A 220 million shekel tourism complex in Ma’ale Adumim offers one of the region’s largest thermal spas and an indoor water park, though the hotel still shows growing pains with maintenance and navigation issuesAssaf Kamar|Good news for wellness and pampering enthusiasts: Kassland, a tourism complex that bills itself as “Israel’s new city of attractions,” has opened in Ma’ale Adumim after an investment of 220 million shekels.Located against the backdrop of the Judean Desert, the complex includes a 220-room hotel, Atlantis Spa — one of the largest thermal spa complexes in the Middle East, covering about 4,500 square meters — and Kass Splash, an indoor water park with some 18 slides and attractions for the whole family. A large performance venue also operates on site.17 View gallery The red carpet welcoming you to Kasskand (Photo Assaf Kamar)To see whether the big promises hold up in reality, we went for a first tour of the complex. The drive east from central Israel on Route 1 toward the Dead Sea, through spectacular desert scenery, to the upscale launch event was refreshing and included two army checkpoints. A right turn into the Mishor Adumim industrial zone and, like in old movies about Las Vegas in its early days, a huge commercial complex suddenly appears in the middle of the wilderness.In the elevator from the parking lot to the hotel, we are greeted by numerous staff members dressed like deckhands on a cruise ship. They are very friendly, and clearly excited by the occasion. The lobby is filled with clowns and jugglers on stilts, just like in the amusement parks in Orlando, Florida. Alongside them are real camels and friendly Bedouins in traditional dress, inviting surprised guests to climb aboard for a ride.17 View gallery Welcomed by the Kassland staff(Photo: Assaf Kamar)17 View gallery Camels in the lobby (Photo: Assaf Kamar)After the festive ribbon-cutting and the launch of the tourism complex, I hurry to my first treatment at Atlantis Spa — a luxurious “Japanese head massage” combining a scalp massage and deep cleansing of the skin and hair. The device where I am supposed to rest my head looks like a cross between a luxury hair salon, a traditional Japanese tea ceremony and a spaceship. In especially indulgent fashion, the futuristic device wets the hair while the mouth and nose remain dry.A Thai therapist begins a slow, precise massage of the head, temples and neck, using fragrant oils and nourishing masks for the hair and scalp. Within minutes, consciousness slips into a strange state of healing levitation, as though someone has pressed a mute button on all the noise. For a brief moment, I forget where I am and the complex journalistic mission assigned to me: to thoroughly examine Atlantis Spa.After the successful head treatment, I change into a new white robe straight out of the plastic packaging, and the charming staff escorts me on a tour of this palace of healing pleasures, designed in a striking modern style that even the emperors of Rome or the Kardashian family would find satisfying. The brochure says that “this is a large-scale thermal complex covering about 4,500 square meters, with around 20 pools and water facilities, including hydrotherapy pools with targeted jets, a floating pool, waterfall pool and rain pool, alongside current stations with hundreds of underwater massage points. The water temperature reaches up to 38 degrees Celsius, allowing year-round use. The complex draws inspiration from European bathhouses and combines dry and wet saunas, an infrared sauna, a Turkish hammam, a salt room and a snow room, alongside treatment and relaxation areas designed with a resort atmosphere.”17 View gallery Assaf enjoys a Japanesse head massage(Photo: Yahav Biazi)17 View gallery Endless showers in the rain pool(Photo: Yahav Biazi)17 View gallery A pool in the spa(Photo: Yahav Biazi)17 View gallery Inside the Atlantis Spa(Photo: Eran Turgeman)17 View gallery The wallet stays in the locker: Atlantis Spa(Photo: Eran Turgeman)In addition, “hospitality at the site is based on a premium model in which ‘the wallet stays in the locker’ — the entrance package includes unlimited use of the facilities, along with an unlimited brunch, free drinks and a buffet meal. The complex also offers treatment packages, group hosting and accommodation packages, and can host up to about 500 guests at the same time.”The lighting at Atlantis is pleasant, the public spaces are not crowded and the open buffet makes you want to stay forever and never leave. Entry to the spa is for ages 18 and up. There are many plastic palm trees, and the first facility I choose to try is the rain pool. The lighting is dim, with hints of a Berlin techno party. Warm water flows from below and above, and an endless shower operates from the ceiling. I swim through a rainforest with my eyes closed, find a step made of pipes leading to a seat, and discover the perfect angle for breathing with my eyes open — head outside, body inside. It is a very pleasant meditative state.From there I move on to quietly lounge in one of the heated pools. A small avocado sandwich, watermelon and a cappuccino, and I am ready for my next treatment at Atlantis Spa. Judging by all the energy and high standards around me, I expect this will be a treatment out of a fairy tale. Spoiler alert: It was perfect.The treatment room is large and spacious, and the experienced therapist can move freely on both sides of the sturdy, luxurious treatment bed. But she chooses to climb onto my back and perform, with impressive precision, an intriguing and indulgent Oriental massage that includes exact pressure points and gentle stretching. The body responds and surrenders to the touch. Beyond the masseuse’s high professional level, I liked the use of delicate, quality oils without overpowering odors — the kind you want to keep on your skin