Exploring a city can be done in a multitude of ways: public transport offers us efficiency, while going for a stroll gets you the full boots-on-the-ground experience of soaking up the atmosphere of a place.
Cycling, however, grants you the best of both worlds. And thanks to policies that often go hand-in-hand with improving green spaces and making our urban areas more pedestrian-friendly, plenty of the world’s best cities are primed for zipping around on two wheels.
As part of our mega annual city survey, we asked over 24,000 urbanites about the ease of cycling in their city.
The five hubs below had the highest number of respondents describing getting around by bike as ‘good’ or ‘amazing.’ 👍
To reflect the best cycling cities globally, we included only the highest-scoring city for each country. See the full list: www.timeout.com
Keen to see which top five cities in the world are best for exploring by bike? Pedal on.
01
🇬🇧 Cambridge, UK
📷: Two of many bikes in Cambridge, UK. Photo by Alena Vishina via Shutterstock
🚲 Cycling score: 83.2 percent
A handful of factors are needed to make a city truly bike-friendly, and Cambridge, the impossibly quaint university city in England, ticks all the right boxes. Firstly, its flat geography and relatively dry weather mean you won’t be tackling too many dreaded hills or frequently arriving at your destination completely sodden, which is always a perk. The city is compact and urban planning — which includes a massive, multi-story bike park at the station and ‘cycle streets’ — is innovative.
One third of journeys in Cambridge are taken by bike.
No wonder more than 83 percent of the locals we spoke to agree.
02
🇬🇧 Montreal, Canada
📷: Cyclists cross the intersection of Laurier and Saint-Denis streets. Photo by Marc Bruxelle via Shutterstock
🚲 Cycling score: 82.5 percent
Okay, so Montreal is famously chilly – and hilly – but has an impressive 82.5 percent approval rating from locals when it comes to cycling.
It easily ranks as the most bike-friendly city in North America.
Why? Well, a whopping 25 percent of Montrealers used the city’s primary bikeshare system, BIXI, in 2023, and thanks to an ambitious infrastructure project – the Express Bike Network or ‘EBN’ – the network of protected bike lanes (which are cleared of snow in the winter months) will span 171 km. That’s on top of the existing 1,083 km of cycleways in the city.
03
🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark
📷: People commute by bike in Copenhagen city centre. Photo by fotopanorama360 via Shutterstock
🚲 Cycling score: 79.2 percent
According to Visit Copenhagen, city dwellers in the Danish capital cycle a staggering 1.44 million kilometres on the daily.
That jaw-dropping stat is thanks to decades of smart urban planning.
While that obviously includes the vast network of dedicated cycle lanes and off-street paths, it’s also thanks to ingenious traffic slowing measures.
Sure, there are signs limiting speeds to 20 kilometres per hour, but the use of textured roads and narrow lanes effectively encourages caution when it comes to speed, making the city a much more pleasant place to hop around by bike.
04
🇨🇳 Shanghai, China
📷: Cyclist in Shanghai. Lushengyi / Shutterstock
🚲 Cycling score: 78 percent
Not all cities are slow traffic havens like Copenhagen, and the number of cars and electric scooters which screech along Shanghai’s roads is definitely something to be aware of before hopping on your bike.
78 percent of locals we spoke to rated the ease with which you can cycle in China’s most populous city.
We reckon it’s got something to do with the river. Traversing the banks of the Hunagpu is the Pudong Riverside Greenway, a 24km-long car-free path which winds all the way from the Yangpu Bridge to the Xupu Bridge, with glorious city views towering above you the whole way.
05
🇦🇹 Vienna, Austria
📷: Cyclists in Vienna, Austria. Photo by NastyaHryva via Shutterstock
🚲 Cycling score: 77.7 percent
The Austrian capital is a pleasant place to enjoy the outdoors, with Vienna also claiming a top-20 spot in our list of the best cities for green space.
The central European city brags an expansive 1,800km of cycle lanes, and you can browse them all.
There are also spots to fix a puncture or find a pump on an interactive map.
If you’re just in town for a few days, make the most of WienMobil Rad, which is the city’s bike-share system, operated by city transport authorities.
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