Eilat is a free-trade zone, so the 18% VAT that inflates prices in Tel Aviv simply doesn't apply here. That quirk turns three days of browsing — malls, Bedouin-style stalls, copper workshops and desert kibbutz farm shops — into genuine bargain hunting.
Eilat's original 1960s commercial arcade on HaTemarim Boulevard, where residents shop away from the resort strip: spice sellers, tailors, hardware stalls and Russian-Israeli grocers. Sun–Thu 08:00–19:00, Fri to 14:00.
The palm-lined boulevard running inland from the beaches is Eilat's everyday high street: fabric shops, army-surplus desert gear, Judaica, phone repair kiosks and bakeries selling burekas by weight rather than by piece.
Three levels and roughly 180 shops wrapped around a full-size ice rink near Kamon Square. Israeli chains Castro, Fox, Golf and Renuar sit beside international labels, all priced without Israel's 18% VAT.
As the heat drops, craft sellers set up along the marina quay by Bridge House: hammered copper from Timna, hand-strung Eilat Stone pendants, glass mosaics and leatherwork, most made by sellers living in the Arava valley.
The compact marina-side mall on Durban Street leans toward resortwear: linen, swimwear, sandals and sunglasses, plus perfume counters that undercut airport duty-free thanks to Eilat's tax status. Sun–Thu 10:00–22:00.
The Israeli design house known for Victorian-romantic jewellery, hand-printed porcelain and painted trays keeps a branch on the Ice Mall's upper level. Vintage-rose motifs, heavy enamel work, each piece numbered by collection.
A local-facing mall on upper HaTemarim Boulevard that tourists rarely reach: homeware, ceramics, Judaica workshops and a supermarket where Arava-grown produce costs a third of promenade prices.
The arched building spanning the marina channel holds small independent shops — diving gear, nautical prints, hand-rolled soaps from Dead Sea minerals — with terraces over the moored yachts and Aqaba's lights across the gulf.
Twenty-five km north among 6,000-year-old Egyptian copper mines, the park shop sells copper cast on site, Eilat Stone set by Arava silversmiths and mineral samples from the surrounding sandstone. Open daily 08:00–16:00.
Forty km up Route 90, the dairy kibbutz that supplies half of Israel's flavoured milk sells its full range plus Arava medjool dates, date honey and desert-herb products at farm-gate prices beside the roadhouse.
Back in the city, the reef's shop stocks marine-themed work by Eilat makers — driftwood carving, resin-set coral casts, underwater photography prints — rather than the imported keyrings sold along the promenade.
The square between Ice Mall and North Beach fills nightly with trestle tables: Bedouin-woven camel-wool bags, silver Yemenite filigree, dried desert herbs and second-hand books in five languages, running until roughly midnight.