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

Sicherung gefährlicher und ungefährlicher Grenzen

grenzblog July 21, 2013 October 14, 2013

Entlang unserer heutigen Route durch “Vattenfall-Country” fallen immer wieder die Schilder rechts und links am Straßenrand auf: “Achtung – Lebensgefahr!”. Die Schilder sind mit einem Piktogramm ausgestattet, dass in einer “HALT!”-Pose eine Hand entgegen streckt und den Mund warnend-schreiend aufreißt. Hier zieht sich also links und rechts der Straße eine Grenze entlang: Eine Sicherheits-Grenze, die (anscheinend) absolut lebensgefährliches (Bergbau-)Territorium von einem sicheren Boden, nämlich der Durchgangsstraße, trennt. Die Grenze besteht nur symbolisch aus ein paar kleinen Schildern, die sich alle paar hundert Meter wiederholen. Kein Zaun, keine Mauer, kein wirklicher Schutz vor dem Unheil. Später auf unserer Reise, in Kroatien und…

Volk ohne Grenzen

grenzblog July 21, 2013 August 27, 2013

Im Denken moderner Mehrheitsgesellschaften gilt seit 150 Jahren die scheinbar unanfechtbare Gleichung: Volk = Nation = (Sprache) = Staat = Grenze(n). Als wir heute mehr ueber das Volk der Sorben erfahren haben, bekamen wir eines der Beispiele dafuer zu hoeren, dass diese Gleichung nichts Gegebenes ist und die vier Faktoren unabhaengig voneinander exisitieren: Diejenigen Sorben, die sich als solches definieren, fuehlen sich einem Volk (dem Sorbischen) zugehoerig, sprechen eine damit verbundene Sprache (Sorbisch), leben in keinem sorbischen, sondern im deutschen Staat und haben um das Territorium ihres Volkes und ihrer Sprache keine Staats-Grenze.

No Dirty Coal! More impressions from the Climate Camp…

kate July 21, 2013 August 24, 2013

Coal is just dead dinosaurs – 20th July

mandolinquent July 21, 2013 August 6, 2013

So my Uncle used to say. I’m not so sure of the science behind that, but this dinosaur is very much alive! Its arms flail around scaring small children under the guidance of cyclists and campers until it reaches the centre of the village. It’s stomache opens up and regurgitates a hosts of black biodegradable balloons with messages tied to them praying for the village to be spared. They drift off into the distance as local Sorbian counter-polka animates us into dancing the traditional Sorbian circle dances we have just been taught. It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon, and we are…