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Baltic Biking UPGRADE

Baltic Biking UPGRADE (BBU) is an Interreg South Baltic project aiming at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) along the southern part of EuroVelo 10 – Baltic Sea Cycle Route. The nine partners, covering six countries and more than half of the route, will assist SMEs in developing cycling-friendly services and new cycling tourism offers.

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History ✍

Following the Biking South Baltic project, and based on discussion with regions’ authorities and ECF expertise, an application was submitted to the Interreg South Baltic programme with success. This project was born out of the assessment that SMEs are aware of the near location of EuroVelo 10 – Baltic Sea Cycle Route but do not know how to take advantage of this potential and to connect their offer with the route and market it to future customers.

Summary 💡

Baltic Biking UPGRADE (BBU) officially started on 1 September 2023 and runs over a three-year period (2023-2026). Led by Pomorskie Tourist Board, the project focuses on the South Baltic Region and involves 6 countries – Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Belgium as ECF is based in Brussels. The five countries crossed by EuroVelo 10 cover more than 4,900 km of the route’s total lenght (9,100 km), representing over half of its entire length.

Curonian Spit in Lithuania (UNESCO World Heritage site), EuroVelo 10/EV13 sign, picture Alexandra Fournier

✅ The BBU project addresses some significant challenges of SMEs located nearby EuroVelo 10: lack of knowledge, underdeveloped cycling-friendly standards, services and offers ⛺🧳🛏️, as well as a lack of a solid business network and partnerships with relevant peers, including international stakeholders.

🗺️ The main goal of the project is to assist SMEs in creating attractive cycling-friendly offers 🏘️🚲 and successfully reaching out to foreign markets. For this purpose, several actions are being set up: dedicated training for SMEs, marketing support for the development of new offers, promotion of the new cycling-friendly offers on the EuroVelo website and on social media, and an invitation to join the EuroVelo 10 network in the South Baltic Area.

⛱️ BBU will allow for the roll-out of more and better cycling-friendly services along EuroVelo 10, with new products and offers for cycling visitors. The ultimate aim is to make the area more visible in the international cycling tourism market and to strengthen the development and management of the route 🏆 thanks to closer transnational cooperation and long-term planning. ✒️📅

Project partners 🤝

BBU 3rd partner project meeting in Lolland Falster, Denmark, October 2024

Pomorskie Tourist Board, Poland (Lead Partners)
Westpomerania Regional Tourism Organisation, Poland
Visit Lolland-Falster, Denmark
Danish Cycling Tourism, Dansk Cykelturisme, Denmark
Klaipeda Region Association, Lithuania
Region Blekinge, Sweden
Swedish Cycling Advocacy Organisation, Cykelfrämjandet, Sweden
City of Barth, Germany
European Cyclists' Federation, Belgium

Associated partners 🤸

Pomorskie Voivodeship, Poland
Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship, Poland
Polish Tourism Organisation, Poland
Warmia and Masuria Tourist Board, Poland
Visit Denmark, Denmark
Finnish Cyclists’ Federation / The Finnish Center for Cycling Tourism, Finland
Citybike Ltd., Estonia
Vidzeme Tourism Organisation, Latvia
Larsson Bike, Denmark
Jan-Pol, Poland
JSC Baltic Bike Travel, Lithuania

Deliverables 👏

marketing guidelines eurovelo 10 cover — Marketing guidelines eurovelo 10 cover

The BBU partners are glad to introduce the first deliverables of the project:

A comparative analysis of cycling-friendly schemes in Europe and a summary of local workshops conducted to discuss the topic of cycling-friendly labels, prepared by the project partner City of Barth in collaboration with Capufaktur e.V. Greifswald (December 2024)

Overview of small and medium-sized enterprises’ bicycle-friendly offers and services along EuroVelo 10 in the South Baltic Area, prepared by the project partner Visit Lolland-Falster, Denmark (December 2024)

Marketing guidelines for EuroVelo 10 in the South Baltic area – tailored for SMEs offering cyclist-friendly services and local tourism organisations, prepared by the project partner Pomorskie Tourist Board (November 2024)

Cover of EuroVelo 10 Partnership - A proposal for a Multiannual Action Plan

Marketing strategy for the development of cycling-friendly services and offers along EuroVelo 10 in the South Baltic area, prepared by the project partner Pomorskie Tourist Board (November 2024)

EuroVelo 10 Partnership - A proposal for a Multiannual Action Plan, prepared by ECF (June 2025)

You represent a national or regional institutional organisation involved in cycling tourism and crossed by EuroVelo 10? Read our suggestion for a future EuroVelo 10 Partnership ⬆️, focusing on common marketing activities. Reach out to Alexandra Fournier, EuroVelo and Projects Coordinator: [email protected], to further discuss the proposal.

More activities 🎉

🚲 A one-way crossborder bike rental between Germany and Denmark along EuroVelo 10 – Baltic Sea Cycle Route was tested as a first pilot during summer 2025. Cyclists using the bike rental service benefitted from a discount using a bike with GPS tracking and filling in a short survey.

⭐ During the Velo-city 2025 conference in Gdańsk, partners of the Baltic Biking UPGRADE project gathered to discuss the progress and future of cycling tourism around the Baltic Sea. We took the opportunity to record short interviews with project partners and associated experts, highlighting their involvement in BBU and their thoughts on the conference. ➡️🎥 Watch the clips at the bottom of the page to learn more about our shared vision for a stronger, better connected EuroVelo network in the region.

Coming next 🔜

🧭 As the project is entering its final year, there are more deliverables to be expected within the upcoming year, including a report presenting cycling-friendly scheme standards in each country, a manual on EuroVelo 10 cycling-friendly services development and transport providers engagement based on roundtables, a EuroVelo 10 Handbook for users 📖, and a dedicated training for SMEs to strenghthen their cycling-friendly capacities to be held in February 2026 in Barth, Germany.

💫 A EuroVelo 10 multistakeholder platform will also be created to support and sustain cooperation between stakeholders after the project end. It will be a platform for promotion, networking, business opportunities and knowledge exchange. More information will be available on this page towards the end of the project.

💰The Baltic Biking UPGRADE project budget is €1,936,077.90, of which €1,548,862.32 is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

BBU 2nd partner project meeting in Barth, Germany, February 2024

BBU 4th partner project meeting in Swinoujscie, Poland, April 2025

BBU 5th project meeting in Klaipeda, Lithuania: partner representatives and roundtable participants

More information 🧳💬

BBU partners represented at Velo-city Gdansk 2025 - From left to right: Łukasz Magrian (PROT), Jesper Porksen (Dansk Cykelturime), Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło (PROT and EUSBSR), Goran Lepen (ECF), and Alexandra Fournier (ECF)

Kick-off meeting in Gdansk, Poland - October 2023
Second project meeting in Barth, Germany - March 2024
First study visit in Mielno, Zachodniopomorskie region, Poland - May 2024
Velo-city in Ghent, Belgium - June 2024
Cross-border project workshop in Gdansk, Poland, September 2024
Third project meeting and second study visit in Lolland-Falster, Denmark - October 2024
Fourth project meeting in Świnoujście, Poland - April 2025
Velo-city Gdansk - 10-13 June 2025
Fifth project meeting and stakeholder roundtable in Klaipeda, Lithuania - September 2025
ECF represented the project at the EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference 2025 in Balatonfüred, Hungary, on 23-25 September