Why this ride
It goes by way of Mamshit, Tel Beer Sheba, Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud and Area 1. It crosses from Israel into Palestinian Territories - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Haluza and Area 1
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 399 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 08
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Haluza
Halutza is a ghost of a city in the sand. Founded by the Nabataeans as a waystation on the incense route from Arabia to the Mediterranean, it grew in the Roman and Byzantine periods into the most important city of the Negev, known in Greek as Elusa, with a theatre, churches and a famous school of rhetoric. Then it faded, the sand moved in, and today only fragments of walls, a small theatre and the remains of churches poke out of the dunes south-west of Beersheba. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Incense Route and desert cities of the Negev, along with Avdat, Mamshit and Shivta.
Read the complete Haluza write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Haluza is where the day begins. Next is Mamshit.
2. Mamshit
Mamshit sits on a low spur above a dry riverbed in the northern Negev, a few kilometres east of Dimona, and from a distance it looks like nothing more than a heap of pale stones. Up close it becomes a town: streets, courtyards, staircases, arches, two Byzantine churches with mosaic floors and a set of large houses built by people who knew how to live comfortably in a hard place. This was Mampsis, a Nabataean settlement on the caravan routes that carried incense and spices from Arabia across the desert to the Mediterranean ports, and it shares a World Heritage inscription with Avdat, Haluza and Shivta as one of the desert cities of the Incense Route.
Read the complete Mamshit write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mamshit comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tel Beer Sheba.
3. Tel Beer Sheba
Tel Beer Sheba is a mound on the edge of the modern city of Beersheba, in the northern Negev desert of southern Israel, and it holds the remains of an Iron Age town that has been excavated and partially reconstructed. With Megiddo and Hazor, it forms the UNESCO site of the Biblical Tels, recognized for their importance in understanding the cities of the biblical era. The name Beersheba appears many times in the Bible, associated with Abraham and the wells he dug in the desert.
Read the complete Tel Beer Sheba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 103 km into the recorded legs you reach Tel Beer Sheba. Next is Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud.
4. Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud
Beneath the low hills of the Judean lowlands, the Shephelah, lies a city of caves. Maresha was an important town of the Iron Age and the Hellenistic period, and its inhabitants carved thousands of chambers into the soft chalk beneath their houses: cisterns, olive presses, stables, quarries, burial caves and columbaria, rooms with hundreds of niches, probably used for raising pigeons. Nearby Bet Guvrin, known to the Romans as Eleutheropolis, became a major city in later centuries. The national park and its caves were listed by UNESCO in 2014 as a microcosm of the land of the caves.
Read the complete Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud, about halfway. Next is Area 1.
5. Area 1
The hills south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem are older than most of the countries now claiming them, and the terraced slopes around Battir are among the best evidence. For centuries, perhaps for two thousand years, farmers here have built dry-stone terraces down the steep valley sides to grow olives, grapes, figs and vegetables, and the water that feeds them comes from springs and is shared out through channels according to a rota among local families. The system was recognised as a World Heritage landscape in 2014, under the title of the land of olives and vines in southern Jerusalem.
Read the complete Area 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Area 1 sits at 186 km, about halfway. Next is back through Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud.
6. back through Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud comes up about 236 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Tel Beer Sheba.
7. back through Tel Beer Sheba
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tel Beer Sheba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 294 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Tel Beer Sheba. Next is back through Mamshit.
8. back through Mamshit
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mamshit write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mamshit, late in the day. Next is Haluza.
9. Haluza
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Haluza write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 399 km.
Leg by leg
Haluza to Mamshit
Haluza → Mamshit is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mamshit to Tel Beer Sheba
Mamshit → Tel Beer Sheba is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tel Beer Sheba to Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud
Tel Beer Sheba → Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud to Area 1
Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud → Area 1 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Area 1 to back through Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud
Area 1 → back through Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud to back through Tel Beer Sheba
back through Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Jud → back through Tel Beer Sheba is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tel Beer Sheba to back through Mamshit
back through Tel Beer Sheba → back through Mamshit is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mamshit to Haluza
back through Mamshit → Haluza is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
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