Long-distance traveling is a dream for every traveler. Everybody who loves traveling would like to be on a trip for as long as possible, and often—as long as possible. There are many options for various routes, each with its challenges, but here we will propose a certain part of the Earth—travel in Eurasia by crossing it from end to end.
Table of Contents
What is Eurasia
First, let’s define Eurasia. Everybody knows about the two continents of Europe and Asia. Asia is known as the largest continent on Earth, and Europe is the most popular continent that is visited. But do you know that physically, both Europe and Asia are not continents? They are only two parts of one single landmass, called Eurasia.
Europe and Asia?
Then, what are Europe and Asia? They are culturally defined parts of Eurasia. There is even no clear boundary between them- the human-defined “boundary” just follows random geographical features like the summit of the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caucasus Mountains, or the plain north of the Caucasus.
But these features themselves don’t distinct clearly the two parts of Eurasia. That’s why, during the history, the exact boundary between Europe and Asia has been often changed.
So, if we want to cross Europe from north to south (or vice versa)- that’s ok. But if we want to cross it from west to east, we will end… “in the middle of nowhere” (unless our endpoint is the European part of Istanbul). It is the same with Asia crossing.
That’s why, a full and complete crossing-continent trip would be to cross the full physical landmass of Eurasia.
About Eurasia
Eurasia is a part of the largest physical landmass on the Earth. The whole landmass is actually Afro-Eurasia. But since Africa is almost separated from Eurasia, and its connection is only the tiny Isthmus of Suez, it can be considered as another physical continent. So, we focus only on Eurasia.
The mainland of Eurasia has its extreme points: Cabo da Roca in Portugal (the westernmost point), Cape Dezhnev in Russia (the easternmost point), Tanjung Piai in Malaysia (the southernmost point), and Cape Chelyuskin in Russia (the northernmost point). But if we add the adjacent islands that belong to the same continental shelf, the extreme points go even further (except for the easternmost point).
Eurasia is a “continent No. 1” in almost everything. It is the largest continent. Here are the highest and the lowest land points on the Earth. It has every type of nature- from freezing cold polar environment to hot and wet equatorial rainforests. And culturally, it has the longest history, with the most diverse cultures and civilizations. This makes a crossing-Eurasia trip a rich and challenging experience.
Proposed routes for crossing Eurasia
The obvious geographic (and geometrical) options are crossing Eurasia from the northernmost to the southernmost point, or from the westernmost to the easternmost point (only on the mainland or including the adjacent continental islands). It can be done on almost straight lines connecting the extreme points.
But of course, there is an endless number of other options. You can start from an extreme point but don’t follow a straight line to the other extreme point. Or you can just start from another random point, at the ocean coast, or even from a favorite point in the continent’s interior (partial crossing).
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A proposed route with branches: from Cabo da Roca to the east
Here we propose a route from west to east, starting from the westernmost point of Eurasia. Currently, I already started to do it in segments, and here is my experience.
I started the route from Cabo da Roca in Portugal. From there, I crossed through Portugal and Spain, then reached the northern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. Following the coastline, I proceeded to the French Riviera and reached the final goal of my first part (or segment) of the trip- the city of Nice.
From Nice, I plan to proceed further through Northern Italy, then cross the Balkans to Istanbul, Turkey. After crossing the whole of Turkey from west to east, I am going to enter Iran and reach Tehran.
Tehran has a good strategic location, proper for branching. From here, I plan three branches.
The northeastern will cross Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Xinjiang in China), then will enter Mongolia, and finally- the whole of Eastern Siberia to Cape Dezhnev.
The middle branch will focus on the highest mountains on the Earth- Hindukush, Karakoram, the Himalayas, and Tibet (through Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tibet in China)- to the lowlands of eastern China, then to Japan and the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
Finally, the southeastern branch will proceed through southern Pakistan, then will cross India from west to east, as well as the area of Bangladesh and Northeastern India. From there, it will proceed through Southeast Asia- Myanmar, Thailand, and Peninsular Malaysia to Singapore. From Singapore, it will leave the mainland of Eurasia and will cross the whole of Indonesia, from west to east, to Papua and the islands of Melanesia. Then, another route can cross the whole of Oceania…
This is my plan and I am going to share every possible information, from my personal experience.
Why not other routes?
Obviously, my proposed route with its branches can’t cover the whole of Eurasia. As you can see on the map, it essentially skips Britain, Central and Northern Europe, the East European Plain, the Ural Mountains, and Western and Central Siberia. It also skips the Middle East, particularly the Arab Peninsula. And even Tehran, the point of branching described above, is not in the middle of Eurasia but in the south.
I chose my route mostly because it covers as much as possible from the geography and history of Eurasia. A direct route through Central Europe and Russia from west to east would be an obvious geometrical solution but it skips too much of the continent’s image. That’s why, the areas where my route doesn’t visit, would be subjects of other routes.
