Grab a helmet and check out these 15 pedal heavens, where drivers have actually been known to use all five fingers when they wave at you.
Europe
Amsterdam
The “bicycling capital of Europe” tops many lists—including this one, it seems—as the most bike friendly city anywhere. Safe and extensive route networks, serious governmental promotion, and a bike culture that transcends class boundaries are all reasons why 40% of the city’s traffic moves on two wheels.
Barcelona
Barcelona’s Bicing program, one of many mass bike rental systems that have popped up recently in Europe and beyond, debuted two years ago, and the Catalan capital hasn’t looked back. An annual Bike Week is held in late May to spread the word.
Berlin
Photo: tandemracer
Commuting Berliners are never lonely—400,000 of them pedal to work each day. City leaders still aren’t satisfied with this figure, and millions of euros have been allocated to encourage more cyclists to take to the streets. There’s even a website that helps you map out bike-specific routes.
Copenhagen
In the Danish capital, nearly a third of the workforce gets to the office by bike. By some estimates, that’s more than 1 million kilometers pedaled every day!
For a truly alternative urban experience, check out Christiania, a neighborhood of 850 that, in addition to setting up a semi-independent government and decriminalizing trade in cannabis, has banned cars.
Paris
Paris gets a nod here for its creation of Vélib’, the world’s largest public bicycle rental program. Twenty thousand stylish three-speeds are distributed among 1,450 rental stations throughout the city, available to subscribers at variable rates (rides under 30 minutes are free).
North America
Boulder
Denver’s little hippy bro to the north dedicates 15% of its transportation budget to improving and promoting bicycle travel. Nearly every major roadway has a designated cycling area, and they’ve even instituted a pilot program to get kids biking to school. This guy has created a very cool color-coded route map, complete with local attractions.
Chicago
Photo: mugley
Mayor Richard Daley is set on turning Chicago into “the most bicycle-friendly city in the United States.” It doesn’t appear to be all talk, either, as more bike lanes pop up all the time, and last year the city passed laws to protect cyclists’ safety.
All you could ever want to know about Chicago’s bicycle initiatives—and much more—can be found here.
Davis
It’s said that there are more bikes than cars in this small, northern California city of 62,000. Not only that, but its official motto is “Most bicycle friendly town in the world.” Davis has no school buses—kids are encouraged to ride to class instead. The entire month of May is dedicated to Cyclebration…and the list goes on.
Ottawa
The States may have its bright spots, but the fact remains that Canada’s capital claims the highest percentage of bike commuters on the continent. Its 170 km worth of paths make it easy to get from point A to B, though two-wheeled traffic is sure to drop between December and March. Further info is available here.
Photo: MaximeF
Portland
You were worried there for a second, weren’t you? No, I haven’t forgotten what most people consider the bike capital of the U.S. The only thing as impressive as Portland’s bicycle infrastructure (including a 260-mile network) and commuter stats (almost 10%, the highest in the country) is the camaraderie of its cyclist community.
San Francisco
The founding city of the Critical Mass bicycle demonstration can’t be overlooked. Over the past decade, bicycle collisions have declined while the number of bike commuters has nearly doubled.
Photo: Charles Haynes
Add San Francisco’s constant activities like removing car parking to make room for bike parking, distributing Watch for Bikes stickers (to be placed on driver’s side rearview mirrors), and its pending Bike Share program and you get one of the world’s bike-friendliest cities.
Elsewhere
Photo: Dan Zen
Beijing
Debatable? Sure. But the city with probably the most bicycles of any in the world can’t be considered bike unfriendly, can it?
The sheer number of cyclists necessitates some pretty sophisticated infrastructure for the travel, storage, and repair of two-wheeled vehicles.
Cape Town
African cities might not be the first you think of for bike friendliness, but Cape Town is doing its best to change that.
The South African capital is in the process of beefing up its pedal-power credentials with the creation of cycling lanes, dedicated bike parking, and public commuter showers.
