February 2, 2009

AFRICA & MIDEAST | JORDAN

Pelagic Pleasures from the Dead to the Red

By Doug Black

Go bicoastal with Jordan’s hottest new retreats.

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You’re floating in mineral waters once enjoyed by King Herod the Great, the ruler of ancient Israel when Jesus was born. Except now your oasis, a salt grain’s throw from the Dead Sea in Jordan, has been reborn as Evason Ma’In Hot Springs. Opening February 14, the 97-room property is nestled within a rocky ravine 860 feet below sea level. A $12 million facelift has brought the decades-old resort up to 21st-century standards and added Jordan’s first Six Senses Spa. In addition to 10 treatment rooms and a steam cave, the spa’s showpiece is a natural waterfall where the Ma’In hot springs fall in ribbons into a central pool.

The top-floor Honeymoon Suite offers 360-degree views of the waterfall. Still, you don’t have to be a newlywed to enjoy such drama — Evason offers a restaurant with a similar perspective, where Arabic cuisine is enjoyed the traditional way: while seated on the floor. You could also dine at the resort’s clifftop restaurant on the edge of the Dead Sea, or sip Old World vino from a daybed at the Brown and White Bar. But whatever you do, save room for Evason’s homemade ice cream — lots of room, because there are 40 flavors.

For now, it’s all a warm-up for the resort’s official grand opening in June. Which is also when Kempinski will toast its newest Jordan property, Hotel Aqaba, having already staked its claim on the Dead Sea and the capital. Located right on the Red Sea, the resort presides over a private beach with boutique shopping, an in-house nightclub and three acres of gardens scattered with personal cabanas. Offering every watersport under the sun — from parasailing to private yacht charters — Hotel Aqaba doesn’t neglect landlubbers either: its crescent-shaped footprint lends each guestroom a coveted sea view.