Overnight at the Lowest Point

Two days, one night, eight people, in a stone guesthouse in Sweimeh village rather than a resort. Arrive at three, drink tea, then a slow yoga class on the deck as the sun goes. Dinner is whatever Um Hussein has cooked, usually maqluba or freekeh with yoghurt, eaten at one table. Early night, because day two starts at half five: float before the heat, mud, freshwater shower, forty-five minutes in the salt room, a magnesium foot soak and breakfast. You leave around eleven. What this is not is a spa hotel. The rooms are small and plain, two beds each, with walls thin enough that you will hear your neighbour and air conditioning that rattles. Two shared bathrooms between eight guests. Wifi works in the courtyard and nowhere else. We do not serve alcohol and the nearest shop that does is forty minutes away in Amman, so bring it if you want it. This is a working village 430 metres below sea level, which means the call to prayer at dawn and a rooster with poor timing. Anyone who wants a resort should book a resort. Anyone who wants the salt and an early night tends to come back.