Where is the Asia-Europe divide and where can we cross it?

Question

Where is the division between Europe and Asia? What are places where we can cross it? Are there roads that go from one continent to the other?

Bonus particularly scenic locations or places of historical significance?

Answer 1

There is only one location that checks all your boxes, and no others come close: Istanbul. The west part of the city (its historical center) is considered to be in Europe, the part on the eastern side of the Bosphorus strait is in Asia.

There is a bridge that you can drive over, the city is extremely scenic with many beautiful mosques and the Hagia Sophia, and it doesn't get much more historically significant; it was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, of Byzantium, and of the Ottoman Empire.

Other than that, the border between Europe and Asia is ill-defined and although the concept of the border is of historical significance, there won't be much of a historically significant or even visible physical border on the ground.

The usual convention is that the border runs along the Caucasus and Ural mountain ranges, mostly in Russia, but I don't think you'll find nice marked crossing points there.

Some people opine that Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus is also on the border, but according to Wikipedia it's actually north of the Caucasus watershed that is usually used as the border. It's Europe's highest mountain at 5642m, relatively easy to climb and some scientists have actually managed to get to the summit with a Land Rover (see the article), but I don't think it qualifies...

Edit: actually it is apparently wrong to say that the border is invisible elsewhere -- in the Urals there seem to be some monuments marking it, see e.g. this site offering tours, which has pictures of a few of them west of Yekaterinburg.

Answer 2

Istanbul is a massive city. If you wish to visit the European-Asian border but big cities are not your thing, you can take the train up to the Arctic Circle in the Russian Polar Ural.

_{(source: wikimapia.org)}

^{Asia-Europe border. Source: Wikimapia.}
In Northern Russia, there are trains between Vorkuta (infamous for its history as a penal labour camp) and Labytnangi, just outside Salekhard (the only city in the world located exactly on the Arctic Circle). Stalin tried to force prisoners to continue this railway to Igarka. Some 100,000 forced labourers were involved.

Note that unless you are the train driver, you cannot drive across the Arctic Circle here, at least not with an ordinary car, as there are no (all weather) roads (perhaps you can drive a snowmobile across?). I don't know how close to the actual Asia-Europe border the nearest train station is, but for what it's worth, HAFAS reports lots of small stops. The stop Polyarnyi Ural might be what you need — just 45 hours by train from St. Petersburg, or a direct 41-hour train from Moscow.

Answer 3

According to Wikipedia:

the modern border between Asia and Europe remains a historical and cultural construct, defined only by convention. The modern border follows the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles-Sea of Marmara-Bosphorus, the Black Sea, along the watershed of the Greater Caucasus, the northwestern portion of the Caspian Sea and along the Ural River and Ural Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, as mapped and listed in most atlases including that of the National Geographic Society and as described in the World Factbook.

This border goes through Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan.

Istanbul, Turkey straddles the continental boundary, and is generally considered worth visiting (there is much to see there besides two continents).

Looking at Google Maps, either of the two big roads between Russia and Georgia will cross the continental border at some point (one along the Black Sea coast between Sochi and Sokhumi, the other through the Caucasus), as does the road along the Caspian Sea coast between Makhachkala, Russia and Baku, Azerbaijan.

Relations between Georgia and Russia are poor; border crossings may be closed (and in fact the road from Sochi goes through the disputed area of Abkhazia). According to Wikivoyage, the border between Azerbaijan and Russia can be crossed and there are buses, so this may be practical by car.

Numerous west-east roads in Russia and Kazakhstan cross the border.

Answer 4

Europe is a complex historical construct and it's not unusual to talk about the “Eurasian landmass” to highlight the fact that it has no obvious stable border.

Among the most commonly offered boundaries, you could travel to the Bosphorus, the Ural mountains and the Greater Caucasus. The Bosphorus is very easy to locate and visit, the rest not so much. It's difficult to pinpoint a specific division line but the Trans-Siberian railroad or Georgia would be places/ways where you go from one “continent” to the other.

Answer 5

There are also different definitions seriously considered and taught in schools. I was always taught that the border is at the ridge of Ural, and then it continues to the river Emba the to the Kuma-Manych depression. That makes Mont Blanc the highest peak of Europe. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundaries_between_continents

The Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits are certain and Istanbul is a nice place to visit. You can see the statue of the bull (Zeus) which abducted Europa at Kadıköy (not that far from the ferry terminal).

Answer 6

In pointed out by Vladimir F in the north the ridge of the Ural mountain range is universally considered to divide "european Russia" and "asian Russia" (especially Sibiria).

Although Russia has colonized sibiria for centuries the Ural still is a very prominent dividing line. Everything changes there beginning at the availability of high quality petrol and ending in travel insurance coverage.

Since russians are grad builders of nice signposts at borders of all significances (city level to nation state level) the roads crossing the Urals are full of "Border Europe-Asia" Signs, Monuments, etc.

See here and here for some northern border crossings.

Answer 7

Where is the division between Europe and Asia?

Unfortunately, there are different definitions about where exactly the land border is:

Depending on which definition is considered, the countries Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (not to be confused with the US state having the same name) are either located completely in Europe, completely in Asia or the border between both continents crosses these countries.

On Wikipedia, you find a map with different possible definitions of the border between both continents.

What are places where we can cross it?

If you drive from Russia to Turkey crossing Georgia, you definitely start your trip in Europe and you finish your trip in Asia; however, because it is not exactly defined if Georgia lies in Europe or in Asia, it is not clear when exactly you cross the border between Europe and Asia.

The same is true if you travel from the western part of Russia to the eastern part: In the middle of the trip, you'll be in a location of which it is not clear if it is Europe or Asia.

Russia is the only country where it is definitely (considering all possible definitions of the border between the two continents) possible to get from Europe to Asia by land without crossing another country's border. (See my remark about Istanbul below.)

Unfortunately, there are currently wars, civil wars or situations close to civil wars in the countries at the European-Asian land border, so that travelling there is not a good idea now.

Are there roads that go from one continent to the other?

The highway from Grosny (Russia) over Baku (Azerbaijan) to Teheran (Iran) would be an example.

There is only one location that checks all your boxes, and no others come close: Istanbul

In fact, the city of Istanbul is located on both continents. However, there is no land border but the city is located in a location where the distance between the European coast and the Asian coast is less than one kilometer (about half an American mile). And there are bridges between the continents.

However, if you drive from the western part of Istanbul to the eastern part (over a bridge), you do not cross the land border between both continents, but you actually cross the sea!

If you really wanted to travel from the western part of the city of Istanbul to the eastern part by land, you would have to cross at least five other countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia.