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

I’m cycling in the rain, just cyclin’ in the rain What a glorious feeling, I’m happy again…

Ecotopia Biketour September 1, 2022 September 1, 2022

Well despite record temperatures through the regions we were cycling in this year, wildfire risks and general drought, there were still a few days where the skies opened up and blessed us with litres of water over us and our bikes.. I guess after 6 weeks of no rain most of us were not so prepared for rainy days Luckily there was someone from Britain – island of rain and changable weather – to coach us about cycling in the rain. Maybe it’s helpful for other people, meanwhile we didn’t see rain since a few days again.. Cycling and rain…

From Besançon to Lyon along the river Ain

Candid August 25, 2022 August 26, 2022

The group left Besançon with one day delay due to heavy rains. The route planning team decided to take a more hilly but also more picturesque detour towards Lyon along the River Ain, passing through its steep rocky valleys with its enchanted mossy forests, passing many waterfalls and lakes on the way. Close to Thoirette we took a rest day on a grass field down by the river. Not many people pass by there, so we could have a circle (meeting), a few swims, time to relax, some bike fixing, a visit to the “cow piss” waterfall close by and…

Spring Meeting 13–15 May 2022

Ecotopia Biketour May 3, 2022 May 5, 2022

Our Spring Meeting will happen from Friday, 13 May until Sunday, 15 May in Leipzig, Germany. In this meeting we want to make some final decisions about the route, start preparing the transportation of our equipment to the starting point, establish the communication and registration of participants and create and spread promotion material. Anyone who is interested is welcome to join the meeting. The idea is to have discussions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is possible to arrive on Thursday evening and leave on Monday morning. Sleeping places will be organized, it will probably be needed to bring a…

Winter Meeting 2022

Ecotopia Biketour February 9, 2022 February 9, 2022

Hello everyone! Our date and time for the winter meeting is finally fixed, hurrah! Everyone is welcome to come to Greene, a little south of Hannover, in Germany from the 17th Feb, Thursday, to the 21st Feb, Monday. The meeting will be in the Funkenhaus, a nice collective which often hosts seminars like this. The programm is not fixed yet, but some parts will be about which direction to go this Summer, feedback from last year, gender topics around the tour, free time to wonder around, etc. Your welcome anyway, but you are also welcome to send us a mail…