Bogotá
Bogotá’s transportation initiatives have been a model for change throughout Latin America, and its treatment of bicycles is no exception. Miles of safe, segregated bike paths and Sunday Ciclovía events (where main throughways are closed to cars) make Colombian cyclists very happy.
Perth
With more than 700 km of bike routes and plenty to see along them, Australia’s fourth largest city is where it’s at for Down Under saddle jockeys. For maps, recommended rides, and other cycling goodies, this site has what you need.
Community Connection:
If you’re looking for some inspiration to make the switch to bike commuting, check out this article.
In the interest of geographical diversity, this list includes picks from across the globe. Did we get some wrong? Leave any out? Let us know in the comments!
And the bigger questions… What is it that makes a place “bike friendly” anyway, and how can you encourage your city, town, or village to fall in line?
About the Author
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21 Comments... join the discussion!
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Cool post, Hal! Some unexpected spots on here — I learned something.
Also: Hurray for Ottawa! (And there actually are a few hardy/insane souls who commute on bikes all through the winter… Ouch. That’s dedication.)
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Great roundup. I can vouch for Boulder. World-class as far as local spins and extended rides through the city into Foothills and other front range towns such as Lyons. The main route into the mountains however–Boulder Canyon–is totatlly heinous as far as traffic / shoulders / shitty drivers. Take lefthand canyon up through Ward.
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Solid post — I was glad to see Boulder make the list. I would add a Japanese city or two, where there are lots of urban bikers. Maybe Kyoto? Sapporo is good for bikes in the summer but too damn cold in the wintertime.
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I’m delighted to see my burg (Ottawa) on the list! I’d also add another Canadian city, Montreal. While traffic can be crazy, the city has installed lots of new dedicated bike lanes–560km so far, with a goal of 800km by 2014. The routes aren’t perfect yet by any means, but the city is working on it. (See http://bitly.com/q34Ap)
There are also some great off-road recreational paths, such as the route along the Lachine Canal.
And Montreal is set to launch a public bike-sharing program in May 2009. I _think_ it will be Canada’s first: http://www.bixi.com/home
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Unfortunately Seattle is not every bike friendly, but that doesn’t stop us from ripping it up from Pioneer Square to Capitol Hill!
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What a great list! They do their best in Phoenix, AZ, but the driving is nuts out here! I feel bad for the bicyclists — they usually have a big SUV next to them in the bike lane. I’ve witnessed some close calls…I must admit that I haven’t rode my bike while being out here….I could ride it around the neighborhood to go to the post office, but then again I do a lot of walking.
Just an FYI: if you’re in another country, make sure you know whether or not you’ll need a license to ride a bike. You need one to ride a bike in Israel, at least this is what I’ve heard.
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Not a very big city, but hugely bike-friendly…Jackson Hole, WY
Everyone rides and we have beautiful bike paths thanks to “friends of pathways”↵ -
@ Julie, @ Travel-Writers, @ josh: New York, Seattle, and Phoenix all came up on different people’s lists when I was researching this piece. It seems every sizable city has a dedicated cyclist community; over time, perhaps they’ll all become bike heavens. Wouldn’t that be nice?
@ Tim: I read lots of good things about bikes in Japan, but couldn’t find any one specific city cited! Maybe it could top the list of “world’s most bike friendly countries”?
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Superb list (if I may say superb) – although I’d chuck in Melbourne. It’s a mostly flat city with plenty of bike lanes and dedicated pathways. It really lifts my hopes when, on my ride to work, I see so many cyclists…and at red lights when we all pile together at the front of the line of cars.
Calculate the benefits for making the switch to bike: http://www.ride2work.com.au/30228
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“Grab a helmet”. Oh dear.
The world’s safest countries to ride bikes in have almost 0% helmet wearing. Places like Denmark and the Netherlands.
