As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban and Masada
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
374 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 23
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.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 374 km round trip from As Salţ - roughly 6 h 23 in the saddle. It goes by way of Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, Masada and back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls. It crosses Jordan, Palestinian Territories and Israel - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Scenic road chapters
As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban → Old City of Jerusalem and
77 km on As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban → Old City of Jerusalem and.
Chapter facts
Length
77 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban
As-Salt climbs three steep hills in the Balqa highlands north-west of Amman, a town of honey-coloured limestone houses with arched windows, terraced streets and long staircases. In the late Ottoman period, from the 1860s to the 1920s, it was the most important town in the region east of the Jordan, a trading hub where merchants from Nablus, Damascus and Beirut settled and built grand houses in a mix of local and European styles. Muslims and Christians lived side by side, sharing guesthouses and charitable traditions, and the town was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2021 as As-Salt, the Place of Tolerance and Urban Hospitality.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban 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 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Masada.
3. Masada
The Dead Sea lies more than four hundred metres below sea level, the lowest point on land, and Masada rises above its western shore as a vast flat-topped rock with sheer cliffs on every side. King Herod built a palace fortress here in the first century BC, with storerooms, cisterns, bathhouses and a three-tiered palace hanging from the northern cliff. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, a group of Jewish rebels held out on the rock against the Roman army. The Romans built a siege ramp up the western side, and according to the historian Josephus, when the walls were breached, the defenders chose to die rather than be captured.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban to Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls
As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban → Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls to Masada
Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls → Masada is 111 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Masada to back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls
Masada → back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls is 111 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls to As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban
back through Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls → As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.