Renting Bicycles in Paris

Road bicycles of good quality are unavailable to rent.

For information on obtaining hybrids or Road Bikes in France and Europe , as well as accessories, please refer to the author's page on renting for European tours.

In Paris, to sum up, while there is a good selection of locations renting city bicycles, it is probably impossible to rent a bicycle with which you will be thrilled for several days of touring out of Paris.  It is just possible to rent a decent hybrid of medium efficiency that will serve to bike one or more of the tours out of Paris mentioned on this site from:

Paris Vélo, 2-4 Rue du Fer-à-Moulin, fifth arrondissement (tel. 01-4337-5922), rents city bikes, as well as hybrids and mountain bikes.  Before going to any bike rental company, telephone to check what kinds of bikes are actually available.  In the case of this shop, also make sure you have an appointment (for which the owner may be somewhat late), as he is not always in his shop, and be sure to check out all aspects of the bicycle before taking it.  Paris Vélo only has a couple of hybrids of decent quality, as of the last visit in May, 2007.The author has alway chosen to rent here after checking out the other shops.

If this shop can't help you, the only other shop with hybrids and road bicycles, of mediocre quality, is Allo Vélo, 20 Rue d'Hauteville in the 10th Arrondissement, tel. 01 40 35 36 36. One correspondant suggest that the silver colored cycles are much more comfortable than the yellow ones.

City Bicycles

For city bicycles (upright position bicycles with chain guards, heavy frames, and wide tires), there are many choices.

For very short term rentals, consider a clunky bicycle rented by the city government of Paris under the name of Velib .  See the brochure in French at http://www.paris.centraldoc.com/html/parutions/n20/pdf/depliant.pdf and the internet site http://velib.paris.fr.

This city government system, with thousands of bicycles located all over Paris in "stations", allows you to rent a bicycle for one-half hour or less at no cost, and for longer at rapidly increasing rates, providing you have taken out a subscription (inexpensive).  Residents of Paris  who wish an annual subscription to the rental service pay a €150 deposit and a $29 annual fee by mail (see the brochure above).  Those who wish to subscribe by the day or week do so at the automatic computer terminals located at the bicycle stations.paying €1 for a day subscription and €5 for a week-long subscription. You need a credit card for the day and weekly subscriptions, and presumably you are charged at least €150 if you don't return the bicycle. You can search in advance for bicycle rental stations by entering your address on the velib internet site mentioned above, but in theory they will soon be located every few hundered meters throughout Paris.

You can usually get from one point to another within Paris by bicycle within the free one-half hour. (There is no need to return the bicycle at the same station that you rented it from.) The second 30 minutes costs €1.  After that the half-hours cost €2 each, that is, €4 for a second or third hour of rental.  After 3 1/2 hours, the rate rises to €4 per half-hour.

Since you can rent a better quality city bike from many bicycle rental shops for around €13 per day or €10 per half-day (2007), it does not make sense to rent Velib bicycles for more than two or three hours at a time, although you could always turn your bicycle in and rent another one thereafter.

There can also be glitches in the Velib system, although the City of Paris is working hard to eliminate them.  A station can be out of bicycles when you wish to rent, or full when you wish to return.  In this case the station's automatic computer terminal is supposed to direct you to nearby stations with availability, and, if you are returning, give you a time credit.  The popularity of the system has made it initially difficult to get a bicycle, but stations are being rapidly added. There are also problems of some bicycles having stolen or broken chains, flats, or bent-up wheels.  When a bike is unusable, the emerging convention seems to be to reverse the seat.  There are roving teams of repairers, and a boat that plys the Seine for more difficult repairs.The author of this site would appreciate feedback from readers with experience using the Velib system.

    Many of the private companies rent city bicycles and also have tandems and lead tours.  One address is: Paris à Vélo Sympa, 37 Boulevard Bourdon, near the Bastille (tel. 01-4887-6001)

There are many other choices in Paris for renting city bikes; check a yellow pages for a shop in your neighborhood. 

