I just got the idea to go that way myself next summer... so just to reconfirm:
- Syria
- Lebanon
- Jordan
- Israel
- Cyprus
are all possible, if done in that order? And no carnet needed for any of these?

Egypt has that mandatory & very expensive carnet, so at the moment looks like I´ll save it for another visit. Will have about 1 month for the whole trip (from Finland), so not possible to go everywhere. May even put the bike on a truck to Greece or Turkey, to get some more time to spend in the region. Never done the Turkish coast either, and I believe that is also well worth doing?

It probably gets damn hot in June/July? I´m afraid I wont have a lot of options regards the timing of the trip.

Is a fantastic journey.
Now that I am on my way back. Done exactly what u envision. For inspiration look at my site.
Egypt would be worth a journey for itself, if u say u have 1 month.
Egypt is by far the cheapest country to live in. Fuel litre for 0.15 Euros, A falafel sandwich for 0.15 Euros.
Israel and Turkey by comparison 20 times as expensive!!!!!!

Costs of border crossings are pretty much the same everywhere, Syria, Jordan, Egypt. Stamps, tax, visa, customs, insurance all ask for their due moneys, bring plenty of cash, 100 to 200 Euros and more.

Ferries is another big thing, Aqabah, Jordan - Nuweiba, Egypt, 260 USD for my van and one person. Going through Israel is free (no border crossing fees), but then u cannot go back via Syria, then the ferry Haifa to Limassol, Cyprus (600 Euros one van and one person), Haifa to Pyraeus double or more.

The thing with Egypt is not the expensiveness of a carnet. Because that u arrange for urself and it comes virtually for free (because the deposit u will get back after the journey) in ur home country (usually ur automobil club issues this).

BTW u can arrange insurance for Turkey and Israel in ur home country (extended Green Card), which may NOT be the cheapest but a convenient option.

Again inspiration on my site
http://www.thisfabtrek.com/journey/a...pt-gallery.php
Photography and Journey: Syria. Pictures Gallery.
Photography and Journey: Turkey. Pictures Gallery.

Also when in Israel don't forget to go to Palestine

;-)
Rgds
Manfred, in Cyprus

__________________
Manfred
www.thisfabtrek.com

Yep, we actually did a 6-month trip to Asia&Australia with my girlfriend a couple years ago, and we had the carnet back then. So it is clear to me, that the big money is the deposit - a _minimum_ of 5000(!!) euros here in Finland! Plus issuing it cost around 250 euros - and this was a more or less ´normal´ carnet, with Pakistan, India, Indonesia in it, but no Egypt, because they require a special amount of guarantee. I was actually told by the German ADAC, that they will not issue me a carnet, the only exception was if I plan to go to Egypt, otherwise I´ll need to arrange it from my country.

So for us it was not for free, and it´s definitely one more thing to arrange beforehand. But I just heard, that the AA here does not issue them any more, and we´ll now need to apply from Sweden, so may be I´m going to ask them about this. I wouldnt be surprised at all, if anywhere else will be cheaper than in Finland!

Last time we also had our normal bike insurance & Green Card cover the bike for Turkey and even Iran (which was a bit surprising)... but that´s surely one thing I´ll need to do more research on. And I´m not expecting to get a fully comprehensive cover, like collision or theft, for all these countries.

Thanks for the info BTW, and yes I´ll go check out your site! I was wondering, where we could go, that´s not desperately far away, but will be new to us. This is starting to look more and more like our destination.

Anyone have any up-to-date info about the ferry routes from Haifa to Cyprus or Athens (or anywhere in Europe)?

Poseidon Lines´ website states that ´the service has been suspended until further notice´ (but some of their info is from 2002!!) But this is in fact backed up by ferrylines.com: Europe's Ferry Booking Portal info - no services leaving from Haifa.

So, at least for the moment, there´s no way to get out of Israel on a regular ferry?

go to
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ry-again-40319

Mony did that no problem

Yoni

__________________
Dare!
My ride from Dead horse to Ushuaia 2009 is at
www.harpatka.com
It's in hebrew but lots of pics and some translation

Yoni

Thanks for that, it´s good to know that there are options!

Still I´m against the idea of freighting the bike, if I can find a ferry to take both me and the bike. That would be a lot less hassle I think (or at least this is usually very much so!)

It does seem like this could be possible from Lebanon, even though its not really a ferry route. Are there problems for tourists crossing between Israel and Lebanon (especially if coming from Israel)?

You can go from Haifa Israel with the ship that will take the bike. But you need to know that it is NOT a ferry. it is a cargo ship that carry trucks (with fresh agriculture goods) to Europ. so they put the bikes in the corners and you can join the bike in a very bad standart.
About using the Lebanon option. You need to understand the political reality in the Middle East before coming here. Israel has an open border only with Jordan and Egypt. if you will have an Israeli stamp in your passport you will not be able to enter Syria or Lebanon. so if you want to take the bike to Erope from Lebanon you should go there from Syria.
You can visit Israel coming from Jordan. leaving the bike in the Jordanian side. On the border you can ask them to stamp on a separate page that will be attached to your passport. Then after returning to Jordan the page will be removed, ride it to Syria and to Lebanon from there take a ferry to Europe.

Have fun.

__________________
Dare!
My ride from Dead horse to Ushuaia 2009 is at
www.harpatka.com
It's in hebrew but lots of pics and some translation

Yoni