Useful information about the Eurasia travel proposed route
I defined the “density” of my route. You can cross the whole of Eurasia for only 2 weeks (by train from Western Europe to Moscow, then by another train on the Trans-Siberian railway to Vladivostok). For some people that would be an epic adventure, but for me, such a trip’s density would be too low.
First, I would miss the half of the route because it would be at night when I can’t see anything outside from the window. And second, I would have too little time to see any points of interest on the way.
Higher “density” means visiting more points of interest on the route, getting the best of them, and in this way- the best of the land you cross, and connect the points with the best lines. Of course, it needs much more time- probably between 6 months and one year. But if you can’t do it (as many people can’t do it at once for various reasons, including me), you can segment your route as I did.
Yes, probably “segmenting” doesn’t sound too epic and adventurous but it has its good points. First- after visiting too many points of interest, you can’t burn out but when you back home between the segments, you would have enough time to digest the adventures from your last segment and prepare for the next. And second, this allows you to branch your route.
Transportation and logistics
In my proposed route, I focus exclusively on the geography, not on the type of transportation. Vehicles are only tools for moving from point to point. But of course, what type of vehicle you will use matters.
Public transport in Europe, Western and Southern Asia, as well as Eastern China and Southeast Asia, is well-developed. However, buses and trains go from station to station and usually don’t go to many of the interesting places to visit. Besides, you are dependent on their schedules.
In some places in Central Asia, Mongolia, and Siberia, as well as northern Myanmar, public transport is rare or completely absent. So, in these regions, if you don’t have your own vehicle, you can only rely on shared taxis or hitchhiking. And there are places roads (dirty roads or roads in bad conditions) where you can wait for days until a single car (usually an SUV vehicle) passes. Finally, there are places in Siberia without roads at all.
A much more convenient way of transportation is to travel with your own vehicle. Cars (especially SUVs) are great for Europe, as well as in South and Central Asia. The problem is that traveling by car is a “from A to A circle” type of trip (unless you have a lot of money to arrange different pick up and drop off locations for a rental car, or a cargo for your own car).
I made my first segment (from Cabo da Roca to Nice) by car, but I had to get the car from Madrid, and quickly move to Cabo da Roca for about 8 hours, to start my real trip from there. And when I reached Nice (after 18 days), I had to move quickly back to Madrid to drop the car before I back home.
Crossing into China
China is a huge country, covering a large portion of the Eurasia route. The problem is that you can’t just enter China and proceed further- you need special permits for your vehicle (difficult to obtain) and a Chinese driving license or Temporary Driving Permit (along with other documents like insurance, a permit for your car, and more).
You can’t get these documents independently but only from a Chinese travel company. It is an expensive and complex procedure. At least, once you cross into China, you can drive independently wherever you want (except for the Tibetan Autonomous Region and some other restricted areas within China- sometimes possible only with local travel agencies or completely forbidden).
But if you travel without your own transport, it is easy. You can enter China from the west (with shared taxis and local travel companies), and reach Kashgar or Yining (from Kazakhstan). Once you reach a Chinese city, you can obtain a Temporary Driving Permit and rent a car (however, in Xinjiang it is difficult, better cross Xinjiang by public transport and try to rent a car further east).
Crossing into Myanmar
Currently, it is extremely challenging due to the ongoing instability in the country. Again, you need a lot of permits that can be obtained only by a local travel company. But now even travel companies often can’t obtain these documents. And even if they can do it, there are a lot of restricted areas within Myanmar, and you should be accompanied by a travel guide. Hope this situation will change one day.
Even without own vehicle, crossing Myanmar is difficult and dangerous. There isn’t any public transport in some areas, hitchhiking is highly insecure, and most importantly, you will most likely cross a war zone.
Traveling in Siberia and the Far East
This is the most challenging part. While there is a road to Yakutsk and further to Magadan, it is in very unreliable conditions during various seasons. This road is only partially paved and during spring and autumn, it turns into a muddy nightmare.
Then, before Magadan, a traveler should leave this road and proceed eastward to Cape Dezhnev without any roads! There is only a vast wilderness of hilly tundra, rivers, lakes, and swamps.
There are only a few extreme explorers (like Mike Horn) who have traveled alone in this area. Otherwise, probably the only possible way is to arrange or join an expedition with more people, for a longer time (forget about a week or two- think about at least a few months!).
This is what a crossing Eurasia travel would look like. As you can see, most sections of such a route as the proposed one are easy to travel. But there are some challenging, nearly impossible sections to travel, although there is nothing impossible as some extreme explorers have proven. Anyway, you still can reach the other side of Eurasia, skipping the most difficult areas, and enjoying the rich diversity that this supercontinent reveals.
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Hi, we are Krasen and Ying Ying. Krasen is from Bulgaria, and Ying Ying is from China. We are passionate about geography and history, and we believe that the best way to experience it is by exploring the Earth in reality, not in a school, and not virtually.
So, we created this blog Journey Beyond the Horizon, where we share geographical knowledge, travel guides and tips how to experience it when you explore our planet, and a lot of inspiration.
And we wish you a happy journey, not just virtually, but most of all- in reality.
Enjoy!
