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LEISURE & WELLNESS
Nature’s Healing Power
The popularity of the spa vacation has increased worldwide as many people are adopting healthier lifestyles. For this reason, Jordan has complimented its natural therapeutic sites with first class resorts offering a diverse range of amenities. The goal is to provide its visitors with a unique and relaxing experience catering to all of their health and fitness and beauty needs.
The Dead Sea
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The Dead Sea coastline with its spectacular salt crystal formations. | At 410 meters below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. Jordan’s Dead Sea coast is one of the most spectacular natural and spiritual landscapes in the world and it remains as enticing to international visitors today as it was to kings, emperors, traders, and prophets in antiquity.
A large amount of investment in the area has provided the Dead Sea with new roads making the new and luxurious 5 Star Movenpick Hotel and Resort, 5 Star Jordan Valley Marriott, 5 Star Kempenski Ishtar Hotel, and 4 Star Dead Sea Spa Hotel easily accessible.
The main attraction of the Dead Sea is of course the soothing, abnormally salty water itself. The salt content of the water is 31.5% making the water so buoyant that it is impossible for the visitor to sink. The water also contains 21 minerals including high levels of magnesium, sodium, potassium, and bromine and 12 of these minerals are found in no other body of water in the world.
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Mud treatment at one of the many spas. | Studies have shown the combination of the Dead Sea water and the rich black mud found along the shoreline to have significant health benefits including increasing circulation, easing discomfort from arthritis, healing allergies, and revitalizing skin.
A trip to the Dead Sea would not be complete without a visit to one of the first class health spa facilities of the luxury hotels. Here the visitor can enjoy year-round a massage, Dead Sea mud bath, use the excellent fitness facilities, or just spend the day relaxing on their beautiful private beaches.
Hammamat Ma’in
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Hyper-thermal waterfall at Hammamat Ma'in | Visitors to the Dead Sea should also take advantage of another nearby wonder, Hammamat Ma’in (Ma’in Hot Springs). Popular with both locals and tourists alike, the springs are located 264 meters below sea level in one of the most breath-taking desert oases in the world. Thousands of visiting bathers come each year to enjoy the mineral rich waters of these hyper-thermal waterfalls. These falls originate from winter rainfalls in the highland plains of Jordan and eventually feed the 109 hot and cold springs in the valley. This water is heated to temperatures up to 63 degrees Celsius by underground lava fissures as it makes its way through the valley before emptying into the Zarqa River.
Situated in this exquisite spot is the 97 room Evason Ma’In Hot Springs & Six Senses Spa offering a wide variety of professional services including mud wrappings, hydrojet baths and showers, underwater massages, mud facials, electrotherapy and cosmetology treatments.
SPORTS & LEISURE
In and Around Amman
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Riding at one of Ammans Riding Centres. | Jordan’s modern hotels and resorts are all equipped with spas, fitness centers, swimming pools, and tennis courts. In and around Amman, it is easy to find facilities for track and field sports, horseback riding, cycling, hiking, and gliding, golf and it is possible to go to the impressive Sports City to watch professional football, basketball, handball, and other sports.
Aqaba
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On the beach at Aqaba. | In the south, the seaside resort of Aqaba provides the perfect location for rest and relaxation on the shores of the Red Sea. In addition, it offers first-class scuba diving and snorkeling with some of the most beautiful and best preserved coral reef in the world. The visitor can also participate in swimming, sailing, windsurfing, waterskiing, or enjoy views of the active marine life on a ride in a glass-bottomed boat. Aqaba is renowned for its warm water and sunny weather and is a delightful destination that can be enjoyed all year round. The five and four star hotels in Aqaba offer world class spa facilities.
Wadi Rum
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On top of one of Wadi Rum's towering mountains. | A quick trip from Aqaba, Wadi Rum offers a truly unique and adventurous experience. The visitors will be amazed by their surroundings amid the stupendous cliffs, canyons, and seemingly endless orange sands as they enter the desert on a camel, horse, or 4x4 jeep driven by a local Bedouin. It is then up to them to explore and discover the secrets of Wadi Rum hiking through the sand and mountains. Rock climbing is a popular activity and visitors come from around the world to tackle Wadi Rum’s challenging climbs. Many have described these routes as comparable to those found in the Dolomites.
While it is an easy day-trip from Aqaba or Petra, Wadi Rum is best experienced during a night or two of camping under the stars enjoying the silence of the desert far away from the stresses of everyday life.
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The Dead Sea is 80 kilometres (50 miles) long, approximately 14 kilometres (9 miles) wide. The northern and larger part is very deep, reaching at one point a depth of 430m (1320 feet). The southern bay is, on the contrary, very shallow, averaging hardly a depth of 4m (13 feet).
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Dead Sea mud, or pelloid, is mineral-rich alluvial sediment, saturated with sulphide components. It holds heat well and can be smeared on the body to cleanse the skin and relieve arthritic and rheumatic pain.
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The warm, low altitude, high oxygen atmosphere of the Dead Sea area has been shown to help heart surgery patients. Patients who have spent up to three weeks at the Dead Sea resort prior to bypass surgery are shown to have less post-surgery complications, such as diastolic stiffness and dysfunction.
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In 1985, UNESCO designated Petra and Quseir Amra were designated as World Heritage Sites. Followed by Um er-Rasas (Kastrom Mefa'a), which was also inscribed in 2004 as a World Heritage Site.
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Inhabited since prehistoric times, this Nabataean caravan-city, situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, was an important crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia. Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. It is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites, where ancient Eastern traditions blend with Hellenistic architecture.
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