Dead Sea in Jordan

Visiting the Dead sea in Jordan

Have you also dreamt about floating around in the worlds deepest sea? 430,5 meters below sea level you find the Dead sea which is located on the boarder between Israel and Jordan. A couple of years ago I visited the Israeli side for a swim and now when I went to Jordan in October it was time for the other. I will share my story with lessons learnt from the trip.

Where to access the Dead sea

At the Israeli side I went to a day spa but accessing the Dead sea at the Jordan side is a bit different. There is a tiny public beach but if you would like to have premium access you need to stay at one of the international resorts like Hilton, Kempinski, Mövenpick or so. We aimed for staying at Hilton but booking last minute especially during weekends is not to recommend so we had to go for what was left, in this case Mövenpick so we booked one night there.

If you just would like to have a look out of the Dead sea there are several spots to stop by with your car along the coast but you cannot walk down to touch and feel. Just look. Weather wise it was hot and dry in late October. 34 degrees and there were a lot of flies all around which was kind of annoying especially when you were eating and had to share your table with them.

Resort life at Mövenpick

I am not a fan of resorts except that they generally have a lot of nice swimming pools and good gyms to cater all guests. Mövenpick wasn’t my first choice but when there was nothing else to choose between we ended up there and I had my very first Mövenpick experience. The hotel was a bit run down and would need some touch-up paint at the buildings and in the rooms. There were six swimming pools which was the absolute best thing and one exclusively for adults. Most of our time we spent at (and inside) the pools. The resort also offered tennis courts, gym, several restaurants, souvenir shopping, entertainment shows, kids club, water fitness and everything you can imagine of a resort.

The breakfast buffet was a disaster. I asked the waitress for coffee four times and waited about half an hour to get served. Service was non existing. Also providing butter was a challenge for them, I mean, I am not an exceptional person demanding butter to my bread? or? The breakfast assortment was also very small. Since there weren’t many restaurants nearby we were forced to eat at the hotel and it was well overpriced and quality of food was pretty bad in general. At night we went to the bar to order drinks and also there we had to wait forever to get served and also to get attention in the first place.

I would not recommend this resort if you don’t have one thing in mind, premium access to the Dead sea. That was the only positive thing about the hotel. The beach was just a lot of stairs down and the beach area was great with sunbeds, showers and perfect beach access. Much better than the place I been to at the Israeli side. We spent quite a lot of time in the morning floating around in the sea. Luckily non of us had blisters because that would hurt a lot due to the salt water. It was very difficult to swim so you looked like a sea lion when trying to. Best way to move forward was to lay on the back and paddle. Really fun experience and we laughed a lot. Our plan was to go back for the sunset but unfortunately it started to get windy and a lot of waves so the beach closed early.

Lazy day at the pool

The Jordan trip was intense and offered loads of interesting sights so it was perfect to spend the last day chilling out at the pool. Sleeping, reading and thinking about the adventures in Amman, the fantastic day in Petra and desert camp in Wadi Rum. I had such a great time in Jordan and would strongly recommend everyone up for adventures to go there.

Working out in Jordan

Our flight home was a night flight so the last evening we were hitting the gym. The Dead sea is not a perfect place to run at outside so I went running at the treadmill followed by some weight training. Also the gym at the resort was a bit outdated but fully functional. Lesson learnt from this trip was to book your activities in time since it is a very popular destination with a limited amount of accomondation option.