AnnaMossity

I was thinking of going to Israel and would like to do some riding among other things...anyone got any beta? Is it possible? Safe (ish)? Bound to be a great big hassle? I have no idea. I just want to go to one of the badass Krav Maga schools and ride my bike around. I hear they've got nice beaches too and, well, Jewish chicks are hot so yeah.

AnnaMossity

Actually I just found a website promoting bike touring in Israel so I know it's possible but I want info from anyone who's done it. Off road is particularly interesting to me.

imi

I've ridden from Haifa to Sharm-El-Sheik in Egypt... This was over ten years ago so I'd check up on the security issues in the regions you'd be passing through, Apart from that, fine.
In the south it can get very very hot in the summer (50 C).

Didn't do any off road 'though

Don't miss the falafel!

AnnaMossity

Were the roads really busy? How did the drivers compare to other areas? What did you see and do on the trip?

axolotl

I toured in Israel a long time ago. The roads were fine, but there were some truly awful drivers. One Israeli told me that there are so many problems in the country, that driving infractions are ignored. The population has increased a fair bit since I was there, plus the economy has improved, so I would presume that traffic is denser now. One Israeli recently told me that he wouldn't bike on the roads, but that mountain biking is excellent. I would imagine that good mountain biking in Israel would either be in the northern third of the country, or in the desert south (Negev). Central Israel is densely populated and quite narrowly wedged between the Mediterranean and the West Bank. The north can get a fair bit of rain in the winter, and the south is hot as hell in the summer.

nancy sv

We toured there many, many years ago so I can't comment on the security situation. I missed southern Israel (broke my hand the day before we were scheduled to leave so hubby did the Sinai and south Israel by himself and I joined him in Jeruselem), but the northern part was great! We did find a few great big (dead) snakes in the road, which made me leary of camping...

AnnaMossity

Hmm, yeah, I kind of figured the drivers would be terrible. I guess I'm lucky to live in a country where a trip of significant length is possible off-road. I'm guessing in Israel the off road cycling is on the limited side ie: over in a few days.

fantom1 

I was there in February. It is definitely possible, and the people are very kind to hitchhikers (a common way to get around if you're young), so I imagine it would be the same for someone on bike. Pretty much everyone speaks good enough English to communicate. It is one place where people pretty much generally love Americans and treat them like family. And yes, the girls are absolutely, ridiculously hot, but they're also amazingly nice and mature.

The roads are quite small most everywhere, with lots of tight turns and few shoulders, so I would be careful and make sure to have some reflective/bright colors.

The North is the coolest and wettest, the middle part has a very mild climate and is the most populated, and the south can get deadly hot with very little drinkable water.

I found it to be the most brotherly, neighborly place I've ever been. That said, it would definitely behoove you to study some Hebrew and Jewish customs, as well as some Islamic custom if you're going to go near the West Bank/Jerusalem.

MMmmmm falafel....

axolotl

I remember seeing a car on the Haifa-Tel Aviv road at night, and it had no working headlights or taillights. So the owners of the car put reflective tape all over the damn car! An Israeli friend said to me that they obviously ran out of money and couldn't afford to buy lights for their car.

Indeed!

fuzz2050

it's hot, the drivers are some of the worst in the world, and road signs can be marked in one of several languages (Hebrew, Arabic, English, Yiddish, or Russian, pending on the neighbourhood.)

However, $1.50 will get you the best damned fallafel you have ever eaten.

It's a trade off.

It's worth knowing some Hebrew, but don't stress it too much. I speak, poorly, and try as I might, no one would speak to me in Hebrew. They all heard me struggle and just responded in English.

Road and traffic would be my biggest problem. The north of the country is the prettiest by far, but also has roads that I would be the least comfortable biking on. The drivers are as bad as you've heard, and worse. On a narrow, windy, 2 lane mountain road, things could go bad quickly. The south (the desert) roads are better, in that they go on for miles on end without turning, but it's also the desert.

Also, pending on how fast you go, it might be a short tour. In my opinion, anything south of Beersheba isn't worth visiting (Eilat just sucks), and that leaves less than 200 miles north to south.