Cycling appeals to different people for different reasons, but I love how it enables achievement and exploration. Whether it’s a new Strava PR, a race win, or finishing a long ride, there are always new achievements to strive for. And who doesn’t love riding new roads? The best way to see the world is on a bicycle, after all.
At the time of this post, there are 199 routes on Zwift awarding a completion badge accompanied by bonus XP. And while some Zwifters may not pay any attention to all the different routes, badges, and XP bonuses, you, dear reader, are different. You love a good challenge, and the dopamine hit of achievement. And you’ve come to the right place.
Why?
Any self-help guru will tell you it’s smart to start with your “why”, so let’s do that. Why would anyone care about riding all of Zwift’s routes? Several reasons…
- Exploring: if you’re the type of person who likes to see new sites, riding all of Zwift’s routes will get you intimately acquainted with the platform’s virtual roads. You’ll end up traversing popular sections multiple times, too, so you’ll really get to know your way around the place!
- Veloviewer Leaderboards: we’ve set up a route/KOM leaderboard in partnership with Veloviewer so you can compete with other Zwifters to not only see who has completed the most routes, but how fast you’ve completed them! (Read how it works here, and I should mention there’s also a Climb Portal Veloviewer Leaderboard.)
- Extra XP: the first time you complete a route in Zwift, you’ll earn an XP bonus with the route badge. That bonus is basically equal to the amount of XP you’ll have already earned each mile/kilometer while riding the route (32XP per mile, or 20XP per kilometer), so you’re effectively doubling your XP earnings when riding new routes. That means faster level ups!
- Completionists, Rejoice: if you’re the type of person who likes to make a to do list, then check off each item until it’s done, route hunting on Zwift is made for you.
- Another Carrot: Zwift is full of carrots – little prizes dangled in front of us to entice us to ride more often, or push harder. Route achievements are just one of those carrots, and while it may not appeal to you all the time, it may just grab your interest when other carrots do not.
Defining “All”
As we kick off this discussion, it’s important to define what we actually mean when we talk about riding “all” the routes in Zwift. Because there are Zwift routes you’ll never be able to ride (because they’re only for runners). And there are Zwift routes which can only be ridden in events (aptly named “event-only” routes).
Based on our master routes list, at the time of this post, there are 49 event-only routes on Zwift and 23 run-only routes.
To confuse matters more, it used to be that event-only routes didn’t award route badges. But then, in November 2021, Zwift released the Neokyo Crit Course route, an event-only route with an achievement badge. And since then, they’ve added badges to several other event-only routes!
For most Zwifters, when they talk about wanting to ride “all” the routes in Zwift, they’re talking about earning all the route badges. Doing this will show every route listed in game as finished, and will earn you all the extra XP available from route badges. So I’ll assume that’s what you’re going for.
Defining “Finish”
At the risk of being pedantic, I want to document precisely what is required to “finish” a route, since this is a common point of confusion with newer Zwifters. When I say “finish” here, I mean completing the route in such a way as to earn the route achievement badge.
You can finish a route in one of four ways:
- Select the route from the game’s route list and ride to the route’s finish line
- Select the route from the route picker that pops up after you choose a workout, then ride all the way to the route’s finish line
- Join an event or meetup hosted on the route (don’t late join as you may miss the start of the route!) and ride all the way from the start of the route to the finish line
- Join a Robopacer on a particular route and stay with that Robopacer from the start line of the route to the finish line
You will see an achievement banner pop up when you finish the route, and the badge’s XP bonus will pop in at the same time (see “680 XP” below):
If you don’t see that banner, you haven’t earned the route achievement badge!
There are three common ways Zwifters attempt to complete routes but aren’t successful. Hopefully listing them here will save someone a bit of grief:
- Joining a Robopacer ride on a route, but failing to stay with the bot long enough to ride from the start of the route (including the lead-in) all the way through to the finish
- Freely navigate your way along the route, expecting that since you covered all the route’s roads, you will earn the badge. While that makes logical sense, it won’t work: you must explicitly select the route before riding it in order to earn the badge.
- Riding a route which covers the same roads as another route, assuming you’ll earn both badges (the first half of Sacre Bleu, for example, is the entire Three Musketeers route). Again, the route must be explicitly selected in order for you to earn the badge.
