Why this ride
From Beersheba it runs 441 km to Beersheba; allow about 6 h 41 of riding. The stops in between: Haluza, Shivta, Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev and back through Shivta. Dry, open country - carry water.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tel Beer Sheba and Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev starting at Beersheba
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 441 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 41
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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. 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
Tel Beer Sheba is where the day begins. Next is Haluza.
2. 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 comes up 44 km in. Next is Shivta.
3. Shivta
There is no water at Shivta, and yet a town of some size thrived here, in the middle of the Negev desert, for several centuries. Its people collected every drop of rain that fell on the surrounding hills and channelled it into cisterns, and they grew grapes, wheat and olives in the dry valleys around. Shivta began as a Nabataean settlement on the trade routes between Arabia and the Mediterranean, and it reached its peak in the Byzantine period, when it had three churches, houses, wine presses and streets of stone. It is part of the Incense Route listed by UNESCO, with the desert cities of Avdat, Haluza and Mamshit.
Read the complete Shivta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
88 km in you reach Shivta. Next is Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev.
4. Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev
The Negev is not the empty wasteland it appears to be from a plane. From roughly the third century BC to the second century AD, the Nabataeans, a people of Arabian origin who made their capital at Petra, ran one of the most profitable trades in the ancient world through it, carrying frankincense and myrrh from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean ports of Gaza. They controlled the water, building cisterns, dams and terraced fields to farm in an area with almost no rain, and along the route they raised caravan stations, forts and small cities, among them Avdat, Haluza, Mamshit and Shivta, which UNESCO listed together in 2005 as the Incense Route Desert Cities.
Read the complete Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev, about halfway. Next is back through Shivta.
5. back through Shivta
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shivta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Shivta sits at 177 km, about halfway. Next is back through Haluza.
6. back through 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
back through Haluza comes up 221 km in. Next is Tel Beer Sheba.
7. 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
Tel Beer Sheba closes the day.
Leg by leg
Tel Beer Sheba to Haluza
Tel Beer Sheba → Haluza is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Haluza to Shivta
Haluza → Shivta is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shivta to Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev
Shivta → Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev to back through Shivta
Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev → back through Shivta is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Shivta to back through Haluza
back through Shivta → back through Haluza is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Haluza to Tel Beer Sheba
back through Haluza → Tel Beer Sheba is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Haluza and Mamshit · 232 km
- Mamshit and Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev · 533 km
- Shivta and Tel Beer Sheba · 237 km