The Dead Sea With Kids: A Family Guide to Ein Bokek, Ein Gedi, and Floating Safely
By Beni Levin · June 25, 2026
The Dead Sea sits more than 430 meters below sea level, the lowest point of dry land on the planet, and its water carries roughly ten times the salt concentration of the ocean. That density is the whole trick behind a Dead Sea with kids: a seven-year-old who can't swim a stroke will float flat on their back the second their feet leave the lake bed, arms out, laughing, because the water is doing all the work. It's a genuinely different sensation from any pool or beach a family has tried, and it's why this stretch of desert coastline keeps making it onto Israel itineraries that would otherwise skip straight from Jerusalem to Eilat.
But "float in salty water" is only half the trip. The Israeli shore splits into a few distinct zones, the drive times from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are longer than they look on a map, and the sea itself is shrinking fast enough that some of what worked a few years ago doesn't anymore. Here's what actually holds up.
Getting There From Jerusalem or Tel Aviv
From Jerusalem, the drive down to the Dead Sea's main hotel strip at Ein Bokek runs around 90 minutes along Route 1 and then Route 90, descending well over a kilometer in elevation through the Judean Desert. It's one of the more dramatic short drives in the country: vegetation disappears, temperatures climb, and the road eventually settles in below sea level for good.
From Tel Aviv, plan on closer to two and a half hours each way to Ein Bokek, since there's no direct highway and most routes funnel through or around Jerusalem first. That makes a single-day Dead Sea trip from Tel Aviv a long day for young kids. Families based in Tel Aviv generally do better treating the Dead Sea as an overnight or two within a longer south-and-Jerusalem loop, rather than a rushed there-and-back.
Public buses run to Ein Bokek, but a private car or driver gives a family the flexibility to stop at Masada or Ein Gedi along the way instead of committing to a single destination for the day.
Ein Bokek or Ein Gedi: Picking Your Base
Ein Bokek is the hotel strip: a run of resort towers built specifically around Dead Sea access, most with their own beach frontage, freshwater pools, and spa facilities that let a family do the mud-and-float routine without leaving the property. It's the easier choice with young kids, since bathrooms, freshwater rinse showers, and shade are all a short walk from the water.
Ein Gedi, about 20 minutes north, is a kibbutz and nature reserve area rather than a resort strip, with its own public Dead Sea beach and direct access to Ein Gedi Nature Reserve. It suits families who want hiking and wildlife alongside the floating more than hotel infrastructure. For a hotel-by-hotel breakdown of where to stay along this coast and elsewhere in the country, our region-by-region guide to Israel's best luxury family hotels covers the Dead Sea properties in more detail.
Worth knowing before booking: the Dead Sea's water level has been dropping for decades, roughly a meter a year by most measurements, largely from upstream diversion of the Jordan River and mineral extraction. That recession has opened sinkholes along parts of the retreating shoreline, where the exposed ground hides dissolving salt deposits underneath. Stick to the maintained, lifeguarded beaches at hotels and public sites, follow posted fencing, and skip any unmarked patch of shore no matter how empty and inviting it looks.
Floating With Kids: What Actually Works
The water itself is the real safety conversation, not the floating. Dead Sea water stings any cut, scrape, or recent shave, and it burns badly in eyes or an open mouth, so the practical rule with kids is keeping faces up and clear of the water rather than worrying about them sinking. Even confident swimmers struggle to get their feet back under them once flat, so younger kids do best going in with an adult holding their shoulders for the first try.
Most families keep total water time to 10 or 15 minutes per session. Skin and eyes react to the salt concentration quickly, and there's little upside to lingering once the novelty of floating has been felt and photographed. Water shoes help too, since parts of the lake floor and shoreline carry sharp salt crystal formations underfoot.
The mineral mud, sold and scooped at nearly every beach and hotel along Ein Bokek, is usually the part kids enjoy more than the float itself. It rinses off at the freshwater showers every beach provides, and it is, without question, more fun with a five-year-old than with a magazine.
Pairing It With Masada and Ein Gedi Nature Reserve
Masada, the cliff-top fortress complex above the western shore, sits roughly 20 minutes from Ein Bokek and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site reachable by cable car in a few minutes rather than the steep Snake Path, which makes it workable with younger kids. The ruins, water cisterns, and views over the Dead Sea and Judean Desert are dramatic enough to hold a child's attention without much narration.
For the full breakdown of sunrise hike versus cable car and how to time the visit around the desert heat, see our guide to Masada with kids.
Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, is the easier pairing for a shorter, cooler outing. The Nahal David trail to David's Waterfall is a well-marked, mostly flat walk suited to most kids, ending at a series of pools and a waterfall in the middle of what otherwise looks like pure desert. Ibex and rock hyrax show up along the trail often enough that most visitors see at least one.
A Dead Sea stop works best as two full days rather than a rushed overnight: one for the floating, mud, and hotel pool, one for Masada in the cooler morning hours and Ein Gedi in the afternoon. If you're mapping out where this fits into a wider Israel itinerary, or want a hand deciding which stretch of this shore suits your family, reach out to our team to start planning the trip.