HEALTH and beauty treatments at hotel spas in the Dead Sea are rapidly becoming one of the most popular types of holiday in Israel.
A few years ago, the Israel brochures barely mentioned the Dead Sea, in the Negev Desert, 400 metres below sea level at the lowest point on earth.
Today, specialist tour operators including Longwood Holidays and Peltours have several pages detailing a range of luxury hotels that now dominate the shoreline, such as the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa and the Golden Tulip Privilege Dead Sea, which opened in April.
All of the luxury hotels have top-quality spa facilities with various massages, mineral baths, saunas and steam rooms, as well as the famous Dead Sea mud packs.
A beauty and anti-stress package from Peltours costs from £110 including one Pinukal (body peeling, seaweed bath) and one Shunit (mud pack, 50mins double massage, aromatic oil bath) treatment. Accommodation rates lead in at around £625 per person for one week’s bed and breakfast at the Crowne Plaza.
Holidaymakers on a budget who cannot afford beauty packages can always buy Dead Sea mud from mud-sellers on the beach, slap it on all over and wash it off in the warm waters of the Dead Sea.
The water, which has about 10 times more salt than the Mediterranean, is also rich in minerals including bromide, iodine and magnesium – all reputedly good for the skin.
10 things you didn’t know about Israel
1. Next year will not be a new millennium for Israel, as it will be the year 5760 in the Jewish calendar.
2. The Dead Sea is thelowest point on earth.
3. Tel Aviv is on the Mediterranean.
4. At a certain point of the Negev Desert, you can view four countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel.
5. Eilat’s North Beach is 200 yards from the Jordanian border.
6. The virgin dive sites of Fjord, Ras Hamira and Marsa El Mukabila are accessible from Eilat.
7. Diving in the Red Sea is ideal for all levels of ability.
8. Ibiza is not the only 24hr party destination. In Tel Aviv revellers can often party for up to 48hrs.
9. English is commonly spoken alongside Hebrew.
10. The majority of restaurants outside hotels are not kosher.
Source: Longwood Holidays