Everything Old Is New Again: The 2027 Amber Route

Once upon a time in Europe, TDA Global Cycling offered only 1 tour, the Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul. Then in 2009, after completing the Silk Route Cycling Expedition, Founder Henry Gold was visiting a family friend in Slovakia who was a writer. While chatting with him, his wife mentioned the Amber Route, from Roman times. Henry had never heard of it so when he returned home, he looked it up and – Eureka! – a new European tour was born.

In 2010 we launched the original Amber Route, St Petersburg, Russia to Venice, Italy, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, a 6 week, 3100 km ride through Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia & Italy. 26 Full tour riders were joined by 12 sectional cyclists and were led by a team including our Founder, Henry Gold, our Marketing Manager, Shanny Hill and longtime European Tour Leader, Gergo Szanyi.

2010 Start in St Petersburg (top), Finish in Venice (bottom)

In Tallinn that first year, a staffer wrote, “At a small amber shop in Tallinn I stopped in to take a look. I’ve always loved amber jewelry but never known much about, except of course that you can extract dinosaur DNA from bugs trapped inside it and grow a Tyrannosaurus Rex in a jar. The jewelry in the shop was gorgeous and what surprised me the most was the variety of colours, over 250, according to the young clerk. Baltic Amber, which was what was sold here, is mined from all over the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Russia. Some of it also comes out of the Baltic Sea. Some of the many colours are natural, depending on what soil or water the tree sap was petrified in. White Amber has more than 1,000,000 tiny air bubbles per cubic millimeter to give it an ivory glow. Other colours are derived from the age of the Amber or sometimes from special treatments after it has been harvested. A traditional way to darken amber is to boil it in honey.”

>>Amber Route Cycling Tour Details

In 2012,  we extended the Amber Route all the way to Lisbon at first, and then to Gibraltar as part of the Trans-Europa project while keeping the start in St Petersburg. Unfortunately, Mr Putin made that increasingly difficult so in 2018 we moved the start line to Helsinki before finally settling on Tallinn in 2023.

The ‘Amber Route’ moniker remained throughout the years but only as a sectional name for the Vilnius – Budapest stages. In 2016 the route bypassed Krakow due to a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at a church dedicated to the late Pope John Paul II in the that beautiful Polish city (no hotel rooms!) and, subsequently, we never changed it back.

Krakow’s central square with Town Hall, Cloth Hall and St. Mary’s Basilica

In 2027, we celebrate the rebirth of the Amber Route Cycling Tour and the renewal of the route through Krakow. We invite you to join us on this fascinating ride retracing the ancient trading route which sent amber, known as the ‘gold of the north’, southwards to Venice where it continued on as far as Syria and Egypt. Along the way cyclists will encounter UNESCO World Heritage Sites, castles, museums, historic cities, spectacular scenery and a captivating mix of European cultures.

We are pleased to add this extraordinary route to our existing stable of 6 tours covering the European continent.

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