Iron Curtain Trail

Experiencing the history of Europe's division

The project

For almost half a century, Europe was divided into East and West by the "Iron Curtain", a border stretching from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea. The Iron Curtain Trail invites people to retrace and experience the former division of the continent on a 6,800 km cycle track along the length of the former border, combining European culture, history and sustainable tourism.

The Iron Curtain Trail thereby contributes in a lively and very practical way to the creation of a genuine European identity. In 2005, following the initiative of Green member Michael Cramer, the European Parliament recognised the "Iron Curtain Trail" as a model project for sustainable tourism and called upon the Member States for support.

Transnational Workshops 

Since then, several conferences and transnational workshops on EU memberstates level - co-financed by the EU - were held, which contributed to better cooperation and developmemt of the cycling and hiking trail. 

You will find more Information about funding possibilities and the current situation of the development of the ICT on our Iron Curtain Trail webpage.

Here you will get to the European Commission's webpage for sustainable tourism.