Bike Odyssey is a small cycling tour company run by Sam and Isabel. Sam spent his youth excavating around the Mediterranean and wrote a PhD on how Hellenistic artefacts were distributed, and this route grew out of that. Each Bike Odyssey tour is built around a historical theme, and this one tracks Alexander from his birthplace in Macedon to Egypt, which fell to him without a fight. Expect a lot of ancient history between rides, with guides who know the material.

The Greek section covers 11 days. You roll out of Thessaloniki to Pella for a first Greek coffee, then climb from the lowlands to Edessa, a mountain town with waterfalls running through the middle of it. At Vergina you go underground into the tomb of Philip II, Alexander's father, which was found in 1977 with a gold and ivory shield and a full suit of gilded armour. Next comes Mount Olympus, with an optional climb of about 30 hairpins and a night at Ktima Bellou, a farm stay on the mountain's slopes. Meteora is the rest day. After that you ride through the Kalambaka Valley to Thermopylae, where the 300 Spartans fought Persia.

Turkey gets 12 days. You ride to meet the gulets at Çiftlik Bay and then follow the Lycian coast, where Alexander campaigned in 334 BCE. The days follow a routine: ride, swim, eat lunch on deck, sail, look around a village or ruin, then eat dinner outside and sleep on board. Highlights include gözleme in Gökbel at the top of a climb above the Dalyan Delta, the descent into Kalkan, snorkelling at Cleopatra's Bath and over the sunken city at Kekova, and the Lycian rock tombs at Myra. After the boats you ride quiet canyon and lake roads through the Taurus Mountains to Termessos and Sagalassos, two of the best-preserved Greco-Roman cities anywhere.

Egypt is short on riding but big on payoff. There are two rides: 28km to the older pyramids at Saqqara and Dahshur, where you can go down into a burial chamber, and a 4km sunrise ride onto the Giza Plateau. That second ride is a special arrangement the company negotiated. The bikes come from whatever the local team could find, and some have no more than three gears. Cairo is noisy and chaotic and the local team handles all of that. The tour ends with a dinner at Mena House, the 1869 hotel that appears in Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.

Two things set this tour apart from a standard road cycling holiday. The first is the gulets. Living on a boat for a week while riding the coast every day is hard to arrange yourself. The second is the logistics. You cross three countries with two flights, and the company's Trek road and e-bike fleet is included for Greece and Turkey so you don't have to pack and rebuild your own bike twice. There's one guide for every six guests and one support vehicle for every 12. Once the group reaches 19, the fourth staff member is a soigneur who can do massage and sports therapy.

The tour leaders are Enrico, who speaks nine languages and handles the history and organisation, and Aris Ntotsikas, who brings local knowledge, logistics and mechanical skills. Past guests mention Aris keeping the bikes running perfectly. They're backed by local teams in Greece, Turkey and Egypt. If you want more of Egypt afterwards, there's an optional extension: four nights on the Nile cruise ship Soleil from Luxor to Aswan.

What's included

- 27 nights accommodation (hotels, historic lodges, resorts, traditional inns) - 7 nights aboard luxury gulets with en-suite cabins - Trek road or e-bike for Greece and Turkey - Local bikes for the Egypt rides - Fully supported riding with 1 guide per 6 guests - Support vehicle per 12 guests - Soigneur (massage/sports therapy) once the group reaches 19 - Meals on board the gulets - Group dinners, including the final feast at Mena House - Snorkel gear on the gulets - Sunrise ride on the Giza Plateau - Guided tour with an Egyptologist at Giza - Site visits including Vergina, Meteora, Sagalassos and Saqqara

What's not included

- International flights to Thessaloniki and home from Cairo - Single supplement (€140 per night) - Extra flight fees for bringing your own bike - Luxor to Aswan Nile cruise extension - Travel insurance - Personal expenses