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

Sorting through the rubble at Die Mühle…

kate August 8, 2013 October 4, 2013

After two days of cycling through the highest temperatures on record in Austria (41 degrees celsius!) we reached Die Mühle, a relatively new community project and seminar house for political events and projects. Here we performed a human chain and put our people power into practice to shift tonnes of bricks and rubble from the ruins of the adjoining building, and enjoyed the house facilities for our workshops on consensus, small group work and Biketour 2014! Pictures to follow!!!!

Biketour… in solidarity with refugees in Vienna!

kate August 7, 2013 October 23, 2013

In Vienna we were spolit for choice of contacts and collectivers to meet and network with, including visits to the Vienna Bike Kitchen, and meetings at the Café Gagarin, a collectively run and owned vegan-vegatarian restaurant, and space for, culture, music and politics. We were hosted there for two days and took full advantage of their newly co-funded professional kitchen. – Compared to cooking on rocket stoves and a head tourch…it was sheer luxury! On tuesday we met with some of the orgainisers of the Vienna Refugee Protest Camp, who protest weekly outside the Pakistani Embassy and monastery where many…

Along the Danube for some PIZZ’A’…!!!

kate August 4, 2013 October 25, 2013

After a long HOT cycle we finally made it along part of the the Danube to Vienna! Tonight we will be hosted by the PIZZA Muhlfeldgasse 12 from 6pm, for their regular sunday skipped pizza and info eveing, where much of the ingredients come from food that would have otherwise been wasted. We hope to share some of our stories and learn from their collective over dinner! Hope to see some of you there.

Garten der Generationen… one two three!

kate August 3, 2013 October 25, 2013

A few images from an evening at Garten der Gernerationen, an emerging community project experimenting with anti-capitalist ideals, self-organisation and self-sufficiency. After an introduction from one of the founders, who also founded a successful community not far from here, we eagerly offered help with their straw bale house construction … . . . . …and we enjoyed a walk through their emerging community garden before dinner.