I first published this article three years ago with an extract from my book How To Cycle Around The World. I asked nine cyclists who had done big cycling trips how much it cost them. Today I am updating the article with data from one hundred and thirty one long distance cycle journeys. A vast improvement.
The data comes from the Database of Long Distance Cycle Journeys: a free online resource with detailed quantitative data from over 200 different cyclists who have completed bike trips of 6,000 miles (10,000km) or more.
Average Monthly Cost of Cycling Around the World
The average monthly cost of a cycling trip over 6,000 miles (10,000km) is £546 (mean) and £385 (median.) The costs range from a low of £56 per month to a high of £4,167.
This is based on a sample of 114 cyclists who have completed journeys of 6,000 miles or more. It is calculated simply by dividing total trip cost by the number of months. It includes all expenses whilst away but not pre-trip costs.
(N.B. Those spending over £1,000/month are almost exclusively Round-the-World record attempts.)
Total Cost of Cycling Around the World
The average total cost for a cycling trip over 6,000 miles (10,000km) is £7,610 (mean) and £6,000 (median). The range is from a low of £773 to a high of £30,430. It includes all expenses whilst away but not pre-trip costs.
The trips range from 5 months and 10,000km to 10 years and 150,000km+ so, of course, there will be a wide range of total costs regardless of each cyclists’ approach to budgeting. But even still, £3k-£10k covers the vast majority of all long distance trips.
This is based on a sample of 131 cyclists who have completed journeys of 6,000 miles (10,000km) or more.
Finally, I’ve entitled this piece ‘Cycling Around the World’ because it’s catchy but the actual journeys may just be long trips on a one continent or two rather than actually across the globe.
Cheapest Trips
Here’s a small selection of some of the cheapest trips registered at LDCJ.
| Cyclists | Trip | Distance (km) | Duration | Total Cost | Monthly Cost | Cost per km |
| Lehel Benedek & Előd Keresszegi | 15 months around Europe | 33,580km | 1 yr, 3 m | £840 | £56 | £0.03 |
| Pablo Mandado & Ilze Zebolde | On-going round the world | 10,350km | 10 m | £773 | £70 | £0.07 |
| Moritz Koch | Never ending world trip? | 19,090km | 10 m | £840 | £84 | £0.04 |
| Martin Moschek & Stefan Löw | From Germany to India | 13,500km | 5 m | £924 | £185 | £0.07 |
| Alastair Humphreys | Round the world | 73,000km | 4 yrs, 3 m | £7,000 | £135 | £0.10 |
Expensive Trips
And here are some of the more costly cycling journeys:
| Mark Beaumont | Around the world record attempt | 29,446km | 6 m | £25,000 | £4,167 | £0.85 |
| Amaya Williams & Eric Schambion | Quest to cycle every country | 147,210km | 7yrs, 6m | £24,344 | £270 | £0.17 |
| Rick Gunn | A journey around the globe | 40,233km | 2 yrs, 8 m | £30,430 | £951 | £0.76 |
| Sean Conway | Competed in Global Bicycle Race | 26,000km | 5 m | £16,156 | £3,000 | £0.58 |
Individual Examples
Below is the content of my original article from 2012…
Asking how much it costs to cycle around the world is a bit like trying to work out how long a piece of string is. However, I thought a good place to start would be to ask a handful of people who had done it.
Their answers are below.
Mark Beaumont
- Duration: 6 months
- Route: Across Europe, India, Australasia and North America in pursuit of the world record.
- Cost: £25,000
I don’t think that is a good guide as I had a lot of costs that most wouldn’t as I went for the record and filmed a doc for the BBC”
Julian Sayarer
- Duration: 6 months
- Route: From Europe to Shanghai, up New Zealand and across North America in an attempt to break the world record.
