Best Time to Visit the Dead Sea from Amman: Weather, Water Temperature & Crowds

Which time of year suits which trip

If you want	Choose	Keep in mind
The best overall balance for a first trip	March, April or November	Mount Nebo and Madaba can be cool in March and November, and November has the shortest days of the three
Warmer water without the summer heat	May or October	Average highs of about 34 to 35°C at Sedom
The warmest water	June to September	Average highs of 38 to 41°C at Sedom, with water so warm it gives no cooling
A mild escape from a cold Amman	December to February	Cold on Mount Nebo and in Madaba, about 10 hours of daylight, and the most rain of the year
Wadi Mujib’s Siq Trail as well	April to October	The trail is closed from November to March, and it is hot from May
Fewer people	Sunday to Thursday	Holidays fall on weekdays too, so check the date against Jordan’s holiday calendar

March is the mildest of the three best months, at about 26°C, although the water is cooler, at about 22°C, and Mount Nebo and Madaba can still be chilly. April is the one to choose for a Wadi Mujib combination: the Siq Trail has just opened, and the water is about 25°C. In November the water is usually still about 26°C and the shore averages about 28°C, but the trail has closed for the winter.

Other experiences you might enjoy

Beyond the Dead Sea, day trips from Amman reach Petra, Wadi Rum, Jerash and the desert castles, and closer to the shore you can add Madaba’s mosaic map, Mount Nebo, the Baptism Site and Ma’in Hot Springs to the same day.

Heat and water temperature, month by month

The beaches on the Jordanian shore lie more than 400 m below sea level, and the air there is far hotter than in Amman, which sits 700 to 1,100 m above it. At the shore you spend most of your time outdoors, on the beach, in the water and on the loungers, so the heat is what you feel most.

The nearest official long-term averages are for Sedom, at the southern end of the Dead Sea, about 75 km south of the resorts at Sweimeh. Sedom is one of the hottest stations in the region. A research buoy on the lake measured the air over the water as a little cooler than Sedom in summer and a few degrees warmer in winter, so treat the summer highs below as the upper end.

Month	Average high and low at Sedom	Water, monthly average	Rainy days	Daylight, mid-month	Sunset, mid-month
January	21°C and 13°C	About 22°C	About 2	10h 18m	5:55 p.m.
February	23°C and 15°C	About 22°C	About 2	11h 04m	6:23 p.m.
March	26°C and 18°C	About 22°C	About 1	11h 57m	6:45 p.m.
April	31°C and 22°C	About 25°C	Fewer than 1	12h 56m	7:05 p.m.
May	35°C and 26°C	About 27°C	Fewer than 1	13h 46m	7:26 p.m.
June	39°C and 29°C	About 31°C	None	14h 12m	7:43 p.m.
July	41°C and 31°C	About 33°C	None	14h 02m	7:44 p.m.
August	40°C and 31°C	About 34°C	None	13h 20m	7:22 p.m.
September	38°C and 29°C	About 33°C	None	12h 23m	6:44 p.m.
October	34°C and 26°C	About 30°C	Fewer than 1	11h 26m	6:06 p.m.
November	28°C and 20°C	About 26°C	About 1	10h 33m	5:39 p.m.
December	22°C and 15°C	About 23°C	About 1	10h 06m	5:35 p.m.

A rainy day here means 1 mm of rain or more. Sunset is calculated for the Jordanian shore, in Jordan time, which stays on UTC+3 all year.

From June to September the shore is very hot, and floating takes no effort, so it is easy to stay out longer than you meant to. Swim in short sessions, rinse off and get back into the shade. A tour that includes a resort day, with freshwater pools, showers and shaded loungers, makes these months much easier than a basic beach with little shade.

From December to February the shore is far warmer than Amman, and the water is about 22 to 23°C, so floating is still pleasant. The stops on the way down are a different matter: Mount Nebo and Madaba sit 700 to 800 m above sea level and are cold and sometimes wet, so bring a warm layer for them.

You float in the Dead Sea in every month. The water averages about 22°C from December to March, rises to about 27°C in May and reaches about 34°C in August, so in summer it is close to the temperature of a warm bath and offers no relief from the heat. These figures are monthly averages from a research buoy about 4 km off Ein Gedi, measured from 1992 to 2002. The lake has warmed slightly since, so the water today is probably a little warmer than the table shows.

Whatever the month, the usual advice is the same: 15 to 20 minutes in the water at a time, keep it out of your eyes, stay on your back, and rinse in fresh water afterwards.

