Taba border crossing — the one Egypt-Israel land border most visitors will use.

What you are looking at

The Taba border crossing is one of three land crossings between Egypt and Israel and the only one that handles tourist traffic at any scale. It sits at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, with the Egyptian Taba terminal on the south side of the border line and the Israeli Yitzhak Rabin terminal (often referred to as simply "Eilat border") on the north side. The walk between the two terminals is approximately 200 metres on an open paved corridor; you clear the Egyptian exit booth, walk across no-man's land, and clear the Israeli entry booth on the other side. The total crossing time in standard conditions is between 40 and 90 minutes; in peak weekend conditions it can stretch to 2.5 hours.

Two visa regimes apply for the entry into Egypt at Taba, and which one you get matters substantially for what you can do afterwards. The standard regime, available to most nationalities at the Egyptian booth on arrival, is the Sinai-only entry permit: 14 days valid, covers the coastal strip from Taba to Sharm El-Sheikh including St Catherine, but does not cover Cairo, the Nile valley, or anywhere west of Sharm. The Sinai-only permit is free of charge and is what most day-trippers and Sinai-only visitors use. The alternative is the full Egyptian tourist visa, available on arrival at Taba for many nationalities at a charge of approximately USD 25, valid 30 days, covering the entire country. You need to ask for the tourist visa explicitly at the booth; the default for many border officials is to issue the Sinai-only permit.

The crossing is open 24 hours a day in principle, but the practical traffic is concentrated in two windows: 09:00–14:00 (the day-tripper window from Eilat into Sinai) and 17:00–21:00 (the return). Outside these windows the corridor is essentially empty and the crossing takes 30–45 minutes. Friday afternoon and Saturday morning are quietest by some margin because most Israeli day-trippers do not cross on the Jewish sabbath.

Onward transport from Taba into Egypt

The Egyptian terminal has a tourism kiosk inside the arrivals hall that arranges onward ground transport. Standard options:

• Shared minibus to Nuweiba — approximately 75 minutes, EGP 150 per person. Departures every 30–60 minutes during the day window.
• Shared minibus to Dahab — approximately 2 hours 30 minutes, EGP 250 per person. Departures every 60–90 minutes.
• Shared minibus to Sharm El-Sheikh — approximately 4 hours, EGP 400 per person. Departures less frequent; phone-booking recommended.
• Private taxi to Dahab — approximately EGP 1,800 per vehicle, agreed at the kiosk.
• Direct bus to Cairo — East Delta Bus daily departure 22:00, approximately 8 hours, EGP 280 one-way. The bus has a single security stop at the Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel.

From the Israeli side of the border, the Eilat city centre is approximately 10 minutes by Israeli taxi (NIS 50) or a 30-minute walk along the seafront. Eilat has direct domestic flights to Tel Aviv (50 minutes, multiple daily) and an international airport that has been progressively replacing the older Ovda runway. The bus connection Eilat–Tel Aviv is approximately 5 hours, Egged routes.

Reading list

• Egyptian General Authority for Land Ports. Taba Terminal Visitor Information. Bilingual leaflet at the arrivals hall.
• Israel Population and Immigration Authority. Entry Procedures at Yitzhak Rabin Terminal. Updated annually on the IPA website.
• Tih Press field notebooks 2013–2026, "TBC" tag — quarterly crossing-time logs.
• Subscriber update Visa changes at Taba, refreshed at each verification when regulations change.