Ecotopia Biketour is a self-organized environmental and social activist bicycle tour that has been cycling through different parts of Europe each summer since 1990. On our way we visit social and environmental projects and groups, to learn about their struggles and visions, to exchange knowledge, to create connections and to support them by participating in actions or doing some physical work. Read more about what the Ecotopia Biketour is.

Ecotopia Biketour 2017 will go through Germany, France and may be to Switzerland and eastern Spain. A more specific route will be announced on the website as soon as it is decided. If you have some recommendations for projects, groups and events for us to visit on the way or would like to help preparing the tour, write to 2017@ecotopiabiketour.net. Read more about Ecotopia Biketour 2017.

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.

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.

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.

=>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

Impressions of Kosovo

Candid August 7, 2014 August 15, 2014

Sorry this entry is not available in this language For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language. On the 31st of July we cycled through a valley in south-eastern Serbia towards the border of Kosovo. Some small villages every couple of kilometers, not a lot of people on the streets, barely any traffic. The night before it had already felt weird to see a big truck or bus making their way into the darkness of the mountains every now and again, not really…

Eatotopia – the Culinary Side

Lino August 7, 2014 August 7, 2014

I went to the BikeTour as I was running away from a Rainbow Gathering (jolly hippy stuff) and was immediately relieved to meet some normal, cool, approachable people. A real collection of dreamers of a better world, but also with the practical mindset of those who make daily use of spanners and allen keys. But the most striking common trait was our ferocious (but strictly vegan) appetite. So I went from doing & eating almost nothing at the hippy gathering, to a bustle of activities & and jaw exercising during the Bike Tour.. On the very first official day, “Ecotopia”…

The First Three Days in Sofia

Bike Bel July 14, 2014 August 20, 2014

The first of us arrived in Sofia on Thursday afternoon. After orientating ourselves, we were met at Eagle Bridge by a guy from Sofia Green Tours – a group of volunteers who give guided tours of the city by bike – and were shown our place to sleep quite deep in the Borisova park. There was tons of space for lots of us to stay…so far there were just 5! That night some of us joined the weekly Thursday night bike ride. About a hundred people showed up, and with the lights glowing, they descended slowly, stuttering patiently across zebra…

Ecotopia biketour visits S.O.S Halkidiki struggle against goldmine

sml May 2, 2014 May 2, 2014

Back in 2013, ecotopia biketour got involved with a local struggle against a big gold extraction project in South-East Europe, in Rosia Montana, in Romania. We had heard about a similar project that would destroy an unspoilt forest in Halkidiki, a peninsula close to Thessaloniki, where most of the coordination for 2014 is taking place. Some people of the S.O.S. Halkidiki assembly had luckily heard about our spring meeting and travelled to Thessaloniki to meet us and join in the discussions. They invited us to come and visit them for a weekend at the end of March, when there was…