This is one of the most amazing places on Earth. It is located 400 meters below sea level, and the sea itself is over 300 meters deep. When you enter this water, it feels like you’re immersing yourself in oil, not the sea. This amazing effect is achieved due to the unprecedented amount of salt and minerals in the water. In this sea, it’s impossible to swim; you can only stand or sit… on the water. The main thing is to ensure that the water doesn’t get into your eyes, nose, or mouth. The sensation is very unpleasant. You must immediately rinse it with fresh water. Fortunately, there are showers with fresh water on the shore, right at the exit from the sea. But the therapeutic effect of the Dead Sea water is simply unparalleled!!!
So, how do you get to this amazing place? Let’s consider the options for flying to relax at the Dead Sea.
Currently, you can take a round-trip flight from Moscow to Israel for about 70,000 rubles. This price is for a direct flight without stopovers. With stopovers, it’s about half the price. You need to fly to Ben Gurion Airport. Ben Gurion is the center of the country, and from there, it’s about a 1.5–2-hour drive to the Dead Sea hotels, approximately 90 km in total. It’s best to book a comfortable car in advance, so you don’t have to catch a taxi at the airport, as not every taxi driver will agree to drive that far.
When talking about relaxation and treatment at the Dead Sea, you must clearly understand that all the hotels are a small oasis in the desert on the coast. With green gardens, shops, cafes, and restaurants. Behind the hotels are desert cliffs: sand and stones. The air and water temperatures at the Dead Sea during the year are approximately as follows:
January: daytime 18.7, night 13.7, sea water 21.4; February: daytime 20.0, night 14.8, sea water 21.1; March: daytime 22.7, night 16.7, sea water 21.3; April: daytime 26.3, night 19.5, sea water 22.8; May: daytime 30.1, night 24.0, sea water 25.9; June: daytime 32.6, night 26.8, sea water 28.5; July: daytime 34.5, night 28.8, sea water 31.0; August: daytime 34.7, night 29.3, sea water 31.0; September: daytime 33.0, night 28.2, sea water 30.5; October: daytime 29.5, night 24.8, sea water 27.9; November: daytime 25.2, night 20.1, sea water 24.9; December: daytime 20.9, night 16.1, sea water 23.8.
As you can see, everyone can choose a comfortable time for treatment and relaxation.
Of course, there are many places in the world with a warm climate and sea, but the Dead Sea is only in Israel and Jordan.
So what’s special about this dead water?
The Dead Sea sharply differs from other seas and oceans of the planet in the composition of its salts. While other seas have a sodium chloride content of 77% of the total salt composition, in the Dead Sea water, it accounts for 25–30%, with magnesium salts (bromide and chloride) making up to 50%. The Dead Sea has almost 20 times more potassium than the Atlantic Ocean, 35 times more magnesium, 42 times more calcium, and 80 times more bromine.
In the Dead Sea water, about 50 billion tons of natural minerals of 21 types are dissolved – all of them essential for human life, with very high concentrations: from 280 to 420 g of salt per 1 liter of water. 12 of these minerals are not found in any other body of water in the world. Some of them contribute to relaxation, skin health, activate the circulatory system, ease rheumatic conditions, and metabolic disorders. The Dead Sea is surrounded by various rock formations, which also contribute to the composition of the water.
Prices on the Dead Sea coast vary greatly: from budget hotels to luxury hotels – from 4.5 to 70 thousand rubles per night. The price is for a room for two adults in January 2024. But the good news is that if there are no therapeutic procedures in the hotel itself, they can be undergone in the Dead Sea clinic, to which a special minibus from each hotel delivers guests.
What diseases are treated at the Dead Sea?
Neurotic disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, vegetative-vascular dystonia, hypertension, and hypotension – the rich ion content of the Dead Sea region’s air and the high atmospheric pressure there, which filters harmful ultraviolet rays, can help with these. All 330 sunny days a year, the sun on the Dead Sea coast is beneficial, not harmful, especially important for residents of northern countries.
The fine-dispersed therapeutic mud of the Dead Sea helps with various musculoskeletal diseases: arthritis, arthrosis, osteochondrosis, polyarthritis, rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, bursitis, tendinitis, Bechterew’s disease, consequences of injuries, etc. Warm mud applications to painful areas, combined with therapeutic massage, provide an excellent effect.
The Dead Sea also successfully treats dermatological diseases: vitiligo, psoriasis, dermatitis, including atopic dermatitis, neurodermatitis, acne, eczema, scleroderma, seborrhea, lichen planus, and others.
Treating respiratory diseases at the Dead Sea does not even require special medical equipment – the therapeutic air, sea water, sun, and inhalations help deal with asthma, cystic fibrosis, mucoviscidosis, and more.
Here are some reviews from people who have undergone treatment at the Dead Sea:
1. “I’ll write about my impressions. First, it’s expensive to relax at the Dead Sea. If you aim to go for treatment, you have to accept this. The hotels cost about $150 per night (the most budget options), but for this money, you get comfort and excellent food. Honestly, I have never seen such a buffet anywhere else. Second, you can get bored out of your mind there. There is no infrastructure. The Dead Sea is just two handfuls of hotels. Nearby are a market and small shops (with crazy prices). Third, sometimes even at 7 in the morning, the air temperature is 32 degrees, and the sea is like a hot bath. And that’s great! It warms up all the joints! Fourth, everything psoriasis patients and others need is provided by nature itself: sea salt, water, air with sea vapors, and sun. To conclude my review, if you go to the Dead Sea for treatment, it’s great! You can always meet ‘fellow sufferers’ on the beach, always someone to chat with, etc. But if you’re not undergoing treatment and don’t have the goal of warming your joints and soaking your skin in minerals and salts, it’s a bit boring. I wish everyone health! More on Otzovik: https://otzovik.com/review_4234993.html
2. Everything was mixed up in the Oblonsky house… There was little time for independent walks (we went with a group). The old city, if you abstract from the fact that it has been turned into a bazaar, is impressive. In the early morning, walking through the streets of the old city, you can avoid the crowds and the shouts of Arabs trying to sell you another trinket or something similar. I can’t exactly formulate and report on my feelings and say what I liked and what I didn’t. I’ll say one thing – the old city of Jerusalem is now in me. I was somehow influenced by it, I guess… It’s a great monument to the history of many peoples, religions, nationalities, which stands, and, I hope, nothing will happen to it…
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