World Bicycle Touring Route
Poring over maps in anticipation of a bicycle tour is one of our favorite parts of the process. Plans inevitably change as we go along, and we end up winging it fairly often as we learn about new places while we’re traveling.
We started our world bicycle tour in May 2021 in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, then flew to Paris in July. We spent the next 14.5 months cycling around Europe, structuring our trip around the Schengen Zone to stay within visa limits.
Norway was our endpoint in Europe, and from there we flew to Malaysia and spent the next 5 months cycling around Southeast Asia.
Read about the different sections of our world bicycle touring route below.
World Bicycle Tour Blog:
Bicycle Touring Central Vietnam
Cycling Central Vietnam We spent three weeks cycling Central Vietnam before flying to South Korea from Da Nang. We visited the historic cities of Hue and Hoi An as well as some beautiful sections of coastline and endless vibrant rice paddies. The quality of cycling in Vietnam was mixed – at times we cycled …
Bicycle Touring Laos: A Practical Guide
Cycle Touring in Laos Laos is one of the more adventurous cycling destinations in Southeast Asia – the terrain is exceptionally mountainous and the distances between food and amenities is far greater compared to neighboring countries. We spent about a month bicycle touring the northern and central regions of the country in February 2023. …
Bicycle Touring Northern Thailand
Cycling Northern Thailand We cycled from Tak to the Laos border via Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in late December/early January. Northern Thailand is full of fascinating cultural sites and towns, and the weather is generally much cooler than Southern Thailand, making it a fairly popular bike touring destination. Our Bicycle Touring Route Download …
Bicycle Touring Central Thailand
Cycling Central Thailand We cycled north along the Gulf of Thailand before heading into the western interior, skirting around Bangkok since we’d visited previously and wanted to avoid the intense city traffic. There were many interesting towns and cultural sites in this section, and the weather turned much drier and cooler as we moved …
Cycling Southern Thailand
Bicycle Touring Southern Thailand We crossed the border into Thailand at Wang Prachan in the Satun province of Southern Thailand. From there, we followed the western coast along the Andaman Sea until Krabi province, where we crossed over to the east coast and rode up to Chumphon. The cycling in Southern Thailand was incredibly …
Bicycle Touring Malaysia: Part 3
Malaysia’s Mountains and Northwest States After cycling Malaysia’s east coast, we crossed the Central Forest Spine via Kenyir Lake and Gua Musang, then continued to George Town, Penang. After a week off in the historic city, we rode through the states of Kedah and Perlis toward the Thailand border. This section featured some of …
Bicycle Touring Malaysia: Part 2
Singapore and the East Coast of Malaysia After exploring Singapore for a few days, we started bicycle touring Malaysia’s east coast. We had mixed experiences in Malaysia’s east – at times the traffic was horrendous, particularly on the southern end of the peninsula, but we also found some peaceful beach roads in the northern …
Bicycle Touring Malaysia: Part 1
Cycling Malaysia’s West Coast (KL to Singapore) After taking a three week break in Kuala Lumpur, we rode south along the coast toward Singapore. Bicycle touring in Malaysia can be challenging, mainly due to the intense traffic through heavily populated areas. Despite the traffic conditions, we were eventually won over by Malaysia’s fantastic food …
Bicycle Touring Southern Norway
An Incredible End to Our European Tour Norway was our final destination in Europe, and it was a fantastic place to finish our 14 month journey around the continent. We lucked out with beautiful weather throughout most of our loop around southern Norway and ended up in Oslo, where we would box our bikes …
Cycling the Kattegat Coast
Bike Touring in Denmark and Sweden After such challenging weather in Scotland, we were expecting to experience more of the same while we were cycling in Scandinavia. However, we lucked out with unusually warm and sunny weather for much of Denmark and Sweden, which made our ride along the coast much more enjoyable. Both …
The North Sea Cycle Route
EuroVelo from France to Germany After finishing our tour of England in Dover, we took a ferry to Dunkirk and rode the coastline of the North Sea. This part of Europe is extremely flat and world renowned for its cycling infrastructure, so we were able to make good progress through Belgium, the Netherlands, and …
England: It’s a Mixed Bag
