Bicycling in Europe

Austria - Germania - Slovenia - Svizzera

Unfortunately, Italy is not the best equipped country for cycling; the main roads in and out of cities are subjected to the dictatorship of the automobile and only some secondary roads are suitable for travel and commutes by bike. All the same I would like to point out a number of bike routes in the Veneto and other regions of Italy.

The situation in some other European countries is certainly better (although far from ideal); on the basis of my personal experience I observe that:

• Switzerland: the mountainous country, par excellence, nevertheless has an excellent network of bicycle routes; it also has the best train+bike service in Europe; almost all trains, including Intercity and even the ETR-610 high speed trains allow the transport of bicycles; among the principal cities, the most bikable seems to be Basel followed by Zurich.
• France: bike paths are not very prevalent, the best solutions for bikers are the departmental roads which typically have very little traffic. Much less attractive is the situation in the large cities especially Paris, where the situation is not much different from Italy.
• Germany: is the reverse of France: in large cities due to restrictions on motorized traffic and an abundance of bike paths you can pedal well enough; on the other hand the national roads and even many local roads are rather brutal. Luckily there is an extensive network of bike routes and bike paths. The large cities, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, all are abundant with dedicated bike paths and bike lanes.
• Slovenia: this small country bordering on Italy and Austria is a hybrid situation; there are many excellent bike paths of great scenic impact, such as the Tarvisio-Jesenice route or the Capodistria-Isola route; other bike routes, by contrast, follow very rough roads and broken pavement.
• Austria: is very similar to Germany and even better in many ways; the bike route of the Danube is almost entirely along dedicated and paved bike paths; the network of bike paths is extensive and well documented; even in the cities (Vienna and Salzburg) there are good bike path networks.
• Holland: is considered the country par excellence for bicyclists; there are many bike paths and many, many bikers. Amsterdam is considered the biking city par excellence.
• Denmark: very much resembles Holland, a flat country full of bike paths that are well organized. And Copenhagen has a situation similar to Amsterdam.
• I’m afraid Britain doesn’t seem very well suited for bicycle travel; its national system of bike routes seems for the most part to follow local roads that are narrow and without any bike lanes; I found my experience in Surrey and Sussex rather traumatizing, both from the excessive rain and the stress of having to bike on the left side of the road. In London, the cycling movement has made great strides in recent years.

• Biking Europe Biking Europe is the front runner in Cycling Holidays in 30 European countries: tourist routes and trips, as an individual or in a group, with or without baggage transport, accompanied by a guide or independently.