Many people would spend months making the trip over approximately 11000km (7000 miles) and the majority went on to spend time in Nepal or India whilst a few settled there for good.
Back then an old Volkswagen van was the preferred mode of transportation for those who supplied their own transport, whilst others used a combination of trains, cheap buses and hitchhiking.
Along the trail, specialised low-budget hotels provided shelter and a place to meet other travellers. Such journeys would typically start from countries in Western Europe. Many from the US took Icelandic Airlines to Luxembourg, and passed through ‘key’ spots such as Istanbul, Tehran, Heret, Kabul, Peshawar and Lahore. Kathmandu still has a road nicknamed Freak Street in memory of the many thousands of hippies who passed through. An alternative route was from Turkey via Syria, Jordan, and Iraq to Iran and then east. Further travel to southern India, Sri Lanka, and points east to Australia was also undertaken.
The trail suffered from political changes at the end of the 1970s. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the Shah was deposed by an Islamic revolution in Iran. Still some operators carried on until 1998. With a recent loosening of immigration in Iran the route has again become feasible and in 2008, OzBus, assisted by local agents in each country, re-launched the trip and the hippie trail is now open once more.
For more information on the Hippie Trail we suggest reading 'Magic Bus' by Rory Maclean. Check out Rory's website www.magicbus.info for more information