1.900 km by bike across Europe among breathtaking landscapes, museums and talks, to raise awareness on gender equality and promote female empowerment.
We cycled 1.900 km in total autonomy from Bolzano (Italy) to Oslo, visiting 6 museums of the IAWM circuit (International Association of Women’s Museum), where we organized small events to talk about gender equality and female empowerment: this is why we called it Gender Equality Ride. Why we still need to talk about these issues? Because according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2024, gender equality will only be achieved in 134 years, and because Italy is in 84th place in the Gender Gap Index Ranking (Iceland, Finland, Norway in the first three places)… the road is still long!
The IAWM museums we visited are: Museo delle Donne Merano (Italy), Frauenmuseum Hittisau (Austria), Museum Frauenkultur Fürth (Germany), Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (Germany), KØN – Gender Museum Denmark, Aarhus (Denmark), Kvinnemuseet Kongsvinger (Norway).
About the itinerary, some of the places we loved the most are: Val Venosta Cycling Trail (Italy), Via Claudia Augusta (Austria), Bregenzerwald (Austria), Thuringia (Germany), Mecklenburg-Brandenburg Lake District (Germany) and the area of Zealand overlooking the Baltic Sea (Denmark). The country in which we spent most of the time time was Germany, a very inclusive and multicultural country, extremely focused on sustainable tourism, where we stayed almost always in eco-friendly facilities. Ulm (Germany), Bamberg (Germany) and Aahrus (Denmark) the cities we liked the most, Berlin surprised us with its huge vegan offer!
Here below the GPX traks of pur journey (on our Komoot profile), some pictures and travel tips. We hope they are useful!
TRAVEL TIPS
BOLZANO/MERANO: 34km, 90D+
From Bolzano to Merano it’s entirely cycle path. Don’t miss the Frauen Museum di Merano. Dinner on the river at Gigis Bar, night at Flora Hotel & Suite
MERANO/RESIA: 90km, 1400D+
Val Venosta Cycling trail is just amazing, but it’s easier downhill! Don’t miss the lovely submerged bell tower of Lake Resia.
RESIA/ST. ANTON AM ARLBERG: 83km, 830D+
After crossing Resia Pass we enter Tirol (Austria) riding a part of Via Cluadia Augusta down to the beautiful Finstermunz, and then to Landeck, before going up the valley to reach St. Anton, a renowned winter tourist destination. Night and dinner at Hotel Alte Post.
ST. CHRISTOPH/MELLAU: 57km, 470D+
We are now in Vorarlberg, among wonderful landscapes in the heart of the Alps. Nice stop for lunch in Schoppernau at Hotel Restaurant Der Adler. Mellau is a lovely village in Bregenzwald: dinner at Dorfgasthaus Adler, night at Hotel Bären.
MELLAU/HITTISAU: 26km, 330D+
Visit the interesting Frauenuseum Hittisau. Night and dinner at Hotel Krone
HITTISAU/MEMMINGEM: 81km, 730D+
Today we enter Germany! Take your time to visit lovely Isny im Allgaü and Menningem, the pearl of Svevia. Night at Joesepp’s Hotel (that is also a restaunt with brewery).
MEMMINGEM/ULM: 54km, 50D+
In Ulm don’t miss to climb the tallest bell tower in the world and visit Ulm Museum. Dinner at Restaurant Zur Lochmühle in lovely Fischerviertel area, and night at central Hotel Anker,.
ULM/NORDLINGEN: 93km, 450D+
Ride along Danau for a while. Medieval Nordlingen is really very pretty: good pizza at Pizzeria La Fontana and night at 2nd Home Hotel, just poutside the walls.
NORDLINGEN/NUREMBERG: 92km, 540D+
One day of stop for us in Nurenberg, also to reach Fürth (31km) to visit the Museum Frauenkultur Regional–International. The city is big and has a lot to offer: don’t miss the Imperial Castle, the Germanic National Museum to see Dürer paintings and the Former Nazi Party Rally Ground.
Night Hotel Saxx. Dinners: Die Wirtschaft and Fränkness.
NUREMBERG/BAMBERG: 71km, 130D+
Bamberg is amazing. Don’t miss a walk along Little Venice and to swim in Regnitz River. Dinner at Wirtshaus Eckerts and night at Hotel Residenzschloss.
