Jerusalem to the Dead Sea by bus

I heard that there are 2 public (free) Dead Sea beaches in Israel: Ein Gedi and Ein Bokek. There is Ein Gedi Spa in between, this is a private beach and not free.

I read a few blog posts/websites that say: 1) Ein Gedi public beach is closed, 2) Ein Bokek is nicer. So, we chose Ein Bokek, only to end up possibly at the 3^rd public beach, Hamei Zohar. We took the 486 Egged bus from Jerusalem central bus station, cost 37.50NIS one way (per person). We bought our tickets from the driver on the bus.

It takes about 2 hours to Ein Bokek and about 1 and half hours to Ein Gedi. I asked other passengers on the bus if Ein Gedi public beach was open, they said yes, but I was unable to locate it on our way to Ein Bokek.

The bus driver knew that we and other passengers, a local family, wanted to go to Ein Bokek, and I had a rough idea what Ein Bokek beach would look like, so when the bus passed through the busy and happening beach and drove on, the local family dad and I looked at each other, both of us must’ve been thinking: ‘did we just pass Ein Bokek?’ The dad went to speak with the driver, when he came back he told me that our stop was next. Later I looked up on a map and found out that we were at Hamei Zohar beach. I don’t know if that is considered as a part of Ein Bokek beach or why the driver dropped us there…

So, here is my blog about Ein Bokek Hamei Zohar 🙂

We got off at a stop called Hotel Herods, it looked like the middle of nowhere, but thankfully the beach was only a few minutes away. Cross the road and walk towards south passing the Jerusalem bound bus stop, turn left when you see a small path and the beach will be right there!

It was a midday in August and the beach was near empty (or maybe because we were not in Ein Bokek!) There were shades, water fountains, toilets and showers – all free of charge. There were life guards also. Toilet building was quite large and had many cubicles and sinks, also a big changing area (one big room with benches). I changed in the toilet, it was clean and spacious enough, I later used the changing room to dry my legs, put shoes on and reorganise my bags before leaving. If you’re thinking about spending a couple or more hours on the beach, it will be nice to have something to sit on; you can rent a chair for 10NIS or bring a light picnic mat from home. We did not look for a locker as the beach was so quiet and we’re sort of taking turns to go into the water. DO bring beach sandals, salty sand is rocky and super hot. Unfortunately we did not see any of the famous black mud.

And floating in the Dead Sea…? It was definitely one of the most amazing experiences; cradled by the heavy yet therapeutic water, feeling the warmth of the sun and pure and slightly cool wind, looking across at Jordan…

We were told that the returning bus would come every half an hour, but that does not seem to be the case all year round so check at the bus station and/or with the driver. We waited for our bus for about 15 minutes and our bus came just a little past 16:30.

When we passed Ein Bokek, it did look very busy particularly for off-season, I don’t know if our driver wanted us to have a calmer, more quiet and private Dead Sea beach experience and dropped us at the next stop. I’m not sure if there would have been the Dead Sea mud at Ein Bokek, but I have to say, I throughly enjoyed the quietness of Hamei Zohar. At one point we had the beach all to ourselves!!

Just for your information, I think the bus stop you need for THE Ein Bokek is Oasis Hotel, that is the one our driver passed through without even slowing down. We were let off at the next stop, Hotel Herods.