To rent city bicycles in the suburbs near Paris (at some train stations, at Versailles, at Fontainebleau, and so on), or elsewhere in France, try an Internet search and a yellow pages search using the words VELO or BICYCLE or CYCLES; LOCATION (renting) and the town or area name. The French yellow pages are on the Internet at:
http:// wfa.pagesjaunes.fr/pj.cgi?Lang=en. 

Probably you will be able to obtain a bike with a rear carrier or a handlebars bag, but if not, do as many French do and wear a small backpack. This may prove burdensome you on a weekend-long trip, so extra preparation is needed to rent or buy saddlebags (sacoches).  Better yet, bring a saddlebag from home. See the page renting for European tours for a discussion of the virtues of renting (if possible) versus bringing your own bicycle or (perhaps) buying and selling afterwards.

Be sure to select your own bike yourself, testing for fit and for mechanical adequacy.  Politely insist on any needed alterations.  You will be accommodated.

City bikes rarely break down, and distances within Paris are small.  If you will be biking for more than one day, or taking a city bike out of Paris proper, you may wish to ask your rental company for some tools, or visit a neighborhood hardware store.

Cycling within Paris:

The author finds cycling in Paris extremely exhilerating!  Paris is beautiful. The streets are very smooth. You move along faster than (often) stalled automobile traffic and even than most buses with their constant stops.  Only taxis pass you by.  A subway trip accross Paris which involved two line changes took 40 minutes door to door.  The same trip by bike took only 20 minutes.  This is not to knock the subway, it is very frequent, relatively fast, clean, and convenient.  What the author finds thrilling, you may well consider harrowing and dangerous.  Jjudge for yourself the emotional and physical risks involved!  And by all means be careful to cross traffic only at lights, and to ride out from parked cars!

As a short term tourist in Paris, in the author's opinion, walking, public transportation, and taxis are better options than bicycling.  You will see and experience much more as a walker, or from a bus or taxi, than you will as a cyclist; as a cyclist you must concentrate on the road, traffic, and pedestrians.

Bicking is best reserved for longer-term residents of Paris, for those staying for several weeks who want to make an excursion to the suburbs and the countryside, or for those who are making a bicycle tour of France that starts in, ends in, or traverses Paris..

To see an excellent bike map of Paris, visit the page (downloading is very slow):http://www.paris.fr/portail/viewmultimediadocument?multimediadocument-id=18436
The downlading process can be very slow, and hit or miss. Try again if necessary. This map is not detailed enough to replace a city street map in finding specific addresses. The little pocket-size booklets of maps by arrondissements, with listings of all street, are very useful and relatively inexpensive..

A handful of true bike paths, separated from traffic, exist within Paris! They are discussed, along with other well-sheltered bike paths, in this site's detailed directions for biking out of Paris. However, you won't usually find these useful for going around Paris itself.

To travel about Paris on a bicycle for business or pleasure, you will use a network of bike lanes, often shared with taxis and buses, and occasionally ride in the streets with traffic. New bike lanes are being added every year.  The lanes in Paris are usually on the right side of the street by the sidewalk, occasionally divided off from traffic by low bumps, or by foot-high barriers. Pedestrians may step out; cars may park illegally; taxis or buses may stop; alertness is required at all times.  Watch out especially for motor scooters, which weave between lanes and often ignore traffic rules.

When no bike lane exists, which is often, bikers ride with traffic. Paris is only a few kilometers across, so twenty minutes on a bike will take you between most destinations.  The author has several native French, Parisian friends who use their bicycles for most of their Paris transportation. Surprisingly, accidents are quite rare. When automobiles are parked at curbside, the author personally always ride out in traffic, away from the parked car doors, which he believes to be the greatest hazard facing cyclists.

If you find the street you are riding on too crowded or dangerous, consider walking your bike on the sidewalk. In half-an-hour or an hour of walking you can cross a large swath of Paris. Walking in Paris is always interesting and rewarding.