BAMBERG/HÜTTENSTEINACH: 75km, 510D+
We are in Turinghia now! Dinner and night at Hotel-Gasthof Hüttensteinach
HÜTTENSTEINACH/LINZMÜLE: 87km, 1.050D+
We ride on gravel roads in the woods, no nice. Night and vegan dinner at lovely Wald Hotel Linzmühle.
LINZMÜLE/LEIPZIG: 110km, 620D+
One day of stop to discover the city of composer Bach. We visited N’Ostalgie Museum and Mdbk (Museum der Bildenden Künste). Nights at Best Western Hotel Leipzig. Lovely vegan dinners at Quai Simply Vegan and Indian Crown.
LEIPZIG/WITTENBERG: 83km, 220D+
Wittenberg, which stands on the Elbe River, owes its fame above all to Martin Luther and has several UNESCO sites to visit. Dinner at Carpe Diem and night at Martas Hotel.
WITTENBERG/BERLINO: 102km, 430D+
Two days in Berlin aren’t enough, but they gave us an idea of the city. Ride the Berliner Mauerweg to discover history by visiting places of memory and museums. We loved Berliniche Galerie and its exibitions. Nights at amazing Hotel Odeberger, a former public swimmingpool (now open again) in lively Prenzlauer Berg area. Berlin is a vegan paradise, some restaurants we loved:Vegang, Försters, and Michelin starred Cookies Cream.
BERLIN/RHEINSBERG: 87km, 250D+
Today we enter the beautiful Lakes Region. Visit the Rheinsberg Castle before having dinner at Seehof and sleep at Gasthof Endler.
RHEINSBERG/MALCHOW: 70km, 370D+
Just wood and lakes, so nice! Malchow is lovely: night at Rosendomizil.
MALCHOW/ROSTOCK: 53km, 250D+
Our last day in Germany! Stop at pretty Krakow am See and Güstrow for a swim. Rostock is a beautiful port city famous for having one of the oldest universities in the world. Dinner at Heumond Rostock night at nice Pentahotel Rostock.
ROSTOCK/PORT-GESDER/VORDINGBORG: 70km, 250D+
The Port of Rostock is 11km from the city center and can be reached via a good cycle path.
You cycle over the old and very long Storstrøm Bridge before arriving in Vordingbor. Vegan burger at The Burger Vordingborg and night at Hotel Kong Valdemar. Denmark is expensive, if you have mattress and sleeping bag you can take advantage of the many free shelters, which can be found via Shelter app.
VORDINGBORG/SORØ: 68km, 420D+
Lunch in Næstved with a lovely vegan panino at Go Appetit Naestved. Dinner and night at Thon Partner Hotel Sorø. In Søro there is also a campsite.
SORØ/ODDEN PORT/AARHUS: 100km, 550D+
Beaches on Baltic sea are lovely! From S.Odde you can reach Aahrus in 1,30h with Molslinjen ferry. Aarhus is a beautiful city, the cultural capital of Denmark, we took a day off to visit it. Don’t miss KØN Gender Museum and ARoS Art Museum with Olafur Elliasson installation “Your Rainbow Panorama”. Dinners: Plant food (vegan) and Pondus.
AARHUS/VISBORG: 86km, 660D+
Dinner and night at Hotel Møllehuset (depandance Vorvalterbolingen).
VISBORG/FREDERIKSHAVN: 101km, 240D+
Øster Hurup is a famous beach to take a break. You need to take a short ferry to reach Hals. Night ferries to Oslo depart from Frederikshavn (the crossing takes 10 hours with DFDS Seaways).
OSLO BY BIKE: 11km, 70D+
Oslo is perfect to be visited by bike: from the Cathedral to Vigeland Park, the Marina, Akershus Fortress and the Opera House. Don’t miss Munch Museum! If you have an extra day available you can also reach the Bygdøy peninsula, where there are some of Oslo’s most popular museums. We reached Kongsvinger by train to visit Kvinnemuseet-The Women’s Museum Norway located in a beautiful old woden house. Nights in Oslo at K7 Hotel (hostel and private rooms).
PARTNERS
We want to thank the partners who supported the project. For the technical materials: Specialized Italy e GIVI Bike, we rode with Specialized Diverge STR and Givi Experience bags. Tourism partners: l’Germany Travel, with its large network of sustainable infrastructures, Visit Bozen and Visit Meran, Tirol Werbung and Voralberg Tourismus. An of course all the IAWM Museums who welcomed us, and the Professional Women’s Network Norway we met in Oslo.
