China to Europe on two Wheels
 

Hi Guys

I am Luca from Western Europe and am going to China for a year to study.
Currently I am compiling information to evaluate the possibility of a trip from Guangzhou, China to Berlin, Germany.

Does anyone here have experience or any other recommendations to be taken into consideration? I will start most likely around June 2020.

I am thankful for any useful comments and wish you a good trip as well, wherever you might be ;)

best
Luca

Assuming you have some kind of permanent status in China that would allow you to get a local license, register a vehicle, and travel independently... the rest is easy.

Option 1: Head north to the Russian border, cross over, ride across Russia, cross into the Baltics/Finland/Norway.

Option 2: head west, cross into Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, . Slightly more visas to take care of. Then either Russia again, or the ferry from Aktau to Baku, ride across Azerbaijan into Georgia, along the northern coast of Turkey, into Greece or Bulgaria.

Option 3: Head southwest, cross into Nepal, then India, Pakistan, Iran, then either Azerbaijan/Georgia again or straight into Turkey. Depends on what passport you have, I'm assuming Italian, should be able to get an Iran visa with that.

It's traveling across China itself that trips up a lot of people.

Not true. Riding in China is easy if you have residence, a local licence and local registered bike. Beautiful country to ride, with amazing scenery and friendly, curious people in the countryside. The cities are not nice to ride and many cities have bike bans. Also, some people seem to have a death wish and will disregard road rules.

As for leaving China, this is not easy at all and will be your biggest stumbling block, as you need to put down a deposit and get an ATA. However, this is under discussion in another thread and I am anxiously following it, as I have had similar plans for this year, but abandoned it because of the amount of red tape and cost to exit China. If this can be solved, I will consider a trip to Europe again mid 2020.

As for your options, only option 2 is viable. If you want to enter straight into Russia, you will have to head very, very far northeast. As for option 2, you cannot enter Nepal from China, as you will need to cross Tibet, which comes with its own challenges and cost. AFAIK the road between Nepal and Tibet has also been closed.