Dead Sea

Wade in slowly and keep your face dry. No diving, no swimming face down, and rinse in fresh water afterwards. It stings anything you have grazed.

The public option, formerly Amman Beach: pools, showers, mud and around 20 JD to get in. Cheaper than a resort pass and much busier at weekends.

Kempinski Ishtar, the Movenpick and the Ramada all sell day use to non-guests, at roughly two to three times the public beach and more at weekends.

Scooped out of pots on the shore, smeared on, left to dry hard and rinsed off in the water. Available at the public beach and at every resort.

A wet scramble up a slot canyon off the shore road, open 1 April to 31 October only. Around 23 JD for non-Jordanians, two to three hours, self-guided.

About 55km and an hour from the Seventh Circle: take the airport road, then turn off at Naour and follow the Dead Sea signs. Taxis run roughly 20-35 JD one way.

Around 50km. Head north towards Amman, turn at Naour bridge and drive 35km down. Resorts run transfers; the Movenpick charges 56 JD for two, one way.

There is no reliable scheduled service down to Sweimeh. Take a taxi or hire a car, and agree the return leg before you set off rather than at the beach.

March-May and October-November: warm water and air temperatures you can sit out in.

December-February. Coolest and cheapest, and noticeably warmer than Amman on the ridge above.

July and August, when Gulf families fill the resorts and the shore pushes past 40 degrees.

Down from Amman early, before the coach parties and while the shore is still in shadow.

First float. Wade in slowly, keep your face out of the water, and get out again before the salt starts to itch.

The buffet at whichever beach or resort you have paid to be at. There is nowhere else to eat along this stretch.

Mud, dry, rinse, repeat, or drive twenty minutes south to the Mujib Siq Trail if it is between April and October.

Sunset over the West Bank hills from the shore, then dinner at the hotel. The strip has no nightlife of its own.

Half an hour up onto the plateau: the Byzantine mosaic town, with the Madaba Archaeological Museum at 3 JD and a fast road on to Amman.

Twenty minutes south on the shore road. The Siq Trail runs 1 April to 31 October; the guided Ibex Trail replaces it from November to March.