Hippie trail

Hippie trail (also the overland^[1]) is the name given to an overland journey taken by members of the hippie subculture and others from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s^[2] travelling from Europe and West Asia through South Asia via countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan,^[3] India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh to Thailand. The hippie trail was a form of alternative tourism, and one of the key elements was travelling as cheaply as possible, mainly to extend the length of time away from home. The term "hippie" became current in the mid-to-late 1960s; "beatnik" was the previous term from the later 1950s.

In every major stop of the hippie trail, there were hotels, restaurants and cafés for Westerners, who networked with each other as they travelled east and west. The hippies tended to interact more with the local population than traditional sightseers did.^[1]

The hippie trail largely ended in the late 1970s primarily due to both the Iranian Revolution resulting in an anti-Western government, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, closing the route to Western travelers.^[4][5][1][6]

Nowadays, a handful of overlanders, vandwellers and adventurers roughly follow the route of the old hippie trail.^[7][8]