Looking Up Unfinished Routes
So we know what “all” is, and we know what “finish” is. And while you probably haven’t ridden all the routes in Zwift, I’m sure you’ve already ridden some of them.
How do you figure out which ones you still need to finish?
There are two easy ways: in game, and via Zwift’s Companion app.
In Game
In the Zwift game, you can tap “Routes” on top to see a complete list of free-ridable routes in Watopia and the other two current guest maps. The icon next to the route’s name indicates whether you’ve earned the route badge or not: a green icon is an earned badge, while a grey icon means you haven’t yet earned it:
Select a route, click “Start Ride”, and go until you see the achievement banner. Easy!
You can even use the “Sort By” dropdown to show the routes you haven’t yet finished. Sort by “Route Completion” and all the unearned badges in your chosen map will be listed first:
The downside of the Routes list approach is that you can only search the three current active maps for unfinished routes. If you click “Achievements” under your profile on the top right, you can scroll down to Route Achievements and easily see which routes badges you haven’t yet earned. Here’s my current screen:
This is just a visual list of badges, though: you can’t just click an unearned badge to be taken to that route. For a complete list of your unfinished routes, and a way to add them to a sort of “To Do List”, you’ll need to head to the Companion app.
Companion App
The Companion app has a route explorer with a filter to “Show Uncompleted Routes”. Here’s a video showing how it’s done (around the 1:20 mark):
This is the easiest and most thorough way to see all the routes you need to complete. And this is where you can add those routes to “My List” so you can easily access them in game (see below for details).
There’s just one problem with the Companion app’s list: it isn’t accurate. Many routes show as not awarding badges when in fact they do.
Plan of Attack
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Have you formulated a plan for finishing all the routes in Zwift? I’ve got three tips that may prove helpful.
Tip #1: Use “My List”
The Companion app has a “My List” tool where you can add workouts and routes which then show up on the game’s homescreen under the “For You” header. It’s a simple, straightforward tool (read all about how it works), and one handy thing about it is you can add routes to your list and easily click to ride them in game, even if that route’s map isn’t one of the three scheduled on the day.
You can even boot into the game, then pull up your Companion app, search for uncompleted routes, and add one to your list. It will immediately pop into your homescreen, where you can click it to begin riding. Easy!
Tip #2: Use Events
The downside of riding a route in an “off-schedule” map is that it will be a very lonely experience, since everyone else is riding in the “open” maps.
Whenever possible, I like to ride new routes with others in events. This ensures I always have others to ride with, which helps the time pass faster but also makes the actual ride time shorter, as I get the benefit of drafting.
Finding events for a particular unfinished route isn’t easy using Zwift’s current tools, though. Fortunately, ZwiftHacks has an events tool which you can use to filter upcoming events by route.
Tip #3: Ramp It Up
One last tip: don’t overdo it. Especially if you’re newer to cycling, you may want to plan your route badge hunting so you start with easier routes and work your way toward the longer ones. The My List tool in Companion lets you easily drag and drop routes to re-sort the list, so use this to schedule upcoming badge attempts in a sensible fashion.
Our printable list of Zwift routes by difficulty may be a helpful tool in your route badge quest. Plus, if you print it out, you get the satisfaction of checking off each route as you complete it!
You might also try alternating hard days with easy days, saving the shorter routes for your zone 1/2 recovery rides while doing a ramping-up succession of harder routes every other day.
Route Achievement Feature Requests
I’ll wrap up this post with a few feature requests for Zwift HQ to consider.
Route Prestige
The challenge of completing all the routes in Zwift is a fun one, but once you’ve done it, you sort of have to find more carrots since the achievement of finishing a route for the second or third time is much less significant than the first time.
What if Zwift could give me some sort of achievement prize when we finish all the routes? That would drive more Zwifters to work at completing every route. And with that prize, all of my route badges could (optionally?) be set back to “unfinished” so I could work to finish them all again.
This could even be grown into some sort of “route prestige” system, where riders earn a new prestige level each time they complete all badged routes currently in Zwift.
Consistent Badging
Opinions may differ, but I think route badges should only be available for free rideable routes. It’s frustrating and sometimes tedious, when I’m forced to track down an event on a particular event-only route just so I can earn that badge.
