A friend and I from Holland are planning to go on a 4-month bike tour May-August of this year and we are debating which of these two great options to go for:
1. Silk Route: fly to Beijing and bike back to Istanbul through China, the Stans, possibly Iran, and Turkey.
2. Halfway around the Meditarrean, between Istanbul and Casablanca through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Tunesia, Algeria, and Morocco.
Based on climate during May-August, trying to go as low budget as possible, visa/political issues, and only four months to cross these distances, which of these two tours would people recommend and why?
In particular, we are worried about:
- the summer heat in N-Africa/Mideast
- the cost of flying to Beijing with our bikes
- getting a visa for Libya and managing to get through the entire country in the 7 days that a transit visa allows
- getting through Algeria at all. From what we have heard the Algeria-Morocco border is closed and even the Algeria-Tunesia border might not be open.
If people recommend the N-Africa/Mideast route, would they recommend starting in Istanbul and biking to Casablanca or the other way around?
If recommending the Silk Route, should we go through Iran (or is that a detour that we cannot afford in 4 months)?
Thanks for any advice! Really appreciate it!
betto
1. Silk Route: fly to Beijing and bike back to Istanbul through China, the Stans, possibly Iran, and Turkey.
2. Halfway around the Meditarrean, between Istanbul and Casablanca through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Tunesia, Algeria, and Morocco.
Based on climate during May-August, trying to go as low budget as possible, visa/political issues, and only four months to cross these distances, which of these two tours would people recommend and why?
In particular, we are worried about:
- the summer heat in N-Africa/Mideast
- the cost of flying to Beijing with our bikes
- getting a visa for Libya and managing to get through the entire country in the 7 days that a transit visa allows
- getting through Algeria at all. From what we have heard the Algeria-Morocco border is closed and even the Algeria-Tunesia border might not be open.
If people recommend the N-Africa/Mideast route, would they recommend starting in Istanbul and biking to Casablanca or the other way around?
If recommending the Silk Route, should we go through Iran (or is that a detour that we cannot afford in 4 months)?
Thanks for any advice! Really appreciate it!
betto