We visited Jordan and the Dead Sea in November of 2011 after a short flight from the UAE. The drive from the airport to our hotel (The Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea) was an hour, from Petra (our destination the night previously), almost 4 hours.
The roads are fairly well marked, and finding our way to and from there wasn’t that difficult in a rental car.
The hotel turned out to be a fantastic choice - an amazingly beautiful facility, with great views, service and food. We bathed in the Dead Sea, coated ourselves with the black mud, enjoyed cold drinks while watching the sunset, ate a great Italian dinner with some really decent Jordanian wine, and awoke the next morning to the sounds of song birds and a bubbling brook.
Not too shabby.
We’d definitely go back, if even only for this hotel.