Backpacking the mediterranean

Hey, so me and two friends are planning on backpacking in June/July through the middle east/ mediterranean. We were really keen on doing Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco. However we only have a time frame of about 4 weeks which is obviously not anywhere near enough time to see them all. We're interested in main cities and attractions and want to spend at least 3-4 nights in each city to absorb the culture.

Keen on seeing;
- Cairo
- Petra
- Wadi Rum
- Jerusalem
- Tel Aviv
- Istanbul
- Cappadocia
- Marrakech
- Merzouga
- Chefchaouen

With limited time and obviously the time spent travelling from place to place, it would be nice to get a sense of itineraries of peoples trips, or opinions on places to go or not bother with or even how much time should be spent in each place. Any opinions would be highly appreciated. Thanks so much

I hope you don't have a limited budget...

Michel

Its not a question of which place not to bother with..they are all interesting.At least to the general traveller,leaving aside personal likes and dislikes.

The problem is they are too many,too far apart;-)I would narrow it down either by priority or by area...

With 4 weeks I'd have maximum 8 different places.Better fewer,if you want to see them well.

If they are all near to each other then that helps.eg Petra and Wadi Rum,or TA and Jerusalem.

If not,you will obviously need a much bigger budget for flights between.

"absorb the culture", that's cute.

Cappadocia is waaaaay out of the way. Chefchaouen is a day tour/photo-op, unless you're looking to get stoned. It'll take a day to get in and out of Merzouga.

Begin to plan more seriously and you will see what you can do. IMO it doesn't make much sense to fly from area to area without visiting the real gems you would find there.
Your trip could look like this:
Day 1: flight to CAI
Day 2: Egypt Museum and modern Cairo
Day 3: Day trip to Memphis/Saqqara/Dashur - Gize Pyramids
Day 4: Islamic Cairo
Day 5: Coptic and Jewish Cairo, flght to Amman
Day 6: Madaba/Mt Nebo, etc. - Kerak - Wadi Moussa
Day 7: Petra
Day 8: Wadi Roum - Aqaba
Day 9: Aqaba - Elath
Day 10: Elath - Jerusalem
Day 11-14: Jerusalem/Bethlehem, etc.
Day 15: TLV-Jaffa
Day 16: flight via IST to Nevsehir or Kayseri
Day 17-18: Cappadocia
Day 19: flight to IST
Days 20-22: Istanbul
Day 23: direct flight to Malaga, bus to Algeciras
Day 24: catamaran to Ceuta - bus to Castillejo border - gd (shared) taxi to Tetouan - bus or gd taxi to Chefchaouen
Day 25: Chefchaouen
Day 26: bus to Meknes or Fes
Day 27: Meknes or Fes
Day 28: bus to Midelt - Errachidia - Erfoud
Day 29: Erfoud/Merzouga
Day 30: Dades Valley - Ouarzazate - Marrakech
Day 30 -32: Marrakech
Day 33 Flight home

Suggestions:
skip Morocco and enjoy the Sahara in Egypt (you will have a desert experreince at Wadi Rum anyway)
reach Cappadocia from TLV via Larnaca - Nicosia/Ercan - Adana - bus or, better:
skip Turkey too and spend more time inEgypt/Jordan/Israel

Regarding Jordan, as you will arrive by Queen Alia and you will not visit the North part of the country, don't sleep in Amman but choose Madaba. Much more well located for a short trip in this part of the country and "on the way" to Wadi Musa and the Rum too.

Michel

2 days in Aqaba and 1 in Petra? .... No no no. This is sacrilege.

And pairing Morocco with Jordan is a bit like pairing Madrid with Moscow. They aren't very close given a 5 hour flight even if you can fly direct. Israel and Palestine, Jordan and Egypt will still be a bit of a rush in 4 weeks but perfectly doable without too much moving all the time and being able to soak up the atmosphere.

Ultimately if you tag on 3 days either end in or out of Istanbul then you'll have a brilliant visit there too. But even though you're from Australia, it's going to be hot in June-July and the places you're going - and the transport you will be using especially - will not all have air con. So just keep that in mind too.

There's another post recently about someone looking at 4 weeks to do Jordan/Holy Land/Egypt - that has some decent advice about what is feasible and includes all the sites you discuss minus Morocco and Turkey. If you are going to Egypt then you want to get down south to Luxor and beyond too. That will be more interesting than Capodoccia I should think. But it's your call re Morocco - it's kind of a different experience.

Are you a virtual traveller or a real one ?
With your itinerary, it seems that it's not very realistic or at least very expensive...

Michel

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.