Bicycle Touring England After our tour of Scotland, we crossed the border into England and rode the Hadrian’s Wall cycle route before continuing south on the EuroVelo 12. While England wasn’t always as scenic as other parts of Europe, the quality of the cycling routes was actually fairly good. There were some long urban …
Scotland Bike Route Roundup
Bicycle Touring Scotland We needed to remain outside the Schengen Zone for at least 3 months to reset our visa, so we had plenty of time to take a meandering route around Scotland. We rode sections of several different cycling routes in eastern Scotland and spent some time hiking in Loch Lomond and Cairngorms …
Cycling the Outer Hebrides
Cycling the Outer Hebrides The Hebridean Way is a popular scenic route among cyclists, backpackers, and motor tourists. The 186 mile route visits 10 different islands connected by 2 ferries and 6 causeways. On the ferry from mainland Scotland to the first island, there were at least 20 other cycle tourists aboard with us, …
Cycling the Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland
Cycling the Antrim Coast The Antrim Coast and Glens is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty located in Northern Ireland. The scenic route is about 100 miles (160km) depending on how many diversions you take. We finished up our tour of Ireland by spending a few days cycling the Antrim Coast to Larne, where …
Cycling the Wild Atlantic Way
Ireland’s Stunning Western Coast The Wild Atlantic Way (WAW) is a 1,600 mile (2,600 km) scenic route that follows the length of Ireland’s western coast. While Ireland is a relatively small island, its coastline is serpentine and full of peninsulas that make the WAW one of the longest defined coastal routes in the world. …
Wicklow Mountains and Southeast Ireland
Bicycle Touring Ireland’s Ancient East We landed in Dublin on a misty, dreary evening in early April. We’d been a little unsure how the weather would shake out in early spring, but we thought we would at least avoid the crowds being the shoulder season. After leaving Dublin, we rode through the Wicklow Mountains …
Cycling the Camino de Santiago
Cycling the Camino de Santiago The Camino de Santiago is a network of pilgrimage trails that lead to Santiago de Compostela, where the remains of the apostle St. James are said to be buried. The routes have existed since the 10th century and connect numerous important cultural heritage sites. Most pilgrims, or peregrinos, take …
Northern Spain: Barcelona to Pamplona
Bicycle Touring Northern Spain After a long ferry from Sardinia to Barcelona, we spent nine days bicycle touring Northern Spain from Barcelona to Pamplona. We rode past the spectacular Monserrat mountain after leaving Barcelona before riding through long stretches of farmland and many medieval villages. After Huesca, we ventured into an amazing stretch of …
Sardinia: Bicycle Touring Paradise
Bicycle Touring Sardinia We spent one week bicycle touring Sardinia from Cagliari to Porto Torres. Sardinia quickly became one of our favorite places we’ve bicycle toured in Europe. The combination of low traffic gravel roads, great wild camping, stunning scenery, and fascinating archaeological sites made Sardinia an ideal cycling destination, and we were really …
Bicycle Touring Sicily
Bicycle Touring Sicily We spent about 10 days in mid-February bicycle touring Sicily from Messina and around the southern coast to Palermo. While there were some challenging aspects of touring along the coast of Sicily, such as wily traffic and difficult wild camping, there were a ton of amazing historic sites and beautiful scenery …
Bicycle Touring Southern Italy
Bicycle Touring Southern Italy We spent about two weeks bicycle touring Southern Italy from Bari to Villa San Giovanni, where we crossed by ferry to Sicily. Southern Italy is an amazing place to cycle during the winter. We lucked out with (mostly) sunny and wonderful weather, and Italy continuously astounds us with its incredible …
Corfu and Mainland Greece
Bicycle Touring Greece From Sarandë, Albania, we took a hydrofoil ferry to the island of Corfu. It was a small passengers-only boat, and we had to lift the bikes from the dock into the ferry, which was a little bit frightening. We made it to Corfu without our bikes tumbling into the sea and …
Albania: Challenges and High Notes
Bicycle Touring Albania We cycled the length of Albania in late December, mostly following the EuroVelo 8 with a handful of detours. We had very different experiences bicycle touring Albania in the north versus the south. The northern part of the EV8 travels through flat agricultural land that’s densely populated, while the southern part …
Montenegro: Winter Touring in the Balkans
Bicycle Touring Montenegro Montenegro is a gorgeous country in the Balkans located along the Adriatic Sea. This relatively small nation is packed with scenic mountains, sparkling coastline, and many charming towns. Our experience bicycle touring Montenegro was somewhat affected by the season – being winter we stuck closer to the coast rather than venturing …
