The map attempts to show the most popular/most used routes (i.e. not all possible routes!) for people who start in (western/central) Europe and cycle towards South/East/Southeast Asia. The thicker the line, the more popular is the route. There is no proper data base for this map; we have created it according to our feeling/impression, which is based mostly on reading along bicycle touring WhatsApp group chats for the last two to three years. So it’s by no means exact and also a bit biased, e.g. because I barely read the South Asia group and am not as familiar with the popular routes in e.g. India as in other parts of Eurasia. Also, the degree of detail (which nearby routes I count as the same or different routes) is arbitrary.

Timewise, it shows the situation roughly during the last four years (i.e. since covid). That is, for example, Myanmar has been off limits during all this time, but Iran hasn’t. Routes that are currently off limits are drawn black.

There are some interesting observations reflected in this map: Almost everybody passes Cappadocia. With Iran closed, the only route that is cyclable all the way through without motorized transport leads through Russia and China. There are some major bottle necks/cyclist’s hubs (apart from Cappadocia) like Istanbul, Tbilisi, Samarqand or Bangkok. Despite the huge size of China, only relatively few routes are actually taken by cyclists; mostly from Kazakhstan via Xining and Kunming to Laos/Vietnam and from Mongolia via Beijing to Korea.