Cycling is safe and enjoyable in these bike-friendly cities
Zigzagging between moving cars and those stopped at traffic lights, or risking ending up with a wheel stuck in tram tracks are not ideal conditions to get onto your saddle and tackle the urban jungle. For this reason, more and more cities are enhancing the services and infrastructure they offer to improve traffic from a bike-friendly perspective, to the benefit of all, cyclists and motorists, residents and tourists alike. So which European cities will cycling enthusiasts find more appealing?
COPENHAGEN RANKS AT THE TOP
Visiting the Danish capital truly makes you want to get on your bike, owing to the streams of bicycles that move swiftly and in an orderly fashion on the streets and exceed the number of cars by far. Over the last ten years, the State has invested more than 134 million Euros in facilities and infrastructure for bicycles, including bridges, dedicated highways, and digital signage. That's why its citizens are increasingly inclined to travel by bike, careless of the winds and harsh temperatures which distinguish the city: more than 60% of people use bikes to go to school or work, including members of parliament.
UTRECHT AND AMSTERDAM
In the collective imagination, the Netherlands is the country of bicycles, for a good reason. Two particularly virtuous examples are the cities of Utrecht and Amsterdam: Utrecht boasts 51% of cyclists, it has a 6 km-long “bicycle street”, the longest in the country, in addition to a sophisticated network of cycling services, and expects to make many more improvements still. Amsterdam on the other hand, although it is less active in terms of infrastructure investments, continues nonetheless to maintain its top status amid bike-friendly cities, and the bicycle continues to be the most natural means of transport for both its inhabitants and tourists too.
IN SCANDINAVIA THE BEST IS MALMÖ
Northern Europe is universally known as the trailmaker of environmentally-friendly initiatives. Some of the most interesting initiatives dedicated to bicycles include Cykelhuset Ohboy, a residential complex with an environmentally-friendly hotel annex, allowing residents and guests to carry their bicycles anywhere in the building, and a waste collection service integrated into an impressive cargo-bike logistic system. Both projects were launched in Malmö, the third biggest Swedish city in terms of number of inhabitants. Oslo on the other hand, the European Green Capital 2019, is eliminating multiple car parks and has set itself the goal of banning cars from the city centre by the end of this year. But Helsinki and Stockholm are also among the most bike-friendly capitals on the continent.
STRASBOURG AND FRANCE
For many years, Strasbourg was the unchallenged ruler among French cities suitable for cycling, and today it continues to excel despite the fact that many other cities are beginning to place more focus on the requirements of urban bikers. There are a large number of bicycles available from the many rental facilities you will encounter on the streets of Strasbourg, and the city is entirely committed to encouraging the use of cargo-bikes for urban logistics, with special subsidies for citizens wishing to purchase them. Then there's Bordeaux, with its bucolic landscapes to be appreciated on a bike, Nice, Nantes, and, naturally, Paris.
FROM MÜNSTER TO VIENNA
A large number of German cities stand out for their bike-friendly approach: there's Münster, the German cycling capital, which boasts approximately 4500 km of cycling streets in the surrounding region and where statistically there are two bicycles per inhabitant; and then there's Berlin, which is packed with bike sharing services and infrastructure dedicated to two-wheel transport; but also Bremen, Hanover, Leipzig, Frankfurt and many others. Moving across to Austria you will find another hugely bike-friendly European city: Vienna has been extremely capable in communicating the bicycle as an absolutely common means of transport that is accessible to all. It was also the first major city to set up a cargo-bike sharing service and it is completely normal to travel on the metro train with your bike.
WHAT ABOUT SOUTHERN EUROPE? LJUBLJANA WINS
Among southern European cities, some are ideal to visit by bike. These include Ljubljana, voted European Green Capital in 2016, which is committed to making investments to integrate bicycles in its inhabitants' routine; Barcelona, which is focusing hugely on cycling holidays, as well as on services which are useful to citizens; and Seville, one of the pioneers in enhancing cycling circulation throughout the city, where the bicycle is considered to be the best way to get around in the centre's streets.
