Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan and Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
149 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 45
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
149 km from Jericho to Jericho, about 2 h 45 of riding. On the way it passes Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town and back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Scenic road chapters
Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls → Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 41 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
Length
39 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan
Jericho is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns on earth, and at Tell es-Sultan, on its northern edge, archaeologists have dug down through layers of settlement more than ten thousand years old. Among the finds is a great stone tower, built in the Neolithic, around eleven thousand years ago, long before writing, metal or the wheel, which is often called the oldest such tower in the world. The tell, with its trenches and mud brick walls, was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2023.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan is where the day begins. Next is Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls.
2. Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls
Few square kilometres on earth carry as much weight as these. The Old City of Jerusalem holds sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, packed into a maze of stone lanes inside walls built by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in the 1530s. The Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque lie within a few minutes' walk of each other, and the city's four traditional quarters, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian, each have their own character, markets and rhythms. The Old City and its walls were added to the UNESCO list in 1981.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town.
3. Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town
Hebron, al-Khalil in Arabic, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Middle East, set in the hills of the southern West Bank. Its heart is the old town, a warren of stone alleys, covered souqs and Mamluk-era houses, grouped around the great mosque built over the Cave of the Patriarchs, where tradition places the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives. The site is holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians, and its name in Arabic, al-Khalil, means the friend, a reference to Abraham as the friend of God.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan to Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls
Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan → Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls to Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town
Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls → Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town to back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls
Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town → back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls to Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan
back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls → Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.