Cycling in the city is more than just an economical way of transportation to save money. It is also eco-friendly, helps you to stay active and even fun enough for an outdoor activity no matter you are cycling alone or with your loved one(s). So, if you ever wonder which cities offer the best bike-friendly destinations around the world to do so, keep reading and find out below.
1) Amsterdam, Netherlands
This beautiful Dutch capital is famously known for its bike-friendly streets. In fact, you could say almost every street in this metropolitan city is filled with well-integrated bike facilities. Even riding a bicycle is largely considered the most preferred mode of transportation than… driving a car! This explains why Amsterdam restricts only two-speed limits — 30 mph and 18 mph — on every street.
2) Antwerp, Belgium
Antwerp is particularly a cycling haven in Belgium with plenty of dedicated bike lanes around the city. There is even a notable bicycle parking facility located at the Antwerp Central Station. The city also encourages both locals and tourists to utilise their automated bike share system known as Velo, which cost as low as 4€ or RM18+ for a day-pass subscription. If that’s not enough, Antwerp has also included several new cycling infrastructures including cycle tracks along the harbour and three bridges for both cyclists and pedestrians.
3) Berlin, Germany
According to Citylab in 2017, there are 25% of people prefer cycling to work on a daily basis. The figure may have been small but Berlin has already set to increase more bike parking spots to 100,000 as well as 100km of cycle superhighways by 2025. Other than that, Berlin is an ideal place for cycling, thanks to its wide roads and flat terrains.
4) Copenhagen, Denmark
Here’s an interesting trivia about Copenhagen: There are 62% of locals prefer to ride their bikes than driving a car every day. In fact, the bike-friendly culture is commonly adopted by the people of Copenhagen as early as childhood. Kids have already learned how to bike instead of taking a bus when they go to school. This habit of cycling to places continue until adulthood, regardless of work or leisure. Copenhagen is so serious about turning their city as bike-friendly as possible that they even spent hundreds of millions in cycling facilities and infrastructure over the last 10 years. If that’s not enough, the famous Danish capital is looking to go carbon neutral in few years’ time by 2025.
5) Strasbourg, France
With over 560km of cycling trails, no wonder Strasbourg earned its place as No.1 most bike-friendly city in France. Cycling is so popular in Strasbourg that locals even dedicated it by celebrating the yearly La Fête du Vélo festival every summer. If you are a first-timer in the city, you can opt for their bike sharing service known as Vélhop. And you don’t even have to worry about finding a spot to park your bike since there are 19,000 bike racks around the city.
6) Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo may have possessed one of the world’s highly-efficient public transport systems. But the vibrant city, which has an estimated population of 13.9 million in 2018, still has locals prefer the more economical way of cycling to places. There are currently only 40km of dedicated bike lanes in Tokyo but thanks to the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics in two years’ time, the local government has already planned to build a whopping 400km of bike-friendly routes.
7) Utrecht, Netherlands
CNN Travel voted this fourth-largest city in the Netherlands as the world’s top great cycling cities. And according to the Copenhagenize Bicycle Friendly Cities Index 2017, Utrecht even overtook Amsterdam as the second most bike-friendly city in the world. The city even went as far as promoting cycling under their massive “Utrecht Attractive and Accessible” development plan in 2015. This includes the launching of a major cycle bridge of Dafne Schippersbrug and the 17,100 sq metre bicycle parking garage located under Utrecht’s central train station in 2017. The latter can fit up to 12,500 bikes, making it the world’s largest bicycle parking facility ever constructed.