The Ćiro Trail: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bicycle Touring the Ćiro Trail After cycling along Hvar Island in Croatia, we traveled inland to reach Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). We stayed in Mostar for a week and then rode the Ćiro Trail – a 90 mile (150km) rail-to-trail that follows the route of a narrow-gauge railway that was built in 1903 and …
Croatia and the Dalmatian Coast
Bicycle Touring in Croatia Our entry into Croatia marked our departure from the Schengen Zone of western Europe, so we didn’t have to worry as much about our visa time limit. Andrew also started online graduate school around this time, and we started spending more time in towns along the coast so we could …
The Istrian Peninsula
Bicycle Touring the Istrian Peninsula We arrived in Trieste and planned to spend four days there – the longest amount of time we’d spent in one place since our week in Paris. The city has a fascinating and tumultuous history, with various regimes and countries laying claim to it at different periods of time. …
Cycling the Parenzana Trail
Cycling the Parenzana Trail The Parenzana Trail is a roughly 80 mile (129 km) cycling route that runs from Muggia, Italy to Poreč, Croatia. The trail follows the route of a narrow-gauge railway that operated between 1902 and 1935. We bicycle toured the Parenzana in mid-September of 2021, and it was a major highlight …
Bikepacking Western Slovenia
Bikepacking Western Slovenia Introduction to the Balkans Crossing borders in the Schengen Zone of Europe is exciting mentally but a little anticlimactic externally. There is no border guard station, no passport stamp, no customs. Just a small sign, if you’re lucky, letting you know that you’ve crossed into another country. Slovenia lies within the …
Bicycle Touring the Dolomites
Bicycle Touring the Dolomites When we were researching our route through Europe and polling our friends for suggestions, the Dolomites kept popping up on our radar. The mountains acquired a certain mystique and allure as more people told us how spectacular they were. It wasn’t a hard decision to adjust our route to include …
Bicycle Touring the Swiss Alps
Bicycle Touring the Swiss Alps The Alps are a legendary mountain range that stretches across eight European countries: France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. Almost all of the highest peaks of the range are found within Switzerland, and the Alps constitute a significant percentage of Switzerland’s land area – roughly 60% …
The Loire Valley and Jura Mountains
The Loire Valley and Jura Mountains Bicycle Touring Across France France has excellent cycling infrastructure and a wealth of well-signposted bicycle routes. We initially planned to ride the EuroVelo Route 6 (EV6) from Nantes all the way to the Black Sea, but wound up deviating from this in favor of linking local bike routes …
Cycling Normandy and Brittany
Cycling Normandy and Brittany After riding La Seine à Vélo, we patched together several French cycle routes to visit the D-Day beaches, Mont Saint-Michel, and some historic towns in the regions. The route options are endless, and we were easily able to take cycle paths and country roads to the areas we wanted to …
La Seine à Vélo
La Seine à Vélo Bicycle Touring from Paris to the Atlantic Ocean La Seine à Vélo is a 260-mile (420 km) bicycle touring route that is relatively new (completed in October 2020) but is sure to be a fast favorite among those wishing to explore France by bicycle. Art enthusiasts will especially love meandering along …
Bikepacking the Oregon Outback
Bikepacking the Oregon Outback The Oregon Outback is a 364-mile bikepacking route that traverses the entire length of the state. A mix of designated bike paths, remote gravel roads, and a bit of pavement takes bikepackers through some of the most fantastic landscapes that Oregon has to offer. Bikepacking the Oregon Outback is a …
Bicycle Touring the Pacific Coast Highway
Bicycle Touring the Pacific Coast Highway The Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) of the United States, also known as US-101, runs from Seattle, WA to San Diego, CA. The route is popular among both road-trippers and bicycle tourists due to its beautiful landscapes and vibrant cities. Bicycle touring the Pacific Coast Highway is a bucket …
Pacific Northwest Bicycle Touring Loop
Pacific Northwest Bicycle Touring Loop Two months and 2,270 miles through Washington, Oregon, and Northern California In May 2021, we embarked on a two month bicycle tour of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) with our good friend Marcus. This was our first big tour with our around-the-world bikes and we were still waiting for COVID …