The European Cyclists’ Federation accepted Izmir’s application and added Izmir to the European Cycling Route Network. Thus İzmir became the first city added to this route from Turkey.

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality applied to the European Cyclists’ Federation at the end of 2016 and it has recently received the expected good news. EuroVelo officials announced that 500-kilometer cycling route in Izmir has been added to the network as extension of EuroVelo 8-Mediterranean Route.

Izmir Metropolitan Mayor Tunç Soyer noted that EuroVelo is a key project that combines sustainable tourism and transportation policies and added: “EuroVelo membership is a great win for Izmir, a city that has been working hard to improve cycling infrastructure as a form of transportation and cycling culture. As of today, we will start improvement and development works for 500-km long Izmir extension along north-south direction”.

“We are very pleased to add this outstanding section of Turkish coast to EuroVelo 8-Mediterranean Route. It is amazing that Ephesus and Pergamon ancient cities are added to the EuroVelo network. We worked very closely with Izmir Metropolitan Municipality throughout this application process and we were very impressed with the city’s cycling projects” said Adam Bodor, the Director of EuroVelo.

EuroVelo 8-Mediterranean Route is a long cycling route that travels from Kadiz, Spain to South Cyprus and connects Athens and South Cyprus with a ferry ride and it will be 8 thousand 60-km long with addition of 500-km Izmir route.

With this new route created with the ongoing “ MEDCYCLETOUR” project in Turkey, Izmir will be connected to the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea with ferry rides. The Izmir route starts from Dikili and reaches to Ephesus ancient city and the cyclist tourists will travel to Ephesus ancient in Seljuk after visiting Pergamon, Aliağa, Foça, İzmir City Center, Balıklıova, Alaçatı and Sığacık.
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality plans to complete the EuroVelo related works on this route by the end of 2021. Then, bicycle maintenance units and repair center spots as well as bicycle friendly businesses, diners and stopovers will be determined. The website (veloizmir.org) created for promoting EuroVelo activities is online.