Euro Velo

EuroVelo13 Iron Curtain Trail Riga-Ainazi (Latvia) from Vidzemes Tūrisma Asociācija on Vimeo.

EuroVelo,, the European cycle route network, is a project managed by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) in cooperation with national and regional partners.

EuroVelo incorporates existing and planned national and regional cycle routes into a single European network.

It currently consists of well over 45,000 km of bike paths and thousands of kilometers more are planned – when completed it will total over 70,000 km.  EuroVelo signposting can now be found in Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland  and the UK.  The international status of the routes helps with garnering funds and political support for their continuing construction.

Objectives

The objectives of the ECF for the EuroVelo project are:

To ensure the implementation of very high quality European-grade cycle routes in all countries of Europe, carrying the best European practice across borders and harmonising standards

To communicate the existence of these routes to decision makers and potential users, promote and market their use, and provide an important port of call for information about cycling in Europe;

In this way, to encourage large numbers of European citizens to give cycling a try, and so to promote a shift to healthy and sustainable travel – for daily trips and as cycling tourism.

Development and Operation

The development and operation of the EuroVelo routes is carried out by national, regional and local governments, commercial service providers and NGOs.

The aim is to establish an official National EuroVelo Coordination Centre (NECC) to lead on this work in every country through which EuroVelo routes pass. 

Vidzeme Tourism Association is Euro Velo coordinator in Latvia for Euro Velo 13 - Iron Curtain Trail in Latvia and is promoting Euro Velo though the following projects:

2011: Iron Curtain Trail-EV13-North No SI2.ACGRACE038703800

2012:  SI2.ACGRACE047699500 "EuroVelo.com" (ECOM)

2014: New project - EuroVelo 13 - Iron curtain trail has been approved. VTA will work together with Latvia Tourism State Development Agency to create and promote cycling packages along the EuroVelo 13 route. More information about the project can be found here.