I should add that lately, Zwift has been rolling out some new routes as event-only routes with badges, then opening them up as free rideable a few weeks later. I think this is a perfectly acceptable approach.
Ride On
Route badge hunting is one of my favorite activities on Zwift, and I know lots of Zwifters are motivated by the fun of new roads and extra XP. Hopefully this post helps even more Zwifters join in the quest to finish all the routes!
Questions or Comments
Have you finished all the routes in Zwift? Is that a motivating carrot for you? Share your thoughts and any questions below!
I’d like a count of each time I’ve done each route, together with a count of how many times I’ve completed *all* the routes (aka ‘route prestige’). And with that, sorting by ‘completion’ uses each route count as the sort criteria. Not a big ask IMHO. And I’d hope it could be implemented retrospectively as well (though my score for Tempus Fugit might be a bit embarrassing)…
Definitely agree Mark, I’m of the vintage of pinball where the challenge was to gain multiples scoring so x2 x3 or x5. If this could be shown in my route badge achievement list that would be awesome. eg: volcano circuit x167 :-), PRL Full x1 :-\ .
Route Prestige for collecting all badges is definitely a carrot I chased. Perhaps a titanium, chrome, or gold tron based on number of completions ?
Plenty of potential for Zwift to keep members coming back to the platform that are not keen racers or workout maniacs.
Strava will show your completion number, in the meantime.
As someone who has all the cycling route badges, I would very much welcome a prestige system, or a badge for completing ‘all the climb portals’
I would love to see a tracking system for the climb portal rides similar to the route badges
If you don’t see the route badge award banner at the end then don’t stop until you do! I made this mistake with the Four Horseman, I stopped metres short as I had to take my son to a swimming lesson, I foolishly thought I’d done the route as I’d completed the distance… I had to do it all again and I was annoyed for most of it as it was my own mistake that led to it
No love for zwifthub.com to track? I guess it’s sort of been OBE with the Companion App functionality, but I still like using it.
I mean…. I run that website, and I still didn’t mention it. 😉 I think ZwiftHub is good as a research tool for routes, but the badge tracking portion of it has really bee superceded by the game and Companion.
Agreed. I used to get on zwifthub multiple times a week, but I don’t think I’ve visited the site once since the Companion app added its routes interface.
Your printable list has been a big help to me. I check off each route as I complete it and I highlite those routes that are event only. 202 badges so far. Repack Rush seems to be in its own category as certain hardware is needed. Seems odd that Crit City and Bologna have no badges at all, hoping to see that remedied.
Zwift need to fix the Achievements progress bar first. The current system makes no sense and combines the running badges with the cycling badges in the overall total making 100% completion impossible if you only do one of those sports. Not to mention the hidden badges affecting the absolute total available but only once completed.
I wouldn’t mind so much if they were honest and showed all the unobtainable running badges alongside the cycling badges (or vice versa for runners) but they keep those hidden from view so that very few Zwifters realise what is going on, and only combine the numbers for the progress total.
I currently have 100% of the cycling badges(243) – so I’ll take your ‘route prestige’ idea 😉
But because I have never/will never run on Zwift it only shows around 85% progress.
I can’t imagine it would be too taxing for those great minds at Zwift HQ to separate out the cycling and running badges and make the motivational carrot of 100% completion a real thing. Heck yes, they can even have a completion badge for completing 100%.
currently on 281/283 so just 2 to go!
(Macaron and Yourshire Double – just waiting for a suitable event for me)
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you have at least three other badges to collect. Because of the messed up way Zwift manage this, there are at least 286 badges, but several of those are hidden. I suspect you need to crack on with an Everesting/marathon/5 minute mile to get that 100%. Good luck.
General cycling/running = 12
Running: 11 running achievements, 2 Extra credit (hidden until achieved), 30 route badges = 43
Cycling: 21 cycling achievements, 11 Extra credit (hidden until achieved), 198 route badges = 231
Total of 286 as of 20. april 2025
My achievements show 262/283 and I have 3 achievements remaining hidden
I might never get them all. For some reason I’ve never been all that tempted by the PRL Full.
yes, doing the PRLHalf will do that to you
The first time I earned all available badges was after being inspired by reading Monica Schlange’s highly entertaining and motivational Couch to Route Hero series. Would love to read a sequel to reflect all the routes that have been added since then *hint hint, evil chuckle*
I like the idea of a prestige system for routes, as well as a few more badges like the volcano laps or climbs of the Alpe.