Weekends, holidays and crowds

Friday and Saturday are the weekend in Jordan, when local families are free to drive down from Amman, so a weekday, Sunday to Thursday, is likely to be calmer. The Dead Sea Tourist Beach, the public beach formerly known as Amman Beach, had a record of just over 4,000 visitors over a weekend in May 2026.

Public holidays are much busier than that. Over the first three days of the Eid al-Adha holiday in 2026, nearly 40,000 people visited the public beach and the Dead Sea seafront. Eid al-Fitr, at the end of Ramadan, is the other big holiday. Both move about 11 days earlier each year: in 2027 Eid al-Fitr is expected around March 9 to 12 and Eid al-Adha around May 15 to 19, with the exact dates confirmed after the moon sighting.

If your date falls on a holiday, the public beach vs resort comparison covers what each kind of beach is like on a busy day.

Rain and flash floods

Rain is rare at the Dead Sea. Sedom averages about 2 rainy days a month in January and February, about 1 in March, November and December, and almost none from May to September.

When heavy rain does fall, mostly between October and April, it runs off the hills in flash floods down the valleys and onto the low roads around the lake. The Jordan Meteorological Department issues warnings for the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea when it expects them, and asks people to stay away from valleys and low-lying areas. In October 2018 a flash flood in the Zarqa Ma’in valley, near the Dead Sea, killed 21 people, most of them children on a school trip. If rain is forecast for your day, check the department’s warnings and ask your operator whether the plan changes.

The order of the day

On a full-day tour from Amman, the Dead Sea usually comes last, after Madaba, Mount Nebo and sometimes the Baptism Site, so you reach the water in the afternoon. That works well from October to April. From June to September it means you arrive at the shore in the hottest part of the day, so a morning half-day trip that goes straight to the water, or a resort day with pools and shade, is the easier choice.

In winter the days are short, with about 10 hours of daylight in December and sunset before 6 p.m., so a full day with several stops leaves less time at the shore. The sun sets over the water, behind the hills on the far shore, but the day trips we checked leave the shore in the afternoon. If you want to see it, stay late on a resort day or book a night at one of the Dead Sea hotels and resorts.

Check your date

Your date at the Dead Sea

Choose a date to see the likely heat at the shore, any rain in the forecast, weekends and public holidays in Jordan, the usual water temperature that month and the sunset time. Within about two weeks of the date the card shows the forecast for the Jordanian shore; further ahead it shows long-term averages.

In general, average highs at the shore run from about 21°C in January to about 41°C in July, and the water from about 21°C to 34°C. Friday and Saturday are the weekend in Jordan, and public holidays such as Eid bring far more local visitors.

The forecast is from Open-Meteo for the shore near Sweimeh and for Mount Nebo. Averages are 1991–2020 normals for Sedom, at the southern end of the Dead Sea, which runs a little hotter than the resort strip in summer. Water temperatures are monthly averages from a research buoy off Ein Gedi, 1992 to 2002; the lake has warmed slightly since. Islamic holiday dates are expected dates and are confirmed after the moon sighting. On rainy days, check the Jordan Meteorological Department for flash-flood warnings.

Check tour dates or use the live calendar

Combination tours through the year

Madaba and Mount Nebo work in every month. Both sit 700 to 800 m above sea level, so they are cooler than the shore, and in winter they are cold.
The Baptism Site is down in the Jordan Valley, well below sea level, and it is hot from May to September.
Wadi Mujib depends on the Siq Trail, which the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature opens from April 1 to October 31, depending on the weather. It can close at short notice after rain, even in season.
Ma’in Hot Springs suits the cooler months better: hot thermal water is less inviting on a day near 40°C.
Petra and the Dead Sea in one day is a long day in any month, and in summer both ends of it are hot.

The tours we checked can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before the start, so you can book once your dates are fixed and look at the forecast the day before. If you are choosing between a public beach and a resort, our public beach vs resort comparison sets out the difference, and which Dead Sea tour is right for you compares the formats.

How we know

Sources and limits

Heat and rain. WMO climate normals for 1991 to 2020 at Sedom (station 40193), 388 m below sea level at the southern end of the Dead Sea, submitted by the Israel Meteorological Service and archived by NOAA. A rainy day counts 1 mm or more. The Jordan Meteorological Department publishes no monthly averages for a station on the Jordanian shore that we could reach, so Sedom is the nearest official series. It is about 75 km south of the Sweimeh resorts and among the hottest stations in the region.

