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

Melon melon! Sweet memories from the summer…

alice January 18, 2013 April 25, 2013

Here is the result of a few sessions joyfully reminiscing and picking my favourite few hundred photos (out of thousands) which were taken over our two and a half month journey. From my room here in Edinburgh the tales of adventure we had last summer seem a lot further away than I would like them to be, but seeing these has made them fresh again. Outside there is frost on the ground and it’s wonderful to be taken back to siesta times when it was so hot in the middle of the day that cycling was just not an option! Sometimes it’s hard…

Susannes – The Ecotopia Biketour song

taborda October 22, 2012 October 22, 2012

Susannes – Bike Tour from Susannes on Vimeo. Sexy legs on tiny tires fight the wind conquire the mountains get your freedom trhough degrowth fun and fight we enjoy them both. Lost in time in the oldest world we won’t cry the end of oil homeless, dirty, skipping food little price for feeling good From transgenics to organic fight together never give up from nuclear to solar panels tale is leaving push the pedals push your pedals! Consomateurs pas naissance on voyage sans essence nous roulons à vélo sans soucis et sans boulot trencant fronteres al nostre pas sense pressa…

Party: Ecotopia Biketour

taborda October 13, 2012 October 15, 2012

Summer 2012: two and half month on the road, 120 people joined to peddle more than 3000 kilometer between Barcelona and Venezia and visited more than 40 different projects and campaigns related to Degrowth. Want to find out about what happened on the Biketour this summer? Want to meet with fellow bike-crazy people? Want to be reunited with people that you shared part of the journey of over 3000km? Want to find out about amazing degrowth projects on our trail from Barcelona to Venice? Want to join an evening of full-hearted celebrations? Come to the RAI in Barcelona next Friday…

Can Piella: SOLIDARITY NEEDED!

taborda October 8, 2012 October 8, 2012

Can Piella, a project the Ecotopia Biketour visited in july, is facing an eviction threat, we received this call out recently and would love to see you all supporting this great project that show an alternative path towards a more sustainable, autonomous and degrowth way to live in the land. May we be able to drink Can Piella beer for many more years!