How to have the most amazing time at the Dead Sea

I was really looking forward to seeing the Dead Sea and it blew away all my expectations. We stayed at the Kempinski Ishtar hotel in a terrace room. I really liked this hotel and you will see why as you read this post. One piece of advice, ask for a terrace room closest to the Dead Sea. The first room they put us in only had a peak-a-boo view. When I asked to move, our terrace and room significantly improved. Here was the view from the rooftop deck which the first room didn’t have (we also had a balcony):

Our first order of business was to head straight to the Dead Sea. The hotel has its own private beach. It was extremely windy and choppy the first day.

The great thing about the hotel beach is they provide you with everything you need. For example:

• mud which you rub all over your body, then let it dry, then wash it off in the sea
• aqua shoes because the sea has a lot of rocks which are sharp
• sun beds
• attendants to hose you off in case the salt gets in your eyes

Here are some people waiting for the mud to dry!

…and a look at the waves on the first day.

The waves and wind kind of made the first day experience not so great, but it was still cool to be able to float without trying (or read something in the water)!

After this, we went back to the room and here is a view from the balcony. I was blown away by how beautiful the Dead Sea and surrounding areas were. I was not expecting this at all. A lot of times with travel, I find that I get the best experiences when I go in with no or low expectations.

After getting cleaned up, we decided to watch the sunset from the rooftop bar/lounge of the hotel. Check out this incredible view.

Check out the infinity pool at night!

Before dinner, we decided to watch the show they put on nightly outdoors. There were singers and belly dancers.

…on our way to dinner, more gorgeous hotel grounds.

For dinner, we ate at Rehan Lebanese cuisine. It was a good sign to see upon entry, that bread is made fresh from scratch. The waiters had a lot of passion about the food and it was delicious.

Day 2 at the resort started with enjoying the sun rise.

…and then breakfast which is probably the only part of the hotel experience I did not enjoy. It was a mediocre buffet.

After breakfast we headed back to the Dead Sea beach as the wind and water were calm. I’m glad I was able to experience it without splashing waves.

The water was so calm, I could do floating crunches! Very cool experience.

After the beach, we decided to lounge at the amazing infinity pool all day.

We also had lunch at the pool.

Just prior to dinner, we had to enjoy another fine sunset in the room.

For dinner, we went back to Rehan because it was so good. This time, they sat us outside, and the view was just incredible.

These chicken wings were good.

…and the kitchen prepared something special for us – a kind of stew in a bread bowl. It was really savory.

After dinner, we went to watch the live show again before heading to bed.

On Day 3, it was time to move on to the next destination – Petra! However, first I went to workout at the gym which was big and pretty well equipped. I took one last pic of the sun rising over the property before we left.

Overall, I was really happy with the hotel and the Dead Sea and would recommend anyone to put it on their list of places to visit. The Dead Sea was gorgeous and it was such a great experience to be able to float in it. You can also visit the Dead Sea without staying at a hotel, but then the access is more difficult and you wont have all the amenities to truly enjoy the time there.