Maybe you could get a drops bonus on completion as a prestige reward when you prestige similar to the pacer bot bonus. That or accelerated progress towards upgrades on completion.
It might be challenging to handle when new routes are added. I suppose prestige could only apply once you’ve completed all current routes.
That’s all do. Is go for route badges. I love the over lap courses,and the more than one lap course where I can improve my pr on some of the koms. But I’m only on level 22. So not tried any group rides or races. But I’m not keen on my Race score increasing, which elimates me from doing the races. At a easier level for starters.
What I would like to see is a way to clear the routes ridden to start a new year, but still maintain some record of the routes in previous years. It would be an interesting way to compare years.
Hi Eric, is there any way to have the routes and climb portals that you have already completed added to the leaderboard? I have all of the route badges and have done 39 of the climb portals.
A system that rewards multiple completions of the same route could be fun. Maybe it’s something as simple as a number that counts up on the badge, or something more rewarding like an XP increase each time you complete a route (this would obviously need to be capped at a certain point). Some of the really big routes like PRL Full that most Zwifters have absolutely no interest in doing a second time could be more enticing to repeat if they awarded, say, 3x XP for a second completion, then 4x, and so on until it reaches a cap.
Still thinking past the whole “event only” routes. There aren’t a whole lot races on the France Classic Fondo, lol. But why not add a route portal, for those special routes?? There just aren’t opportunities to get those other less common routes.
Or just open that World up completely for a day. When it’s in rotation… that’s an event, lol.
Why is it not possible to filter the upcoming events by completed status – its seems such a basic and simple thing to achieve – Companion knows the events, and it knows your completed status for every route – it would be such a huge improvement to see a list of upcoming events on routes that you have not yet completed.
Since we’re already “gamified” here (this is a complement!), for each route achievement you could do like console gaming achievement-based awards do and report what percentage of users have completed the achievement. Then you’d see that 99.9% of users have completed Tempus Fugit, for example, where only 0.5% of users have done the Uber Pretzel (numbers completely made up, of course).
Allowing the user to click on and free-ride the route directly from the achievements screen would be a time-saver for route hunters. The way it is now, you can go to that screen and see the badges you have but other than a trophy room it’s a pretty useless screen. Being able to hover over an achievement badge to see how many bonus XP it nets you would be useful to some.
I would really love to be able to sort a full list across all maps of routes by their expected time. Expected time is a game changer for me, it has been really helpful, and I’d love to be able to easily compare all the routes I haven’t done across all the maps.
Also, I’m miffed that you need steering for Repack. I’m looking for a hack for that.
199 done and dusted here.
It is still not possible to collect different routes in one ride ? e.g. doing 3 short 10km routes one after another in one ride or one workout ? you still have to finish and restart ?
You can’t earn multiple route badges in a single saved Zwift activity. Gotta be separate ones.
I’m utterly confused. In Zwift, it says I’ve got 228/274 badges. I’ve got everything except Lit,Circuit Breaker, Jelly, Legs of Steel and Macaron. What are the missing badges? Presumably some of them are event only route badges? But why is it so difficult to tell?!
See the full list of badges at https://zwiftinsider.com/badges/
Maybe you’re missing all the running badges?
Yep. That’s the explanation. Pretty simple when you know, right? Thanks Eric – really appreciate your response.
How do you complete the event only rides?
Ride them in events. 😂
I’m new to Zwift and love it!! I’m learning a lot the hard way, as in doing rides and not getting any credit for some of them. lol I even ended a ride with less than a mile left thinking I completed it, so no badge. 😤 Mainly this has happened with workouts and RoboPacers. I’ve learned you can finish a workout, but not the course/loop because the course i picked is a longer distance than the workout.
So how can I see which routes I’ve rode but didn’t receive a badge for, so I can redo them? And how can I correctly follow a robo pacer for a 5.7 mile route, but have to ride double that to get the badge? That’s just 2 of about a 1000 questions i have, so I’ll be back!! 😁
As of today I have completed 238/238 routes. I know I still have Epiloch to do when available. Are there any other event only routes that I’m missing or is this the full set?
All the routes with an * on this list are event-only routes with badges: https://zwiftinsider.com/route-badges/