Water. Monthly averages of the sea surface temperature at 1 m depth from the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research buoy about 4 km east of Ein Gedi, June 1992 to February 2002, published by Hecht and Gertman in 2003. The same study found the air over the lake slightly cooler than Sedom in summer and warmer in winter, and the water warming by about 0.06°C a year over that decade.

Daylight and sunset. Calculated for the Jordanian shore at 31.7°N with the NOAA solar algorithm and rounded to the minute. The hills across the water hide the sun a little before the calculated sunset.

Crowds. The Jordan Free and Development Zones Group’s counts for its public beach at the Dead Sea: just over 4,000 visitors over a weekend in May 2026, and nearly 40,000 at the public beach and seafront over the first three days of Eid al-Adha 2026, reported by the Jordan News Agency. No monthly visitor count for the shore is published, so the page names the busiest days and does not rank the months.

Flash floods and the Siq Trail. The Jordan Meteorological Department’s flood warnings for the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea; reports of the Zarqa Ma’in flood of October 25, 2018; and the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature’s 2025 programme for the Mujib reserve, which opens the Siq Trail from April 1 to October 31, depending on suitable weather.

Holidays. Jordan’s fixed public holidays, and the expected dates of the Islamic holidays, which the government confirms after the moon sighting.

What these numbers cannot tell you. Sedom is not the resort strip, so its figures show the shape of the year and the upper end of the summer heat, not a forecast for Sweimeh. The water series is more than 20 years old and the lake has warmed since. No count shows how crowded the shore is in a given month or at a given hour, so the page does not rank the months by crowds, and the two visitor counts are from a single year.

Tours. Itineraries, inclusions and cancellation terms are the operators’ listings on GetYourGuide, checked on October 3, 2026. None of the operators we checked publishes a different winter or summer schedule, so check the live calendar for your date.

Getting there on your own is covered in Amman to the Dead Sea, the beaches in best Dead Sea beaches in Jordan, and the trip length in half day vs full day Dead Sea tour.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best month to visit the Dead Sea?

For a first day trip from Amman, March, April and November offer the best overall balance: average highs of about 26 to 31°C at Sedom, at the southern end of the lake, and water of about 22 to 26°C. April also has the Wadi Mujib Siq Trail open, from April 1. May and October suit a trip where you want warmer water and can take hotter days: the water averages about 27°C in May and 30°C in October, with highs of about 35°C and 34°C.

Can you swim in the Dead Sea in December and January?

Yes. The water averages about 22°C in December and January, and average highs at Sedom are about 21 to 22°C. The shore is far milder than Amman, but Mount Nebo and Madaba, 700 to 800 m above sea level, are cold, the days are short and winter is when rain is most likely.

How hot is the Dead Sea in summer?

Very hot. Average highs at Sedom are about 39°C in June, 41°C in July, 40°C in August and 38°C in September, and the water reaches about 33 to 34°C, so it gives no cooling. Float in short sessions, drink plenty of water and choose a trip that includes a pool, showers and shade.

What is the water temperature of the Dead Sea by month?

From about 22°C in December to March, to about 25°C in April, 27°C in May, 31°C in June, 33°C in July and September, 34°C in August, 30°C in October and 26°C in November. These are monthly averages from a research buoy off Ein Gedi, measured from 1992 to 2002; the lake has warmed slightly since.

Is the Dead Sea busy on Fridays?

Friday and Saturday are the weekend in Jordan, when local families are free to drive down to the shore, so a weekday is likely to be calmer. Public holidays are much busier: nearly 40,000 people visited the public beach and seafront over the first three days of Eid al-Adha in 2026, against a record of just over 4,000 at the public beach alone over a weekend in May that year.

Does it rain at the Dead Sea?

Rarely. Sedom averages about 2 rainy days a month in January and February and almost none from May to September. When heavy rain does fall, mostly between October and April, flash floods can run down the valleys and onto the roads around the lake, so check the Jordan Meteorological Department's warnings.

When is the Wadi Mujib Siq Trail open?

The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature opens the Siq Trail from April 1 to October 31, depending on the weather, and it can close at short notice after rain. A Wadi Mujib and Dead Sea combination is only possible in those months.

When is sunset at the Dead Sea?

The sun sets at about 7:45 p.m. in June and July and about 5:35 p.m. in December, Jordan time, and the hills across the water hide it a little earlier. The day trips we checked leave the shore in the afternoon, so stay late on a resort day or overnight if you want to see it.