The Best Wellness Retreats in Jordan

Located on the shores of the Red Sea, the Heavenly Spa at the Al Manara has plenty of relaxing nooks dotted between steam rooms, therapy baths and calming lounges. The excellent treatment menu draws inspiration from Chinese and Ayurvedic remedies and offers massages using local Aqaba herbs. The hotel’s network of outdoor pools are best enjoyed at sunset.

This luxury hotel has the best of Amman’s bustling city action on its doorstep while providing a calming sanctuary on the inside. Feel completely cocooned in opulence and five-star comforts, from the abundantly healthy breakfast buffet to the calming roof terraces and sky-high open-air swimming pool. The hotel has a spa with an excellent menu of massage packages that are well-worth booking before you check in to avoid disappointment.

There’s not much surrounding this hotel, but that only adds to its out-of-this-world appeal right on the edge of the Dead Sea. The grounds showcase generously sized pools and neat, lush gardens. Break a sweat in the 24-hour gym, or spend an afternoon soaking in the spa’s Dead Sea salt pool. The treatment menu is brimming with traditional massages and facials. Don’t leave without a dip in the healing and mineral-rich Dead Sea itself.

Allow this elegant and glassy 50-storey high hotel to form a bubble around you, far from the grind of normal life. The light-flooded rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows and deep soak bathtubs, while the outdoor pool is flanked by sunbeds to snooze away an afternoon on. The fitness and wellness club offers a place to unwind with a workout and a relaxing massage. The west-facing rooftop bar is a wonderful spot to enjoy a drink as the sun dips.

The combination of meticulous five-star service and luxury treats will help calm you instantly. Why not indulge in a 75-minute full-body massage or Dead Sea facial at the spa? Enjoy an al fresco swim in a pool, circled by grand stone columns, and then a famous Mövenpick ice cream served to your honey-yellow sunbed. There are also a decent gym, a sauna and a hammam.

The Dead Sea is a legendary wellness destination, renowned for its saltwater and healing mineral mud. While the Dead Sea Spa Resort is an affordable waterfront stay, the true allure is the Dead Sea Medical Center on the premises, which offers a 3-week physician-led program for skin issues, including counselling to help patients identify underlying causes of conditions like psoriasis and eczema. The spa offers all the fun pampering treatments, such as mud wraps, cryotherapy, indoor solarium and pool.

The European-style spa at the Kempinski Hotel Ishtar offers an indoor Dead Sea pool, so you can soak up the minerals in a peaceful, climate-controlled environment. Indulge in a signature wellness package, such as Home to Heaven (which includes round-trip transport from Amman, a massage and relaxation-themed programmes). A stay here is worth the splurge, with hydro facilities, 26 treatment rooms (including six outdoor rooms), tennis courts, a gym and a yoga studio.

Nestled deep in a canyon, Ma’in is a verdant oasis just 13 kilometres (8mi) from the Dead Sea. The cascading hot-spring waterfalls feed the lush greenery and the man-made swimming pools at the resort. The spa is divinely relaxing and offers the usual treatments. But, what makes this property magical is the otherworldly location and the therapeutic spring waters, in which King Herod is said to have sought healing over 2000 years ago.

Escape to a private beach, 10 minutes outside the city of Aqaba, to Mövenpick Tala Bay. The hotel offers a dive centre, a boot camp, a yoga garden, a 250-metre (820ft) running track and a fitness centre. The Zara Spa features 11 different types of treatment rooms. In addition to more traditional local hammam experiences, it offers modern treatments, such as Thalgo body treatments to target cellulite and marine wraps to detox. Natural and local ingredients are used in many of the treatments.

Urbanites looking for a chic, modern escape often book a stay at the W Amman. Inside, the cosy spa offers some of the best massages and body treatments in the city. Nail your fitness goals with a trainer and nutritionist, and add the finishing touches with facials, manicures and pedicures. Bonus: the hotel’s “whatever, whenever” policy means you can customise your wellness regimen – like arranging a detox menu for your stay.

With a Dead Sea pool and a range of treatments using the highly regarded Trinitae Dead Sea products, the Willow Stream Spa at the Fairmont Amman brings the Dead Sea to the city. The spacious 22,000sqm (236,806sqft) oasis features every kind of amenity one expects from a high-end health-conscious hotel: a hydro pool, vitality pools, ice fountains, personal training (both in-person and on-demand virtual), private and group fitness classes, as well as salon services.