Staying on the Dead Sea.How close to Jerusalem

[karen sharpe]

We are looking at staying at The Marriott on The Dead Sea in Jordan...how realistic is this to be able to do all tours of Jerusalem with a tour guide? Thanks..

[paul929207]

If memory serves, it is a couple of hours from the Israeli side of the Deas Sea to Jerusalem. I am not sure how much farther it is to the Jordan side, but I would think it is too far for day trips.

[happy trailer]

We are looking at staying at The Marriott on The Dead Sea in Jordan...how realistic is this to be able to do all tours of Jerusalem with a tour guide? Thanks..

 

Karen, is your cruise stopping in Ashdod, Israel? Or in Aquaba, Jordan?

 

If it's Aquaba, then you will need to either take a flight to Amman, and then travel an hour or so to the Dead Sea, or travel about 3 hours by ground transportation from Aqaba to the Dead Sea. For touring Jerusalem, you will need to cross the border into Israel (which can take up to an hour at the Allenby crossing); the trip from the Allenby crossing to Jerusalem is approx 30-45 minutes, unless there is a security situation, in which case it can take considerably longer. The Allenby crossing is not very pleasant, and it has somewhat limited hours when it is open.

 

If it's Ashdod, then staying on the Jordan side of the Dead Sea is very, very unrealistic. The trip from Ashdod to the Allenby crossing will take at least 2 hours, and I can pretty much guarantee that the Israeli border patrol is going to be giving you a great deal of scrutiny, as it's probably pretty much unheard of that a tourist will choose to stay at the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea for a night, and then return to Israel.

 

There are many very nice hotels in Israel at the Dead Sea area, mainly near Masada, which is over an hour from Jerusalem; or you can stay in the very nice kibbutz hotel in Ein Gedi, which is about 25 minutes closer to Jerusalem.

 

If you only want to stay in a Marriott property, then I suggest you consider the Renaissance in Tel Aviv. I've stayed in it several times- it's right on the beach, with many good restaurants close by. The trip to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv will take much less time - depending on traffic, from 45-90 minutes- than the trip from Jordan. There are several daily bus tours of Jerusalem that leave from Tel Aviv (you can do a google search to find them); I'd imagine that they pick up and drop off at hotels.

 

However, if you really want to spend as much time as possible touring Jerusalem, I'd strongly urge you to consider staying in a hotel in Jerusalem.

While the major hotels can run $300+/ night, there are many very nice hotels that can be booked on sites like Expedia for as low as $100- $150/night year round. Some of them are located in the center of the city, within walking distance to many tourist areas; others are located a short cab ride, easy bus ride, or pleasant 30-45 minute walk away from the heart of the city (but are still considered to be in the city center). There is a 'hop on, hop off' bus in Jerusalem that makes touring the city independently very easy.

 

HTH, and please don't hesitate to ask further questions! BTW, you might want to check out the thread I have on visiting and touring Israel:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=913621

 

I try to check that thread regularly, and usually reply to questions within a day or two.

[karen sharpe]

Thank you both for the excellent information. We want to see the Dead Sea but our main focus is to see as much of Jerusalem as possible.Our ship docks in Ashdod so it looks as if time wise according to your advice re the geography that we do need to choose something in the city itself.

I will check out your site Ruth!

[slidergirl]

When I visited Tel Aviv in 1998, I took a day bus tour down to Masada and the Dead Sea. It was full day. I used Egged Tours, which I believe is still the prime tourist bus tour company in Israel. We spent about 2 hours at the Ein Gedi Spa on the Dead Sea, enough time to get muddy, float in the Sea, and take a relaxing dip in one of the mineral baths. You might want to check around to see if you can find that kind of tour. But, I wouldn't want to add Jerusalem into that tour - it would be WAY too long, if not impossible to do in a day.