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The Dead Sea

Floating in the Dead Sea at the lowest point on Earth: water so salty it holds you up like a deckchair, a newspaper for the photo, and a sunset finale.

We finished our day of Jordan day trips in February 2026 at the lowest place on the planet: the Dead Sea, around 430 metres below sea level. You do not really swim here. You lie back, the water shrugs and holds you up, and your only job is to keep it out of your eyes.

Dileep in a straw hat and sunglasses floating on his back in the pale green Dead Sea, reading a newspaper
Yes, we did the newspaper photo. No, we are not sorry. The float is completely effortless.

The famous trick works exactly as advertised. The water is so dense with salt that you bob like a cork, and trying to stand up again is the only part that takes practice. The other thing nobody warns you about: the smallest cut on your skin will introduce itself very loudly.

Inga and Dileep silhouetted in the shallows of the Dead Sea at sunset, with a pair of white slippers left on the dark pebble beach
Hotel slippers parked on the beach, sun going down over the far shore. The far shore is another country.
Silhouettes of Inga and Dileep standing in the glittering Dead Sea at sunset, raising their hands together above their heads
Last light on the water. The Dead Sea does a very good line in silver.

It sits less than an hour from the sights around Amman, so you can touch the River Jordan, stand on Mount Nebo and float below sea level all in one day. From here we carried on south to Petra and Wadi Rum.