- Feb 23, 2023

Bikepacking through Israel

Updated: Apr 3, 2023

As I've already been a few times in Israel for vacation and racing I made the decision last year to spent a longer time in this small but remarkably interesting country. With a program of my university I got the opportunity to study a semester abroad. I chose to study in Haifa, a small city in the North of Israel, located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Golan Heights.

After my semester was finished I had three more weeks until my visa expired. And what is a better way to explore a country by bike?

I started my trip in the very North of Israel, in the Golan Heights. This region is a paradise for cycling (except of rough roads) with much less traffic than in other parts of the country. I decided to do the trip with my Gravel-bike to be more flexible with route options. Sometimes taking an off-road short cut isn't the best options though, like you can see in the pictures. I wouldn't recommend to ride through banana plantation after it rained the whole night, just for your notice 😅

My first night I spent in Tiberias next to the Sea of Galilee.

The second day was already one of the queen stages with 150km. Along the Jordanian border I rode from Tiberias to Jericho, in Palestine. Many people were surprised when I told them that I went through the West Bank alone, on a bike, as a woman. There might be a lot of prejudices out there which make you overthinking to go there. I can confirm that there were situations during the rides that scared me, like cars that would pass really close or wild dogs that would run after you. But all these situations do happen also in every other part of the world. Overall I felt really save in Palestine and the hospitality of the people is beyond all measures.

The third day was only a half one, leading from Jericho to Jerusalem. It was only 30km but with more than 1300m of altitude. I think I had my lowest average speed ever on that day 😂 In the afternoon I visited Yad Vasheem, the Holocaust Museum. When there is a chance I think it is a must-do when being in Israel. Especially as a German citizen it is a very special feeling to get all these info about what happened during World War II.

The next day I left Jerusalem and headed towards Beer Sheba. Green fields and forest turned more and more into rocks and more dry landscape. Beer Sheba pretty much marks the beginning of the desert. With that also the amount of cars decreased and got replaced by wild animals that crossed the road. Watching antelopes running through the desert made me realize how close Africa is to Israel...

Yes that also meant that the sun was really strong... I haven't really thought about the fact that my route is directing straight to the South and that the sun would shine the whole time from the front. My nose wasn't so happy about that 😒😅 So I had to improvise with sun protection :D

The next stage went from Beer Sheba to Mitzpe Ramon. This small town is located right on the edge of the Ramon crater, the biggest crater formed by erosion in the world. I decided to stay here for two nights to have a full day to hike and explore the crater. It was kinda a weird feeling to hike a mountain "negatively", first down and later uphill. It was really worth it and watching the night-sky was simply amazing.

The next day was already the last stage on my trip through Israel. From Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev desert it went all the way down to Eilat, the city next to Red Sea. It was an incredible feeling taking the last descent, having the Jordanian Mountains being lighted up in beautiful sunset colours. I rode straight to the beach, had an ice cream there and enjoyed the feeling of being proud of what I just did.

I can only say that this trip showed me a completely different side of Israel. Especially when travelling alone you meet and connect with so many new and interesting people which would have never happened while travelling with a group. Also because Israelis generally are very open minded and helpful people who like to enjoy life to the fullest.