Making everybody wear helmets through fear campaigns is a great way to destroy a bicycle culture, and make cycling seem like a weird and dangerous thing to do. Helmet laws decrease cycling everywhere they’re introduced. Cycle helmets provide very minimal protection, despite impressions otherwise.
Far better to get more people on bikes, which is proven to make things safer as drivers realise how to drive around cyclists. And set up cities with infrastructure that meets cyclists needs.
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I don’t agree with that. First, I’d have to see proof of your claim, that helmet laws are directly responsible for people putting their bikes away. I also want to see proof that helmets provide minimal protection. I think if people wear them incorrectly that might be true, but let me hit you with a golf club with and without a bike helmet and let’s see how much it helps.
I think the reason the Netherlands and Denmark (and many other European countries) are safe despite no helmet laws is because bike culture was cultivated from day one. This is not so in NA and countries like Australia…where car culture has been impressed on everyone first and foremost (suburb development has certainly escalated this). No one knows how to behave around cyclists which makes it dangerous.
Simply putting more people on bikes isn’t going to educate drivers how to drive when cyclists are around.
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@George D: Sorry George, I was just speaking of what I´d do if I were hopping on a bike. Feel free to leave your helmet at home!
@Carlo: Great points about bike culture vs. car culture. That´s a couple articles in itself!
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“Making everybody wear helmets through fear campaigns is a great way to destroy a bicycle culture, and make cycling seem like a weird and dangerous thing to do.”
Just like how seat belts and airbags destroyed car culture…?
I too would love to see some stats for that comment. Ottawa has both a helmet law (and — best of all! — a “no biking on the sidewalk” law) and a thriving bike culture. Wearing a helmet is not a hardship, nor does it make biking seem weird or scary. The only reason I know of for people to refuse to wear them is, they don’t want to look silly. Which is a pretty dumb reason to alter our safety laws, don’t you think?
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Would seriously look into München as a leading “Biker-Friendly ” city.
As a side note – the German government is initiating a project to make bike rentals more readily available throughout the country.
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Unfortunately Bogota’s excellent bike infrastructure is hard to use if you’re a visitor. Bike rentals are expensive and hard to find. We did enjoy the ciclovia on foot, though! Bicycle use in the city actually hasn’t increased much either, despite the extensive network of ciclorrutas; it’s an interesting case that points to a need for a bicycling community before major infrastructure goes up. If you build it, will they come? Not in all cases.
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Great Article Hal.
Have you heard about New Zealand’s answer to beating the recession?Apparently the my lovely government is going to build a cycle pathway the length of our country and in the process creating hundreds of jobs and saving quite a few companies from going to the wall.
So for it to work properly we will need all of the cyclists to come to New Zealand to ride on it otherwise it may end up being a complete waste of money!
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Wow, how long will that path be?! The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island has something similar, built along an old railway bed. But it’s only a few hundred km long. This one’s gotta be huge! I’d love to come to NZ to ride.
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Have to agree with George D on that one. The Guardian just published a piece on a fact finding mission by the U.K gov over to Denmark and Holland.
One of the mission’s most significant findings was regarding helmets. Like it or not, if cycling is seen to only exist in the realm of Lance Armstrongs, average Joe and Jane aren’t going to take it up.
Personally, I choose to wear a helmet, but I like it to be my choice, especially here in the mad streets of Spain.
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I just did the Fat-Tire Bike Tour in Berlin. I’m completely sold on doing this kind of thing again and we rode through the rain part of the time! It was kind of like kids playing in a mud puddle. What a great way to see a city.
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Hola,
As a cyclist who’s lived in Bogotá for several years, I agree that the bike path network, the Ciclovía and the car-free day are all great contributions to cycling here. But Bogotá’s government needs to do lots more, such as building more bike paths, reducing pollution, building more bike parking and calming traffic before Bogotá can become a real ‘cycling city.’
Best,
Mike Ceaser
Bogotá Bike Tours↵