Try to avoid riding during rush hours. Also avoid, on non-summer weekdays, the 2nd, 3rd, and 10 arrondissements, starting about 10 blocks north of the Seine (north of Chatelet) and running north to the Gare de l'Est and the Gare du Nord railway stations. This is Paris' main wholesale garment and notions district. The bike lanes can be choked with traffic and parked cars. If it is necessary to bike to these railway stations from the Seine, the best choice is to follow the Canal Saint Martin from the Bastille, and cut across west to the stations. Or, despite its many lanes and traffic, take Boulevard de Strasbourg, which usually does not have parked cars blocking traffic. In summer, however, it is fine and even enjoyable to ride the side streets.

The best way of avoiding traffic on Paris streets, and pollution as well, is to ride early in the morning, before 7:30 a.m., or even 8:00 AM on weekdays and Saturdays, and before 9:00 or even 10:00 a.m. on Sundays. Riding early through Paris can be a magical experience.

Special Closures and free, patrolled, Group Biking

On Saturdays and Sundays, from March to November (possibly now year-round: check), the lower highway on the Right Bank of the Seine is closed to motorized traffic from the Tuilleries to the Pont Charles De Gaulle. During July and August it may always closed to motorized traffic. Bikers share the highway with "rollers" and pedestrians. Since the views along the Seine are spectacular, this is a popular outing. A "beach", complete with sand, palm trees and parasols is established along the lower highway during July and August (since, 2002); this attracts so many visitors that it is practically impossible to walk, much less to cycle.

Additional closures take place along the left bank quai in the 7th Arrondissement, and in the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes.

Every Friday evening a biking group of 500 or more riders, with 40 staff to stop traffic and a Red Cross vehicle that follows, leave City Hall (L'Hotel de Ville) at 10:00 pm (9:30 rendevous) for a 2 1/2 to 3 hour circuit around Paris. The route for the week can be found at the site: http://www.parisrandovelo.com. Click on the date that you are considering to see an itinerary. Similar rides take placeon the third Sunday of each month at 10:30 am.

Bicycles on Regional Trains – Subways:

For planning, obtain a métro, RER, local train map, available in all métro stations, or perhaps as part of your Paris guide book.

As of this writing (August 2001), bicycles are not allowed on the métros (subways), except on line 1 (Vincennes – Defense) on Sundays and holidays until 4:30 PM (and never at stations Louvre–Rivoli and La Défense).  

For the RERs (regional express network), the situation, described in the following three paragraphs, is complicated:

For all Ile-de-France regional trains  and RER C, D, E (which are part of the train system), bike entry is permitted at any time on weekends and holidays; and on weekdays towards Paris except between 6:30 and 9:00 AM, and away from Paris except between 4:30 AND 7:00 PM.  You can change from these lines to RER A and B (which are managed by the subway-bus system) except during both rush hour periods.

With RER lines A and B you must put your bike in cars at the extremities of the trains, which have a bicycle pictogram.  You can travel any time on weekends and holidays.  On weekdays, you may not travel in either direction during any rush hour period.

Good news! The RER has now opened all stations to entry and exit by bicycles, providing that you don't take your bicycle on the escalators.

However, many RER platforms for lines A, B & D are without elevators and deep underground, so you would face countless flights of steps. You don't want to take your bike into them without reconnoitering. For Line B to the airport, suggested Paris stations are the Gare du Nord on the right bank (elevators) and the Port Royal station on the left, where the platforms are very close to the surface . Not all Line B trains go to the airport. Check the video terminals.

You are responsible for your bike.  You must always walk your bike in the stations You should ask the ticket seller or any other official to open the gate that bypasses the turnstiles. You need your ticket both to enter and to exit the RER system.

Some RER stations now have special entrances and exits designed for bicycles, strollers and major luggage. You roll your bike into a large glass-enclosed space and a door closes behind you. You put your ticket into a slot and remove it to cause another door ahead of you to open. Very nifty.

For information on long distance trains, please see the page on Trains and Bicycles in the European Bike Touring section of this site.

