Perched on the northern tip of the Dead Sea, Kalya (sometimes spelled “Qalia”) is the closest the Dead Sea gets to life—or, at least, to civilization. Throw in the fact that it’s less than an hour from Jerusalem, and you’ll quickly realize that Kalya is the perfect destination for anyone dead set on seeing the Dead Sea (get it?). Kalya doesn’t offer many distractions: unlike most Israeli tourist spots, there are no ancient archaeological sites or picturesque hikes to lure you from your salt-water floating. In fact, we might even have been using the term “civilization” loosely; Kalya is less of a town and more of a handful of buildings that happen to be near each other. Each of its three beaches is accessed separately, and there’s nothing much on the road between them. Kalya Beach itself is party to a constant train of tour buses heading in and out, but it’s large enough to never feel crowded, making it one of the more peaceful beaches on this seriously salinated sea.