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

Stanciova and the Price of Gold

kate септември 18, 2013 October 28, 2013

Това не е на разположение на български For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in this site default language. You may click one of the links to switch the site language to another available language. After vising Atelier DIY in Timisoara, we made the short afternoon cycle 35km along a busy dual road, but luckily it was flat and with some kind of bikepath, of which the main features of the landscape were gigantic crucifixes in the distance. As we turned off for the last 10km it became vineyards, rolling hills, and the setting sun. We…

Biketour supports struggles against Gold Mine in Rosia Montana

leule септември 16, 2013 October 28, 2013

Това не е на разположение на български For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in this site default language. You may click one of the links to switch the site language to another available language. In the last few weeks, a huge wave of protests has hit all parts of Romania (and beyond) since September as people fight against a catastrophic gold mining project in Rosia Montana, close to Cluj. This project has been initiated by the Canadian-owned Rosia Montana Gold Corporation and would be the largest gold mine in Europe. The project would use cyanide-mining…

Biketour supports Worker Run Factory Struggle: Jugoremedija

kate септември 12, 2013 October 31, 2013

Това не е на разположение на български For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in this site default language. You may click one of the links to switch the site language to another available language. In Zrenjanin we met up with some of the ex workers from a long standing worker owned factory struggle at Jugoremedija, that has been under threat of Privatization since 2000. Serbian politicians and investors fear this kind of organising, despite being sucessful, will “bring us back to the dark days of self-management”. You can read an English write up of the…

Every Day Action at Inex Film: Beograd

kate септември 12, 2013 October 28, 2013

Това не е на разположение на български For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in this site default language. You may click one of the links to switch the site language to another available language. On entering Belgrade (8th September) we met up with some of the local Critical Mass crew along the Danube, led by a Serbian Biketour veteran, who showed us some of the problems for cyclists that are squeezed off the roads by heavy car and summer pedestrian traffic. Our mini Critical Mass ended on the outskirts of Belgrade, at the ex cinematography…