About

Ecotopia Biketour is a self-organized, international community that has been organizing a yearly bicycle tour in different regions of Europe since 1990. During the tour we visit environmental and social projects and practice forms of activism and sustainable living. We cook communal vegan food, practice consensus decision making, and share skills by doing workshops. One of our core values is to create a non-discriminatory environment. Participants are asked to give a voluntary contribution of 3–5 € per day to cover food costs, but if you cannot afford this you are welcome to join for free! Ecotopia Biketour is for anyone interested in travelling by bike, community life, DIY, an ecological lifestyle, and/or learning by experience. If this sounds good to you, feel welcome to join us!

We try to make the tour as inclusive as possible for any level of fitness or experience with bike touring. We cycle a maximum of 30–70 km per day (depending on the hills), and on average half of the days we stay in a place without cycling. Our experience is that almost everyone can manage this, but there is the possibility to shorten the distances if we discover that it is too much. People cycle in small groups or alone, at whatever speed suits them, and many people like to take it slow and take lots of breaks. A detailed route plan for the day is shared in the morning, arrows are drawn with chalk on the road at every turn, and if you get lost you can always call the Biketour phone. If you have a shitty bike, you will not be the only one, and we enjoy supporting each other if something breaks. We make sure that the last people to leave carry a toolbox, a phone and a first-aid kit in order to assist if anything goes wrong on the road.

Read more about what the Ecotopia Biketour is. If you would like to get an insight into the organisation or just ask a question, contact us.

Biketour concepts

Participation Guidelines

Because we all have different visions of life and diverse personalities, Ecotopia Biketour has developed a set of basic values which helps all of us to create similar expectations from this project.
> participation guidelines
> awareness

Self-Organisation

As we oppose any leadership or hierachical structures, the Biketour is organised in an open way where everyone can be a part of.
> how it’s prepared
> consensus
> circles

Online Tools

We try to use free and open-source software as much as possible in the preparation process. The same goes for sharing photos and videos in the group.
> online-tools
> photo-sharing

On the road

Everyone should be able to cycle with the Biketour. Therefore we keep distances low and have scouts going ahead who mark the route. Everyone can follow the signs on their own level of speed. Any tasks like scouting, cooking or pulling a trailer are shared.
> on the road
> tasks & rota
> trailers
> wildcamping

Food

All communal food on Biketour is vegan and cooked with wood on our mobile rocket stove.
Whenever it’s possible we go dumpster-diving and buy food from local farmers and small shops.
> veganism
> rocket stove
> dumpster-diving

Activities

We plan and make many activities on the tour: skill-sharing, helping at projects, joining actions and protests, bike-fixing and other events.
> skill-sharing

Latest blog posts

Finding Solace in Solis – Helsinki 25.06.-01.07.2024

Ecotopia Biketour July 14, 2024 July 14, 2024

i feel as though my brain cells are rotting and expanding at the same time. the crew we have and the company we keep know how to get things done, are nerds in various topics, and together our skills are (almost) endless. but we do not forget to also have fun and laugh and to communicate across culture and language our weird senses of humour. in the north of helsinki we were greeted so warmly and with such hospitality by some of the people from solis who generously hosted us in their garden for a week. we were fed fresh…

Writing To Prisoners – Event

Ecotopia Biketour June 30, 2024 June 30, 2024

ABC TKU and Ecotopia Biketour welcome you to come and write letters to prisoners, and to learn about and discuss prison abolition practices, and queerness within prisons. Come hang out and share your experience with resistance against prisons, to remember our friends and comrades incarcerated while fighting for a better world that we want to live in together. Let’s organize ourselves and create alternatives: Abolishing prisons! We are super looking forward to this event together with ABC TKU! In Kirjakahvila 16-20 (Vanha Suurtori 3 25100 Turku) exact time to be announced

Bicycle Flea Market

Ecotopia Biketour June 19, 2024 June 19, 2024

Bicycle Flea Market! Wanna get rid of your old bike? You got a fancy two-wheeled gift but you already have three? Do you want to be charitable and help some bikepunks? Where? In the park Alppipuisto next to the bridge When? 28th of June Starting 6pm, open end Why? This year the Ecotopia Biketour starts in Helsinki! Since the trip to get there is long, many of us come without a bike or full equip(ment). So we need you and cheap fleamarket prices! What? You can bring anything Bike-related. Fully functioning bicycles are of course the most welcome. You can…

What to pack/check for the EBT(24)?

Ecotopia Biketour June 4, 2024 June 4, 2024

…And why bother so much with preparing, btw? You’re not gonna regret it and you’ll have better time and less worries. How much prepare, it depends on for how long (mind, some ppl stay long than planned; myself, many weeks longer), in what areas and time of the season you wanna ride. Specifically for ’24 in the north-east Europe… Amidst summer and beatiful nature, expect some rains at times probably, winds when close to the sea (and extra UV on the very coast), mosquitos, perhaps a tiny bit of gravel/mud/sand here and there; temperatures may vary greatly (even more speaking…