and are not rushing to wash off. But I hurried to test the shower in the men’s changing room. After all, this is an investigative report.In the shower, everything is new and clean, but before rinsing off there is a small puzzle. The upgraded faucets remind me of air force pilot aptitude tests: one tap releases a stream of hot water onto the head, while another suddenly sends a burst of icy water to the lower back. I carefully test the effect of each tap on the body and manage to distill the perfect mixture of a wasteful shower sprinkler, with extreme and alternating temperatures, while I delight in the middle of it all.Here we leave the world of luxury and move to a somewhat more down-to-earth experience. Check-in is to a large family room with a double bed, children’s beds, two bathrooms and a strange balcony facing the second floor of a half-abandoned mall. It is unpleasant to open the curtain, because anyone walking through the mall can freely peer into the room. There are also surprising maintenance problems for a new hotel: a clogged shower that caused flooding and a wobbly toilet seat that was not properly attached. I asked the receptionist for help — the clog was cleared, the toilet remained crooked.17 View gallery Spacious room, no view (Photo: Assaf Kamar)17 View gallery The toilet seat remained crooked(Photo: Assaf Kamar)17 View gallery The balconies were disappointing(Photo: Assaf Kamar)17 View gallery The hotel was once a mall (Photo: Assaf Kamar)The festive dinner was held in an impressive, theatrical hall inspired by the design of the iconic Venetian hotel in Las Vegas: the ceiling is painted pastel blue, and handmade white plaster clouds hover above. Lighting effects on the elaborate set create the feel of an Italian fantasy. The food was tasty, but I cannot say with certainty exactly what I ate because a power outage lasting many long minutes began the second I finished taking pictures. The tough Israeli guests, hardened by the ordeals of war, did not voice a single complaint. Perhaps because they, like me, had not paid. They simply switched on their phone flashlights and ate quietly by cellphone light.17 View gallery The dining room with a blue sky(Photo: Assaf Kamar)From there we continued to a cheerful Bedouin bazaar party in the design mall plaza, featuring blaring dance music that lasted until midnight, exotic dancers with fire torches on their heads, hookahs in a variety of flavors, a nighttime meat restaurant, friendly camels led by Bedouins in jalabiyas — just like in Sinai — and a magic show with flying doves, feathers, cages and the magician’s charming assistant being sawed into three parts. Just like in Las Vegas.Good morning from Mishor Adumim. From the moment I entered the Kassland tourism complex, the wild Judean Desert disappeared. There are no outward-facing windows anywhere in the mall, and I wake up as though on a desert cruise ship, completely disconnected from Middle Eastern reality. The hotel staff are very friendly, but some do not speak Hebrew, while others struggle to provide basic information such as: “How do you get to the water slides?”The elevator near the room is not working, and I am forced to improvise an alternative route through the abandoned mall, among endless flights of out-of-service escalators and irritating, inadequate signage. In fact, every movement between the hotel’s different areas involves burdensome orientation problems, and this deserves a rethink. Suddenly I discover that my room, on the second floor, is adjacent to a gun shop and an active shooting range. It is possible that my large room was also once a furniture store that underwent conversion and redesign.17 View gallery Gun shop and shooting range(Photo: Assaf Kamar)17 View gallery (Photo: Assaf Kamar)17 View gallery Children's pool at the spa(Photo: Assaf Kamar)17 View gallery Kass Splash indoor water park(Photo: Nir Pekin)In conclusion: There is no doubt Atlantis Spa can easily compete with leading thermal complexes in Europe. Will it be possible to maintain the complex upkeep in Mishor Adumim at a European level? Time will tell. That is why I recommend that anyone looking to indulge — and who has the money — come quickly. As for the strange hotel built above the ruins of the half-abandoned design mall: families with children looking for an endless attraction combined with high-quality adults-only body treatments, and romantic couples who want to be alone immediately after the electrifying spa, will find what they are looking for here and more. I believe that, just like me, they will want to return.Midweek prices for a couple at the hotel start at 1,345 shekels for room-only accommodation in superior rooms, and go up to 4,214 shekels for half board in a Kassland Premium Suite. Junior suites start at 1,615 shekels for room-only accommodation, premium suites at 1,795 shekels, while the Kassland Suite starts at 3,469 shekels for room-only accommodation midweek.On weekends, prices naturally rise: regular rooms, including superior, classic, comfort, sky and deluxe balcony rooms, start at 3,500 shekels for room-only accommodation or 4,140 shekels for half board. A Premium Suite starts at 4,400 shekels for room-only accommodation, while the Kassland Suite reaches 7,748 shekels for room-only accommodation and up to 8,338 shekels for half board.A basic fun-day package at Atlantis Spa includes entry to all spa and thermal facilities, unlimited brunch, a meat chef’s meal, locker, robe and slippers. The complex also offers tracks that include massages, specialty treatments or a combination of hotel accommodation and restaurants in the complex, depending on the selected package.Admission to the water park starts at 195 shekels. Spa prices start at 1,540 shekels per couple, while individual treatments start at 180 shekels.The writer was a guest of Kassland.