The most countries in one day?

[Slowroad]

A post about travelling from Trier (Germany) to Metz (France) via Luxembourg has reminded me of something I've wondered about - what is the most countries one could cycle in a day? That's three, can it be outdone?
Personally I'd be interested in European options, but it'd be fun (and educational!) to hear of world-wide multi-country day trips.

[irc]

Add Belgium to that trip and it's 4.

[ChrisF]

If you go up to Vaalserberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaalserberg you can cycle in three countries in ten seconds

[andymiller]

There are quite a few places where you can cycle three countries eg

Switzerland-Austria-Italy- via Nauders in Austria
Austria-Italy-Slovenija near Tarvisio in Italy
Slovenija-Italy-Croatia via Trieste

I'm guessing that Belgium-Luxembourg-France-Germany is the maximum in a day.

[Annoying Twit]

It starts getting more difficult above four.

In 300km, which people can do in a day, I've mapped out a route:

Macedonia -> Serbia -> Albania -> Montenegro -> Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There may be some 'crow flies' distances there, and actually getting Google Maps to give me a cycling route would help. But, that's somewhere in the ballpark of possibility.

It looks as if there are four countries joining at a point. Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia. However, the borders are defined by rivers, and I can't see any bridges over them in the specific area. Adding Angola to a route to get to five countries looks tempting, but it's too far away.

I can find a four country route in Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. No way I can add a fifth.

[Tigerbiten]

Going France -> Luxenbourg -> Germany -> Belgium -> Netherlands by the shortest route is just over 100 miles.
So that's 5 fairly easily.
Then fly a short hop from Maastricht for 6 and maybe 7

[iviehoff]

It is straightforward to do 4 countries in a day around Bregenz in Austria, where Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are all very close by. Depends if you want to count L as a real country though.

Another straightforward one without any mini-countries would be near Bratislava, where could do Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Rep in a day quite easily.

The legal land border crossing from Belize to Guatemala is a good 150km from the Honduras border - people typically use a sea-ferry to avoid that, which is not cycling. But it's still a long way from there to El Salvador.

[iviehoff]

Actually even shorter than the Bratislava one would be Croatia-Slovenia-Hungary-Austria.

Getting 4 in the vicinity of Luxembourg is even easier, though a bit of a way to get the 5th. The Namibia-Botswana-Zimbabwe-Zambia-Angola one is probably similar in proximity, but shortage of roads would be an issue in achieving it. A couple of other places where 5 countries are in pretty close proximity are Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and DRC, or else Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso. But the logistics of crossing those borders would be very time-consuming. Nigeria is also quite close to the second group of 5, which might make the shortest 6, but again logistics would be terrible.

There's quite a lot of places where 4 countries approach really close, though not necessarily feasible to achieve. Probably about as close as the Namibia-Botswana-Zimbabwe-Zambia one, is an area where Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey are all very close indeed to each other - there's just a tiny thin sliver of Turkey which prevents Iran and Armenia from having a border, and Turkey has a border with the detached part of Azerbaijan which is only a km or two long. But several of the borders are closed. Another very close one is Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Egypt, but again some borders are closed, and you can't even get a visa for independent cycling in Saudi. There's also a spot where China, Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan are pretty close together, but I don't think there are roads in this area in several of them. Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel are fairly close together, but again some of the borders aren't crossable.

[Vorpal]

Four can easily be done in the Baltics, cycling roughly along the Polish - Lithuanian border from Belarus to Kaliningrad Oblast. 5 is feasible for someone willing ride 400 km in one day.

[andymiller]

Going France -> Luxenbourg -> Germany -> Belgium -> Netherlands by the shortest route is just over 100 miles.
So that's 5 fairly easily.
Then fly a short hop from Maastricht for 6 and maybe 7

For the sake of everyone's sanity it might be better not to introduce flying into it.

[tatanab]

You can do 3 in a couple of miles, let alone a complete day. France/Germany/Switzerland where they come together at Basle. I've certainly ridden from France into Germany, into Switzerland and back into Germany all in the space of less than 10 miles when going out for the evening.

[Mick F]

Thinking a little closer to home, and considering counties, I found it rather amusing when I was cycling to Bedford.
Off the top of my head ............ Oxfordshire, Northants, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire ......... all come together quite closely. I rode through them in only an hour or two.

[iviehoff]

There's a point in the USA where four states meet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners
There's several other places where it nearly happens.

A similar point in Canada, though it is actually a bit uncertain where the legal borders run.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_corners_(Canada)

[iviehoff]

You can also do four English counties in a couple of miles around here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27 ... rwickshire

[Slowroad]

If you go up to Vaalserberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaalserberg you can cycle in three countries in ten seconds

Now this comment proves that it was worth me posting a rather flippant question! I'm planning to be cycling through Aachen this May so I can plan to visit Vaalserberg! If I do I'll try to get a selfies of me cycling round the Three-Country-Point on my Brommie.