Day 25: Cairo, Egypt - Dead Sea, Jordan

Movenpick Dead Sea Hotel

16 January 2026

We awoke at 2am today, so we could leave the hotel at 3am and head for the airport. Once I was up and had a cup of coffee, I actually felt fine. The airport was bustling, even at this early hour. There were people everywhere and all the shops were open, so it was easy to forget how early it actually was.

There were a group of 22 of us going on to Jordan, as it's an optional tour extension. It was a bit of a process to check in and get through passport control, and then our Viking tour representative left us on our own. We felt abandoned! It's almost like we'd forgotten how to catch planes and navigate airports by ourselves - but we managed. 🤣

It turned out our flight was delayed two hours, so we didn't arrive in Jordan until late morning - where we were met by our Jordan Viking tour guide. He speaks excellent English and is engaging and interesting, so perfect for the job. His name is Kamel - but he told us to call him Kam. 

As soon as we arrived, we could tell that Jordan is cleaner and better organised than Egypt. Driving from the airport, the road were well made and there were no piles of rubbish by the roadside. I didn't see any stray animals or abandoned houses or people squatting by the roadside. No one was beeping their car horns and everyone seemed to obey traffic laws. A welcome change from the madness of Egypt.

I had no idea that Jordan was so mountainous. Our first stop was the Dead Sea Museum, which is located in the Jordan Valley. (So many Biblical references!) Our bus climbed up and up and steep, winding mountain road to a museum located at the top of a hill, with a panoramic view of the Dead Sea. It was amazing! 

The Dead Sea is enormous, although shrinking every year apparently. Looking across it, we could see Jerusalem in the distance straight ahead and Jericho to the north. There are no boats on the sea because of the ridiculously high salt content (34% salt - more than 10 times the normal amount!) and because the border between Israel and Jordan runs right down the middle of the sea.

What I didn't know was that the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth - 400m below sea level. Nothing lives there, except for a species of salt-loving bacteria, and we learned that the salt comes from deep underwater springs that feed the sea. The museum shop was full of skin care products containing dead sea minerals and mud, which sounded interesting, but smelled rather strange. They were also extremely expensive, so I didn't buy any.

We had lunch at the museum restaurant and then headed back down the hill to our hotel - located on the shores of the Dead Sea. It was a massive resort complex - a bit run down in places - but lots of rooms in the main building and all over the site as well. There were numerous pools, tennis courts, shops and restaurants, but not many people, so it felt strangely empty. I can imagine that it's full of families and activity in the middle of Summer. Although we've been very lucky with the weather, even though it's mid-Winter. Today was cool, but lovely and sunny. 

The hotel has its own access to the shores of the Dead Sea, so we walked down there, through the resort. It took about 15 minutes with over 200 steps down! Luckily there are club cars going up and down regularly so we didn't have to walk back up.

Quite a few of the other tour guests had brought their bathers and had a swim - well, they had a float. It is impossible to sink in the Dead Sea, so people lie around on their backs with their head and feet sticking out. Quite funny to watch! Some of them also smeared themselves in Dead Sea mud, and then had a devil of a time washing it off. Supposedly it is very good for the skin.