Biking: A healthier way to tour Europe

Most cities in Europe would be difficult to explore in a car  streets are narrow, parking is scarce or expensive, and some major streets are not accessible since they are exclusive to pedestrian traffic. While some train systems are fantastic, I am not partial to them because while we took one from the airport to Rome, we got separated from my 10-year-old-boy for hours.

He got to disembark in time, but we were still scrambling to get off with our luggage as the train was packed! The train doors closed behind him and just like in the movies, he was running after the train that was speeding away with us. Good thing we always had this family rule that if we get separated, we would all go back to the place where we were last together. It would have been very simple if we could take the train back to the opposite direction but it wasn’t like there was one every few minutes.

As a mother I was very worried, and promised that was the last time we would take the train (we have car rentals in all cities except Rome and Berlin). We met some Filipinos from Bulacan in the station while waiting for a train. In true Pinoy fashion, they offered to help the ladies (myself and my two daughters) with our luggage. Good thing they were traveling to the same station. In time, we got reunited with our son. Fortunately, that was the only misadventure we had.

If you ask for advice in touring Europe, most would tell you to either join a tour group (not our style as we can’t round up the kids very early in the morning after tiring them out the day before) or to fly there, then take the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus. That is how I ended up touring a lot of cities, and we did take several in this tour. Both still offer some exercise, as a lot of walking is required.

But what I would like to share and highlight is a better way, definitely a healthier way, to tour London, Paris, Berlin, and Barcelona. Biking is a great way to become intimate with a city and exercise at the same time. You can pedal your way on a commuter bike complete with English narration. And the best in the business, according to many travel experts, is Fat Tire Bike Tours.

In Berlin, less than half of the residents own a car and commuter bikes are very common.  The government has supported bikers with access to 390 miles of bike paths, 120 miles of off-road bicycle routes, 40 miles of bike lanes on the roads, 50 miles of shared bus lanes, which are also open to bicyclists, 60 miles of combined pedestrian/bike paths, and 30 miles of marked bike lanes on the sidewalks.

Around half a million daily bike riders account for 13 percent of the total traffic. There is even an online application BBBike. It determines the best bike route between two points in Berlin. Just enter your origin and destination. 

While the Berlin transport system is spotless, you can combine train travel with bicycle tours.  Fat Tire is perfect for English-speaking nationals because it is actually owned and operated by Americans.  In Berlin, the main office is at the big Berlin TV Tower at the Alexanderplatz.

Fat Tire Bike guides are young, enthusiastic, mostly former or current students from the US, Great Britain or Australia who live in Berlin and know their way around. You can rent a bike for your own personal mode of getting around Berlin, or take one of their many themed group bike tours All-in-One City Tour.

Pedal attraction in Barcelona

Fat Tire Bike Tours has become one of the largest bike tour companies in Europe.

In 2007, Barcelona’s City Council started a bicycle service for public transport. With a user card, a resident can take a bicycle from any of the 100 stations spread around the city and use it anywhere in the urban area. They can then leave it at another station.

Barcelona is serious about expanding and improving the network of routes and cycle paths in the city. The city has a green ring that surrounds the metropolitan area of Barcelona with a bike path. There are currently 3,250 parking spaces for bikes at street level while a new underground car park for bicycles is under construction.

There are annual events that promote the bicycle.  There is a Car Free Day, Sustainable and Safe Mobility Week, Bike Week, and The Festival of The Bicycle. Whether a week, a day or a month, the events offer not only festive and leisure activities centered on the bicycle, but are also a call to use pedal power to get around.

City initiatives like these make bike tours quite successful. Fat Tire’s motto is: See more, less effort, more fun. They are so passionate about bike tours being the best way to see Barcelona.

Paris on wheels

You can bike leisurely all right, but are the bikes for rent comfortable at all?  Well, the seats are comfy and the tires are not razor-thin (hence fat tires).  The handle bars go up to you instead of being back-breaking low. They also come with multiple gears so you can choose your level of effort.

Biking excursions in the City of Lights can be done either day or night. And while city tours are popular, Fat Tire also has tours in Versailles and Normandy. An excellent excursion outside of Paris is to Claude Monet’s breathtaking gardens in Normandy. His unique house, the quaint villages of Vernon & Giverny, and our fabulous bicycle ride along the Seine are a welcome change from the hustle-bustle of Paris.

Paris isn’t usually known as a city of bicycles, but the government is trying to change that perception. The Paris Mairie (City Hall) operates a “Vélib’” bike rental program with thousands of three-speed unisex bikes in hundreds of stations or service points around the city. You’ll pay 1 euro for a day ticket or 5 euros for a seven-day ticket, which lets you take an unlimited number of 30-minute journeys. Trips longer than 30 minutes incur additional fees.

You can pick up a bike at any Vélib’ station and return it in another. Just to make sure you don’t keep it, you’ll be required to supply credit-card information before taking a bike, and the bike will sound an alarm if you try to haul it back.

If you are staying in Paris for a couple of months or longer you can buy an annual Vélib’ pass for 29 euros. Vélib’ has instructions in eight languages at the bike stations. Purchase of tickets can be done on the Web.

Europe has coin-operated machines for everything, from diesel to pizza, soup to comfort room in the street (that automatically cleans and disinfects itself after each use), so a bike rental service is another convenience that makes touring easy, enjoyable, and healthy.

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Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph or mylenedayrit@gmail.com.