Gallery: The 20 Most Bike-Friendly Cities on the Planet
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Copenhagen, #1. With a huge leap in the percentage of residents biking and continued investment in smart infrastructure, Copenhagen is back in the number one slot after a few years in second place.
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Amsterdam, #2. The Dutch capital is still one of the world's best cycling cities, but suffers from its insistence on maintaining a status quo, rather than trying to improve, think modern, and take things to the next level.
Peter Forsberg/Alamy03Voorstraat street central Utrecht city the Netherlands Europe
Voorstraat Street Central in Utrecht.
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Strasbourg, #4. What this French city has achieved is the result of a generation of planners who insisted on cycling as transport. Cycling in Strasbourg is a pleasant affair and, as it should be, the quickest way from A to B.
New Horizons/Alamy05Downtown Eindhoven, Netherlands
Eindhoven, #5. Cycling in the city is steady and strong. The Floating Roundabout captured our imagination and we are looking forward to what else the city can produce that is functional and iconic.
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Malmö, #6. The main city in Sweden’s most bicycle-friendly region—Skåne—Malmö has been insistent on reestablishing the bicycle on the urban landscape. A highlight since 2013 was the opening of a bicycle parking facility at the train station that makes even Copenhagen look awkward.
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Nantes, #7. The French city is investing in infrastructure, but is also dedicated to traffic calming, which only serves to make cycling a more attractive option. The main boulevard is now virtually car-free for through traffic and the city has put in a demonstrative cycle track down the middle.
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Bordeaux, #8. The city continues to take bicycle transport seriously. Its investment in tram lines has helped boost cycling by providing a traffic calming effect. The VCub bike share system rolls on and Bordeaux is still focused on marketing cycling to the mainstream through effective advocacy.
Riccardo Sala/Alamy09Belgium, Flanders, Antwerp, Central Station, Antwerpen Centraal Station
Antwerp, #9. Clear influences from across the border in the Netherlands have given the Belgian city an impressive modal share for bicycles and the bicycle as transport is embraced by all ages and wages. There are ample parking facilities around the city and the train station parking remains one of the best in Europe.
JAM WORLD IMAGES/Alamy10San Fernando street. Seville(Sevilla). Andalusia. Spain
Seville, #10. Once the poster child of the cycling world, the Spanish city slips to a respectable tenth place from a lofty fourth. Simply because the status quo that seems to affect all manner of cities seems to have slowed the development pace.
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Barcelona, #11. The city has employed a mixture of traffic calming measures and infrastructure to make it great to choose a bicycle for transport. It is one of the cities in the world with the largest swathe of 30 km/h zones, and while the bicycle infrastructure network is far from complete, it is usable and frequented.
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Berlin, #12. Berlin as a bicycle city is like Berlin as an everything else city. It’s a bit rough around the edges, it could be much better, but people get on with it. The cycling population is mainstream, with few visible sub-cultures and a healthy gender split. A high city-wide modal share is punctuated with neighborhoods that exceed 20 percent.
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Ljubljana, #13. The Slovenian capital’s journey started in the late 60s and early 70s when 25 miles of Copenhagen-style cycle tracks were built across the city. It maintained a respectable level of cycling for decades. Chosen as the European Green Capital in 2016, it’s once again placing focus on increasing cycling levels making itself a more livable city.
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Buenos Aires, #14. In a shockingly short amount of time, the Argentine capital has succeeded in modernizing itself to include bicycles as transport. In the past three years, over 87 miles of bicycle infrastructure has been implemented—much of it protected—along with a bike share program.