From the airport into Paris by Taxi, Bus, RER, or Bike

For a discussion on how to transport or ride your bicycle from either Charles De Gaulle Airport or from Orly Airport into Paris, please go to this page.

Parking your bike while in Paris

Are you bringing your bicycle to Paris and looking for a place to park it out of harm's way? Three options are: 1) lock it on the street; 2) store it at a railway station; 3) keep it at your hotel.

In many neighborhoods of Paris, bicycles are found locked to the grills along the street, or to the specific poles for that purpose in some special parking areas for "two wheels" (used mainly by motorcycles). However, except occasionally during the day, you will not find a top quality bike locked up this way. The ones that are locked up would probably not fetch much, if stolen and sold. However some travelers have chosen this method of free parking. If you plan to do so, you probably ought to bring two fairly heavy u-bar or chain locks, one for the front wheel and one for the rear wheel and frame, and a third lighter weight lock for the seat (or remove your seat). Then strip your bike of any easily removed or valuable accessories. Chose a spot to lock your bike in plain view of passers by.

The second alternative is to lock your bike at manned luggage room (consigne) in some railway stations. Panniers may be left at no additional charge. The information below is believed to be correct in the summer of 2002.

Montparnasse station (Gare Montparnasse), serving the west and southwest of France, and Spain: BICYCLES STORED. The consigne is located in the front of the station, that is the side facing south, with the glass wall, on a mezzanine just below and accessible from the upper level. The charge for storing a bicycle for 24 hours is € 5.30.

North station (Gare du Nord), serving the north of France, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, and also the RER line from the airport: BICYCLES STORED. The consigne is located on the west end of the train platform access area (to the left as you face the station from the street), down a flight of stairs. The charge for storing a bicycle for 24 hours is € 4.50.

East station (Gare de l'Est), serving the east of France, northern Switzerland and Germany: NO STORAGE OF BICYCLES. The closest station with storage is the North station, a few blocks away.

Austerlitz station (Gare d'Austerlitz), serving the south-central part of France: BICYCLES STORED. The entrance to the consigne is in the courtyard on the north side of the station, i.e., to the right of the building as you enter from the direction of the Jardin des Plantes. The charge for storing a bicycle for 24 hours is € 5.30.

St. Lazare station (Gare St. Lazare), serving the northwest of France, i.e., Normandy and northern Brittany: NO STORAGE OF BICYCLES. No other station is close by.

Lyon station (Gare de Lyon), serving the region southeast of Paris, including Burgundy, the Cote d'Azur, and much of Switzerland, and Italy. NO STORAGE OF BICYCLES. The closest station with storage is the Austerlitz station, just across the Seine.

3) The third alternative is to store your bike at your hotel. This is an excellent solution, and it works almost without exception in the countryside, but in central Paris only a few hotels will accept bicycles, because there is no place to put them. The author has asked around a bit, and has found several moderate priced and inexpensive hotels that will accept one or two bicycles. So it is possible for a couple of travelers. Do try calling several hotels personally, being very polite, and probably you will find one accepts bikes. Hotels with a small courtyard or luggage room are possible candidates. Even after a "no", people may empathize with your situation, if it is explained. Explain what you are doing and ask the hotel if they have any suggestions. Maybe they will.

Biking Out of Paris

You may start your trip from the center of Paris, or leave Paris by a regional train.  To get to and from the railway stations from your lodging, or to get to any of the bike routes leaving Paris, you must ride or walk your bike in Paris. Once at the start of the bike routes described on this site, you will be mainly sheltered from traffic, and often on a bike path.

Because the routes suggested below avoid traffic and use bike paths, they generally do not pass food stores. One good method for avoiding hunger is to leave Paris with a bottle of spring (or regular) water, a sandwich, and some energy food.  Another is to deviate from the route to a nearby shopping area -- perhaps to buy a chocolate éclair, or other tempting, usually fattening alternatives. Some cyclists may prefer to visit local restaurants or snack bars. The itineraries occasionally mention such alternatives.

<To Best Biking Routes Out of Paris>
<To Bicycle Touring in Europe—Part I>

To HomePage