2 weeks in Israel in March

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qaclarke
qaclarke

Hello everyone. Four of us are looking to bike the length of Israel this March (north to south) and I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone can help me with:

  1. Is it possible to rent reasonable road bikes in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv? About how much would this be?
  2. How much of a hassle is it to take the bike on a bus? We are hoping to take the bikes to the Golan Heights, bike to Eliat, and then bus the bikes back to Jerusalem.
  3. Is there a map or guidebook showing road bike routes or is this something we should figure out on our own? I guess what I'm worried about is finding the best roads for biking (back rorads etc) and or the best routes to see as many of the holy sites as possible.
  4. Can we bike into the Sinai Peninsula or to Petra without too much difficulty? How about the West Bank?

Thanks so much for your time.

Quint

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shuffaluff
shuffaluff

I don't know the answer to most of your questions, as I'm not a cyclist myself. However, a friend here in Jerusalem who is a serious cyclist told me the story of how he took a bike on the bus from Eilat - actually from a point north of Eilat. I'll pass your questions on to him!

I think it's unlikely you'd find any specialist cycling maps in English. There are certainly no decent hiking maps in English, just to give you an idea.

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aryeh
aryeh

i'm not sure you can rent a bike
but how about this idea:
take a bus to the golan (qatsrin) buy a bike there and bike to eilat and sell it there?

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shuffaluff
shuffaluff

Well, based on Aryeh's suggestion, I did a quick search of the (Hebrew) Yellow Pages. There is no bike place listed in Katzrin; the nearest is in Kibbutz Hulata, about 20 km south of Kiryat Shmona on Road No. 90. The name of the company is Tandu and the phone number is 054-469-4323 (from overseas +972-54-469-4323). The listing says they sell and rent bikes, also second-hand and parts.

There are buses to Kibbutz Hulata from Tiberias.

I haven't the faintest idea whether you'd be able to sell the bikes in Eilat!

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touristisraelcom
touristisraelcom

You could always bring the bike with you when you fly to Israel - I think its free with El Al

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qaclarke
qaclarke

Thanks for all the tips. The lastest LP Israel says that there are bike shops in Jerusalem (Rochvim Bikes) and in Tel Aviv (O-Fun) that rent bikes by the week. If this was relatively affordable, I thought it would be good to save the wear and tear on my bike. However, I did check the El Al site and you are correct that it's free -- so maybe that's the best option. Thanks...

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shuffaluff
shuffaluff

My cycling friend gave me the phone number of a bike shop in Jerusalem that will answer all your questions. (I don't know whether it's Rochvim.) The guy's name is Moshe, and the phone numbers are 077-753-4750 and 052-253-4750.

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qaclarke
qaclarke

Thanks a lot -- I'll be in touch!

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