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

Links #5: Bike caravan, Ban on Abortion, Ban on Gas-Powered Cars, Cycling Diary, Velocipedia

Candid April 29, 2016 April 27, 2016

DIY micro mobile home Mass Mobilization Against the Ban on Abortion in Poland The Netherlands Will Ban New Gasoline-Powered Vehicles By 2025 Cycling in the north: Travel diary of a cycling trip in the north of Germany and in Denmark Velocipedia: 3D models of bike sketches that people have drawn

Biketour in Stockholm

Candid April 25, 2016 April 25, 2016

On the 21st of August 2015, the Biketour arrived in Stockholm. Our sleeping place was meant to be Kulturhuset Cyklopen, a cultural centre in the south of Stockholm. Arriving there, it turned out that there was not really a lot of space to sleep, so we decided to only spend one night there and have a look for new sleeping opportunities for the other 4 nights the next day. The next day, the Anarchist Bookfare happened, which was one major event on our tour that made us change the whole schedule. We spent the whole day in a nice and…

Links #4: Blocking a Pedestrian Crossing, Consensus, Białowieża Forest Logging, Unusual Bikes

Candid March 27, 2016 March 27, 2016

Random guy shows car driver how a pedestrian crossing really works! Beyond ‘Consensus’ decision making (written by a former Biketour participant) Poland approves large-scale logging in Białowieża forest, one of the only original forests left in Europe. The Biketour will cross it on the way from Warsaw to Minsk. Cycling scarecrow Artist rides dinosaur bike across Norwegian Bible Belt

Biketour in Uppsala

Candid January 9, 2016 January 10, 2016

The discussion about how many days and when exactly to go to Uppsala almost lasted longer than our actual stay there, but in the end we decided to stay for two nights, but spend the second night a bit further in the direction of Stockholm so that we wouldn’t have problems making it to the Anarchist Bookfare two days later. We had gotten a request by an organic farmer in the area who had heard that we are some travelling “volunteers” and needed some help with the harvest. We decided that we are not free workers but sometimes help out…