The Crowne Plaza Dead Sea Israel is a hotel with its own private beach on the Dead Sea. This kosher-friendly resort has renovated rooms, a spa, top-notch dining options.

Location

There are 2 Crowne Plaza hotels located on the Dead Sea: one on the Jordan side and one on the Israel side. This is a review of the location in Ein Bokek, a hotel and resort district on the Israeli shore of the Dead Sea.

I’ve been to the Dead Sea several times staying in fantastic hotels…across the street from the sea. This is my first time staying at a resort with direct access to the Dead Sea and it definitely makes a huge difference. Specifically, my husband and I were traveling with his older Aunt we has had a botched hip surgery. The convenience of not having to do a lot of walking was very nice for us.  The only downside of the location is that is a little removed from the hotel row so there aren’t a lot of dining options outside of the hotel. Specifically for those looking for a kosher meal.

The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is a salt lake that’s also the lowest place on earth. How salty is it? It’s almost 10 times times as salty as the ocean. With a water of density of 1.24 kg/litre, you literally can’t help but float.

View of the Dead Sea from the room.

MY QUICK TIPS FOR A DAY AT THE DEAD SEA

1. Stay hydrated.
2. Don’t shave for at least 48 hours prior to entering the water.
3. Don’t touch your eyes.
4. Don’t splash around.
5. Buy mud, let it dry, rub it off.

Mud

You gotta do the mud mask. The hotel sells packets of mud in their gift shop for $10 or $20. The Dead Sea mineral mud is famous for its natural healing elements. I like to let the mud dry on my skin and then rub is off in an exfoliating motion. Your skin will fell smooth as a babies bottom afterwards.

With the husband while our mud dries.

Service

I’ll be frank. This is my third trip to Israel in the last 7 years. I’ve spent a lot of time traveling around the country. I have found that while it’s a beautiful country, one of my favorites in the world, in general the service in Israel is sub-par and definitely not nearly as friendly as it was across the sea in Jordan. For example, we waited a ridiculously long time for someone to come take our order – every time we sat down to eat. No one working there ever had a smile on their face. If you asked for something they made it seem like you were bothering them. Heaven forbid I ask for water with my dinner. So while the staff and service was barely tolerable, this is no way a reflection of the hotel, it’s just what you get when you visit Israel in my opinion. I didn’t have a necessarily bad experience or issue; more so a typical experience.

Rooms

The hotel has recently undergone a renovation so all the rooms are clean, modern and updated. We chose a club room category room which is an adults-only room that comes with complimentary access to their new business lounge.  The room was nice but fairly basic.

Comfortable bed with complimentary robes.

Standard bathroom with shower (no tub) & sink.

90% of the rooms came with their own private balconies…except the ones on our floor. Which was odd because we paid for a club room you’d think if anything those would be the rooms with balconies. Nope.

Dining

This is a kosher hotel so they don’t mix meat and dairy. Dairy is served during breakfast and lunch with meat at dinner. When we first arrived we settled at the restaurant for lunch. I’m not going to lie – I really wanted some meat! But I settled for a salad instead. Which was probably what I really needed anyway. It was great, very fresh.

Delicious meat-free salad from the lobby restaurant.

Buffet dinner and breakfast was included with our room rate so we ate there during our stay.  As with most Israeli hotels, the buffet was massive.

Lightly fried whole fish served at the dinner buffet.

My husband’s Aunt is not only kosher but also vegetarian. She did not have any problems finding lots of options to eat. In general the buffet food was very good.

Pasta, meat, vegetarian dishes, etc.

The real gem though was the food in the lounge. The business lounge has food and alcohol out pretty much all day for those who have access. The food here was so good we ended up eating most of our meals here.

Complimentary food in the business lounge.

Hotel Grounds

The hotel is very nice. It’s extremely clean and well maintained.

Hotel lobby.

The spa is small but clean. There is a small, Dead Sea water pool inside next to the spa and a very large chlorine pool outside. Both have plenty of seats and lounge chairs.

Me floating in the indoor pool.

The outside pool has bar service which we definitely took advantage of.  The beach is nice and they provide not just lounges but tons of shade, several outdoor showers and bathrooms.

Outdoor pool with the Dead Sea in the background.

My only complaint about this hotel is the clientele. They were OLD. The average age of the people staying there was probably 75 and most of them were Russian. Vacationing with a whole bunch of old Russians is not high on my list.

Typical view at the hotel.

If it’s just my husband and me, I would not stay here again.  BUT if we have his Aunt with us, the hotel is definitely more accommodating to her needs.