- Cost: £3000 on the road plus £2000 on flights
This was more than necessary because time constraints meant I was paying other people to cook for me but it could definitely be done for comfortably less”
Peter Gostelow
- Duration: 3 years
- Route: From Japan, through South East Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
- Cost: £6,000 – £6,500
Don’t use this figure or anyone else’s as a benchmark. The beauty of cycle touring is that it offers you flexibility. Once you’re set up it’s you who makes the decisions according to your budget.”
Friedel and Andrew Grant
- Duration: 3 years
- Route: From Canada, through Europe, Middle East, South East Asia, Australasia and back to North America.
- Cost: $25,216 (USD) each for everything including transport, gear, insurance, medical and visas.
Complete and detailed breakdown of all their costs available on their website.
Matt Bridgestock
- Duration: 1 year
- Route: Across Eurasia, up half of South America and across the USA.
- Cost: £12,000 including new bike, kit, flights, visas.
The usual answer I give is: everything, you will cash in all your favours, sell all your old stuff and eek out all your savings! I still think it was cheaper than staying in the UK!“
Alastair Humphreys
- Duration: 4 years
- Route: Length of Africa, Americas and Eurasia working on the premise that less money spent meant more time on the road.
- Cost: £7,000
I saved my loans through University and left home with about £7000. This easily lasted more than 4 years. A diet of bread and bananas, sleeping rough, and focused, disciplined ascetism mean you can travel most of the world very cheaply.”
Fearghal O’Nuallain
- Duration: 1.5 years
- Route: Across Eurasia and South America.
- Cost: €7,000 each including flights. €5,000’s worth of high-end kit donated by sponsors.
I could have comfortably done the whole thing – kit, camping, bike, flights – for 7k. Having sponsors gave us more cash but imposed constraints and tied us into certain itineraries”
Rob Thomson
- Duration: 2.5 years
- Route: From Japan through China, Central Asia and Europe to the UK. Return journey by skateboard.
- Cost: £11,000 on the road. £3,000 on kit.
If we’re just talking monetary costs, it is extremely expensive if we add in lost income. Something not insignificant. Of course, I consider it worth the sacrifice.”
Dorothee Fleck
- Duration: 2.5 years
- Route: Across Eurasia, Australia and South America
- Cost: €15,000
What do you need money for, if you travel on a bike with a tent? ”
If you liked this then you’ll probably like the Database of Long Distance Cycle Journeys (LDCJ). It has detailed data from over 200 long-distance cyclists including their daily costs and cost per mile.
How To Cycle Around The World
20 Comments
Rob Lutter
Some of these budget are incredible! Mark Beaumont £25,000! I am not sure if my own £3000 in the last year is a good or bad thing, but it certainly happened and is possible, riding from London to China so far…
Tim Moss
Thanks Rob. It is really useful to hear about the lower budgets as well as the bigger ones. Of course, Mark does acknowledge that his was much higher than most people would need. He was obviously sponsored and aiming for a very different result from most: a world record and a prime time documentary on national TV.
orenthung
When will be your nexrt tour
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orenthung
Wanted to go with you on your next cycle tour…but got no sponsorship
Tim Moss
Thanks. No tours planned yet but I’m sure we’ll do something smaller before too long.
As for sponsorship, I’d only recommend trying to get sponsorship for free/discounted equipment, never for money. Almost no one gets financial sponsorship for a cycle tour. Trips can be very cheap though. Check out the Database of Long Distance Cycle Journeys.
Steven Primrose-Smith
Looks like we’ll beat the cheapest ride ever undertaken if we manage it – £1 a day for 100 days – starting in a month. If nothing else I’ll lose this belly.
Steven Primrose-Smith
Sorry, I thought our website would appear. It’s RideAndSeek2015.com – fishing and foraging our way along the west coast of Europe for £1 a day.
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Stephen Peel
Hi Tim, I set up a little website myself with a similar comparison idea last year, and I still find Dorothee’s comment funny now “What do you need money for, if you travel on a bike with a tent? “, after spending 15000 euro’s.
