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

belarus border chaos

CharlieCharlie July 18, 2016 April 28, 2017

When the 2016 biketour collective first discussed going to Belarus, we expected that the visa would require some work, but after doing considerable research into the process, decided it was a manageable task. We did some preparation, but then expected that everything would fall into place when we met together at the starting point in Warsaw and would proceed as planned. It didn’t. So, heres a list of all the ways in which we almost failed to get to Belarus (a blog post about how we actually made it into Belarus to follow…) 1 – firstly, we needed an invitation…

Compost-toilet out of trash

Ecotopia Biketour 2016 July 17, 2016 April 28, 2017

Paulina invited us to stay at her tiny garden house in the allotment gardens of hajnowka. Shower was a garden hose, food supply came from the incredibly friendly neighbours, our tents were spread out in the garden, toilet was in Kaufland or in the forest. We had some beautiful days there with her. As a thank you we built an own toilet next to the house. So, for the planning, following questions came up: How will the toilet be used? Where should it be? Which kind of toilet? Out of what will we built it? As Paulinas father is building…

Zamieszanie z wizą na Białoruś

ola July 12, 2016 April 28, 2017

Sorry, this entry is only available in Polski. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language. W tym roku jesteśmy mniejszą grupą niż w poprzednich latach i zastanawialiśmy się, czy zamieszanie z wizami na Białoruś nie odstraszyło wielu osób. Przez pierwsze dwa tygodnie bike toura, większość rozmów i wysiłków było skierowanych na zdobycie wiz. Najpierw staraliśmy się o wizy w ambasadzie w Warszawie, gdzie napotykaliśmy na coraz to nowe wymówki dlaczego nasze podanie nie może zostać przyjęte. Były problemy z naszym zaproszeniem, z…

The Żubr

Candid July 8, 2016 April 28, 2017

The Żubr (bison) is the biggest land mammal in Europe. Żubrs have been extinct in many parts of Europe for centuries, the last ones living in the wild were killed in the 1920s. After the second world war, some Żubrs living in zoos were released into the wild to create a new population. All Żubrs that live in the wild today are the descendants of only 12 individuals that were released from zoos, which is quite threatening to their genetic health. The biggest population of about 800 individuals lives in Białowieża Forest, where we stayed for several days. Male Żubrs…