Dead Sea

Currency

The Jordanian shore is a line of resorts at Sweimeh with resort prices; the public beaches charge a few dinars and give you a shower afterwards, which is the part that matters. The Jordan Pass covers Bethany Beyond the Jordan and the Mujib trails nearby.

ATMs & cards

Machines at the resorts and in Sweimeh village, with the usual few-dinar fee. Cards are fine inside the hotels; the beach entry fees, the mud sellers and the taxis are cash.

Beach entry fees, mud and taxis are cash; the hotels take cards.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety

Read the rules and follow them, because this water is not the sea. Do not shave the day before, keep your face out — a splash in the eyes is genuinely painful and needs a fresh-water rinse — never swim on your front, and get out after twenty minutes. Summer here regularly passes 40°C at the lowest point on the planet, and the sinkholes on the receding shoreline are real; stay on the marked beaches.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa

Health & emergencies

Required to enter

No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.

Worth having

• Routine vaccinations up to date
• Hepatitis A
• Typhoid if you will eat widely outside hotels
• Rabies for long stays or work with animals

Getting treated

Private hospitals in Amman are excellent and are a medical-tourism destination in their own right; visitors pay, and the bills are modest by European standards. Outside Amman and Aqaba the options thin out quickly, and Petra and Wadi Rum are an hour or more from a hospital.

Heat is the real risk: 34°C in Wadi Rum and 40°C at the Dead Sea, with no shade and dry air that hides how much you are losing. Carry more water than feels sensible. Flash floods in the canyons after rain are sudden and have killed people; the sites close when rain is forecast and that closure is not negotiable.

Orientation, not medical advice. Entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history and where you have been — check with a travel clinic or your national health service four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

This is resort country, so the honest advice is to eat the buffet and go to Madaba for a proper meal — the town half an hour up the hill has good mezze, arak and Jordanian home cooking at a third of the resort price.

Getting around

• Hire car or taxi from Amman — an hour, and a 1,400m descent that your ears will notice
• Resort shuttles — most Sweimeh hotels run a bus to Amman and to the airport
• Walking — there is no promenade and no town; you move between a hotel and a beach and that is all
• Day trips — the Dead Sea pairs naturally with Bethany, Mount Nebo and Madaba in one loop
• The Israeli shore at Ein Bokek is a separate trip through a border crossing, not a drive along the coast

Internet speed

Broadband here runs at 1.5× the global median of 128 Mbps. Mobile runs at 44% of the global median of 110 Mbps.

Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured May 2026

Must-see

Things to do

• Float, badly and briefly, and take the photograph
• Cover yourself in the mud that the resorts sell and the beaches give away
• Walk the Mujib siq upriver through the gorge, in season
• Visit Bethany Beyond the Jordan, where the baptism site is
• Soak in the waterfall at Ma’in hot springs
• Drive up to Mount Nebo for the view Moses got

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Arabic

• Helloمرحبا — MarhabaMAR-ha-ba
• Pleaseمن فضلك — Min fadlakmin FAD-lak
• Thank youشكرا — ShukranSHOOK-ran
• Yes / Noنعم / لا — Na’am / LaNA-am / la
• Excuse meعفوا — AfwanAF-wan
• How much is it?بكم — Bikam?bi-KAM
• The bill, pleaseالحساب — Al-hisabal-hi-SAB
• Welcomeأهلا وسهلا — Ahlan wa sahlanAH-lan wa SAH-lan

Inshallah, meaning God willing, follows nearly any statement about the future and is conversational rather than religious.

Religion

Sunni Muslim

About 95% Muslim, with a Christian minority that is old, visible and unremarkable to Jordanians — churches and mosques share streets in Madaba and Amman. Practice is devout but relaxed with visitors: the call to prayer runs five times a day, Friday midday is quiet, and Ramadan changes opening hours everywhere and makes eating in public in daylight impolite rather than illegal. Cover shoulders and knees away from the resorts and take your shoes off at a mosque door.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Return the greeting: as-salaam alaykum, and wa alaykum as-salaam back
• Accept the tea. It is offered constantly and refusing it is the one rude thing a visitor reliably does
• Dress with shoulders and knees covered away from the resorts, men included
• Use your right hand for eating, handing over money and greeting
• Ask before photographing people, and expect to be asked to join a meal if you linger

Don't

• Do not haggle over a fixed price in a shop; markets and taxis are where bargaining belongs
• Do not show the sole of your foot to anyone, or point with your feet
• Do not drink alcohol in public — it is legal and sold, and it is drunk indoors
• Do not discuss the politics of the neighbouring countries with people you have just met
• Do not photograph inside a mosque during prayer, or women anywhere without asking