I have been waiting for my house to sell for over a year now, so I can down size and afford my cycle around the world. Been in the building industry all my life and every penny is hard earned and I have no family financial support to fall back on or that can get me out of a scrape if I am in one, so I don’t want to squander a penny.
After doing my own research for some time, on what a round the world trip might cost, I have calculated a realistic figure including absolutely everything (equipment, visas, food, insurance, jabs, plasters, and well, everything), that a person on solo travel should expect the costs to be, and that figure is up to £1000 per month.
Of course, the slower you go, the more it might cost, and this sort of vague calculation is based on being totally self-supporting. I know it sounds like a lot of money, and it is, and I have had some pretty great adventures in my life myself and know how things add up and what it’s like to run out of money. In my youth I spent my younger teenage years mostly in the bush in Australia, I have trekked in the Amazon, travelled all over the world, and experience things most people would find hard to believe.
I have been fortunate, but it has cost me relationships, foundation, and what most people would call a normal life. But some of us can never settle and will always be on the move. It is in all of us, but some of us just can’t contain it, and that’s OK.
If a person can expect the trip to cost that much and allow for that, and expect the cycle to take 2 years at a nice steady enjoyable pace where you can enjoy the places you pass through and even visit local attractions and sites, then I feel that is the best place to be.
Remember that is a figure I have calculated to be the highest a person should really be expecting. I do feel the average person can do it for much less of course, but it is better to make some allowances so the the trip is not cut short due to empty pockets. I also feel it would be cheaper if their was a cycle partner or two, as this would create a safety in numbers feel and allow for more wild camping and the push and support from each other.
So, around the world in 2 enjoyable years, at a maximum cost of £24k, forget about loss of earnings while your gone, your not working! your living life!
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Steven Primrose-Smith
Further to my earlier comment about our ride across Europe for £1 a day, we completed it this summer (2015) but not all of us and not without some issues. I’ve written a book about the experience, Hungry for Miles, available at Amazon.
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Amaya Williams
Shocked to see our tour (www.worldbiking.info) listed as one of the COSTLIEST bicycle tours ever.
We’re pretty bare-bones (self-catering most of the time, hardly ever going to hotels or guesthouses, doing all bike repairs ourselves). In our decade on the road we’ve met only a handful of cyclists with more frugal lifestyles.
Tim Moss
Hey Amaya,
Nice to hear from you (and be reminded that you are still pedalling after all this time!)
You’re only one of the most expensive on the measure of total trip cost which, of course, is largely because you’ve been away for so long (15 times longer than, say, Mark Beaumont above you on the chart who spent a similar amount in 6 months). On monthly and per kilometre cost, you’re much cheaper. Your monthly cost is only half the average.
All the best,
Tim.
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Elisabeth
I got excited about the statistics as this gives some benchmarks while planning a trip. What for me devalued it is knowing that at least one adventurer in this list has good sponsorship agreements behind him. 6 k median might be an benchmark but is does not take into account circumstances where you don’t have sponsors nor international network of friends who support with couch surfing if needed as well regular passive income. Especially the latter is the key moment… I feel this overview needs a disclaimer for all the young adventurers to develop an understanding that there more behind the curtain than trip budget numbers that help you excel in dreams. Still great overview!
Tim Moss
Hi Elisabeth,
Thanks for the comment. I’m not quite sure I follow your point but I will try to respond…
Do you mean that the average cost is skewed because it includes people with sponsors who went on very expensive trips?
That is only the case for the mean. The median will not be effected by extreme values. If I added a £1m trip to the database, the mean would increase significantly but the median would not.
Or did you mean that it is misleading because it does not disclose that some of these people paid for their trips with sponsorship deals rather than their own savings?
If so, I would make the following points:
I hope that helps, Elisabeth, but please do let me know if I’ve misunderstood your point.
All the best,
Tim.
P.S. You can see how I fund all of my own expeditions, including cycling around the world, in this article: How I Fund My Expeditions.
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