Somewhere to stay - Inbar Hotel, Arad

I'd better say it now: I want to move to Arad. As soon as we find a way to make a living over there, we'll buy one of those melodramatic 1970's houses that have an incredible view to the desert and cost as much as a crummy one-bedroom apartment in Tel Aviv does. Meanwhile we'll continue taking day trips there, drink at the local pubs (posts to follow) and fantasize about the relocation.

Leaving my residential fetish aside, Arad is a great starting point for trips in the Judea Desert, Masada and the Dead Sea. It is a residential area and therefore accommodation over there is cheaper and more functional than those by the Dead Sea and it doesn't feel like a tourist trap. There are 3 hotels in the city and of one them caters to the Orthodox community. Out of the remaining two, one is favored by school trips and the other is Inbar.

Inbar hotel is located right at the city entrance. It is 5 stories high, I think, has non-smoking floors and rooms and offers quiet and comfortable place to put your head after a long day of hiking right at the city center. The hotel advertises itself as  a 4-star one, but rating is meaningless in Israel (yet another subject to deal in  a future post): the rooms are really small, breakfast buffet is modest, compared to other Israeli hotels, public areas are small, too. However, there's wi-fi, an indoor pool, sauna and a small Dead Sea water pool where elderly tourists bathe (and so did I!). Good value for money, but make sure you get a desert view room cos the parking lot ain't much of a sight.

p.s. I wish Masada Hotel was still in operation. Look at the beautiful pic found in the Israeli Wikipedia:

Photo credit: Michael Jacobson

The stone is local and an architectural element required in all buildings and houses in the city.