etzion-Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the Land of Edom" (Kings I). Mining continued through the Roman period, the first and second centuries CE, as well as after the Arab conquest.

The Arava Expedition, headed by Professor Beno Rothenberg, has excavated and restored the various sites in Timna Park over the past thirty years.

Park Hours: 08:00 - 16:00, every day except Fridays and holiday eve (till 13:00).
Summer Hours ( July -August ): Sundays and Fridays 08:00 - 13:00 only.
On other days of the week we are also open from 18:00 - 20:30. Final visitors enter by 20:00.