ADFC Bicycle Travel Analysis 2025: cycling tourism is evolving in Germany

The ADFC Bicycle Travel Analysis (ADFC Radreiseanalyse) has offered numbers and insights on the behaviour of German cycling tourists since 1999. This year marked the first release since switching to a biannual rhythm, allowing comparison between the data recorded for 2023 and 2025. The data shows a slight decline in cycling tourists between these two years, with still 3.3 million trips of three or more nights in 2025, and a more pronounced decline compared to 2018 when these trips hit a record high of 5.5 million. The shorter trips of one to two nights decreased from 5 million in 2023 to 4.2 million in 2025, and day trips cycled also declined from 455 million in 2023 to 361 million.

At the same time, the number of tourists cycling during their holidays, without cycling being the primary motivation for the trip, has risen. 12.7 million tourists did so: on average, they cycled on 5.8 days, while the average trip was 9.7 days long, indicating that cycling tourism is becoming more and more diverse. Catering towards this diversifying target audience will be one of the key challenges of the coming years, while also offering the opportunity to reach a broader audience – the diversity of cycling tourism experiences across Europe means there is something for everyone!

Despite the overall decline, more than half of all Germans cycled on their holidays or in their free time in 2025, confirming cycling as one of Germany’s favourite pastimes – no surprise to anyone who has ever cycled there!

Fewer cycling tourists, but higher spending

No matter the direction cycling tourism is taking, it is clear that the economic impact remains massive: around €40 billion in 2025. Those whose trips lasted three or more nights spent €133/day on average, while those on one- or two-night trips averaged €144/day – increases of €16 and €14 respectively from the previous figures. This can partly be explained by a higher share of holidaymakers staying in hotels as opposed to camping. On the other hand, the rising cost of cycling holidays is one of the possible explanations for the drop in cycling tourists from previous years.

Cycling tourists’ spending is not limited to spending during the holiday itself: for more than a quarter of them, their trip was an occasion to invest in new equipment. The most popular purchases were panniers and clothing, while 16% even took the opportunity to buy a new bicycle. This question was posed for the first time in a Bicycle Travel Analysis, allowing deeper insights into the spending habits of cycling tourists.

Improving the quality of offers remains key

The findings clearly show the inherent potential of cycling tourism: even among those who did not go on a cycling holiday within the past three years, half could imagine doing so in the future. In order to activate this potential, concrete steps must be taken. One of the main reasons preventing people from going on cycling holidays is the difficulty in reaching the route, with more than a quarter of participants who did not go on a cycling holiday in the past three years listing this as a reason. This maps with the findings of 2024’s A2PT Danube Cycling Tourist Survey, conducted by ECF, which concluded that satisfaction with public transport offers was significantly lower than satisfaction with cycling holidays overall, which was generally very high.

Improving the quality of public transport offers for cyclists, particularly on trains, must therefore be a priority, including expanding the available number of bicycle spaces per service, allowing non-dismantled bicycles on all services, and improving the accessibility of trains and stations. More recommendations can be found in ECF’s Cyclists Love Trains 2025 report.

Furthermore, route quality remains at the forefront of cyclists’ minds. This includes not just infrastructure, but also services, signage, and communications. For example, only around two-thirds of cycling tourists were satisfied with the quality and availability of accommodation and food options on the route. The importance of quality, especially when it is communicated well, is also evident in the list of most cycled routes: Three of the top ten were certified as ADFC Quality Cycle Routes, while another was EuroVelo Certified. Improving the quality of the offer is therefore not only the most obvious, but also the most important step.

E-Bike usage surges above 50%

A clear upwards trend remains noticeable regarding the usage of e-bikes: for the first time, more than half of all cycling tourists opt for electrical assistance. Most commonly, they do this to cycle further, on more demanding routes, or to cycle with more ease. The numbers also show that e-bike users tend to ride shorter distances than those depending on muscle power – 60.3 km/day compared to 66.9 km/day. Cycling “further” is relative – e-bike users can more confidently cover longer distances than they might on a standard bicycle, while still remaining below the average distance covered by those on standard bicycles.

The report also highlighted the need for climate adaptation, as an increase in extreme weather events begins to impact cycling tourism. Only around one-third of respondents believed there were enough facilities to take shelter from heat or storms, while even fewer found there was adequate information about these. Besides creating these facilities, adding drinking water points, ensuring there is shade along the route and clearly signposting alternative routes in case of extreme weather events are among the main policy recommendations for authorities and route managers to deal with climate change. All of these must be communicated clearly to cyclists in order to maximise their impact.

EuroVelo routes once more the most popular

As a hotbed of EuroVelo, with no fewer than ten routes crossing the country, it is no surprise to see (sections of) EuroVelo routes dominate the list of the most popular cycle routes in Germany.

• The top ranked Elberadweg shares part of its itinerary with both EuroVelo 7 – Sun Route and EuroVelo 13 – Iron Curtain Trail.
• Third placed Ostseeküstenradweg is the German stretch of EuroVelo 10 – Baltic Sea Cycle Route and also shares much of its itinerary with EuroVelo 13 – Iron Curtain Trail.
• In fourth we find the Rheinradweg, the German stretch of EuroVelo 15 – Rhine Cycle Route. This route is the only one in Germany that is currently EuroVelo Certified!
• Sixth place MainRadweg overlaps with EuroVelo 4 – Central Europe Route, tracing the picturesque Main river through the hills of Franconia.
• Seventh place Donauradweg shares a route with EuroVelo 6 – Atlantic-Black Sea, following the Danube until the Austrian border.
• Among the hidden champions, further sections of EuroVelo 12 – North Sea Cycle Route and EuroVelo 15 can be found.

The study furthermore analyses the top international destinations for cycling holidays of three or more days from Germans. The top four destinations remained identical, with Austria and Italy beating France and the Netherlands to the top spots, in that order. Rounding out the top 5 is Switzerland, replacing Denmark.

More information on all kinds of useful data related to cycling tourists and their behaviour – be it their usage of EuroVelo Routes, their landscape of the tour operator industry, or how they interact with the digital EuroVelo platforms – can be found in the EuroVelo Data Hub.

Article by Mark Sheridan