A Cyclist's Paradise, Travelling Berlin on Two Wheels

Bicycle tours – © Pierre Adenis

Cycling is becoming more popular in Berlin, as the flat city landscape means that it's relatively easy to get from one place to another without having to waste time and energy looking for a parking space, paying for a parking ticket or sitting in traffic jams.

Even visitors to Berlin enjoy the activity of cycling while taking a sightseeing tour of the capital city. Longer distances, such as between the Brandenburg Gate and Alexanderplatz, can be easily overcome on a comfortable bike. Even jaunts through the Tiergarten or to one of the many lakes in the city have their own appeal.

Rental Stations

Numerous bicycle rental stations are available across the city, with most of them located in Berlin Mitte (for example near Friedrichstraße station), Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain or near the Zoologischer Garten station. The rental fee is around €10 a day, depending on your choice of a simple three-speed bike or a sports bike.

Guided Bicycle Tours

Those wishing to explore Berlin by bike have a choice of guided tours that enable you to experience very different sides of the city. These range from tours of the well-known sights to tours based around particular subjects, such as wine tours.

Bicycle Tours - Discovering Berlin by Bike

You can discover Berlin completely your own way with the detailed tour recommendations including maps. The bicycle tours each focus on different themes and offer exciting routes as well as special insider tips.

Cycle Paths and Routes in Berlin

Cyclists now have access to routes stretching over 900 kilometres. Meanwhile, the city is hard at work developing new cycle routes to create safe and attractive connections between the most important places in the city. Starting from the Schlossplatz in the city centre, 12 cycle routes will travel out like the spokes of a wheel to the outer suburbs of the city, with another eight routes connecting these routes to each other.

20 out of a total of 27 cycle routes have already been completed. The result is an extensive network of cycle routes with kilometre markings to take cyclists across the city on side streets.

So you can, for example, ride from the Rotes Rathaus via Alexanderplatz and Karl-Marx-Allee, with its architecturally interesting Stalin-era buildings, all the way to Lichtenberg and Marzahn. Alternatively, you can follow the "students' route" from the Free University in idyllic Dahlem all the way to Kreuzberg.

The colourful Kreuzberg district is also perfect for exploring by bike, with its many shops, pubs and cafés around Bergmannstraße, Chamissoplatz and Südstern.

In addition, long-distance bike trails running through the German capital have also been completed. These include, among others, the route to the resort island of Usedom. The construction works on the section of the route running through Berlin have been completed. The same applies to the European Bicycle Route R1. Over a distance of 3,500 kilometres, this route will connect Calais in France to St. Petersburg in Russia.

The route to Copenhagen has already been completed. Sports enthusiasts can now cycle the 630 kilometres from Berlin, through the German states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, to the Danish capital.

Bike Tours – Tracing the Path of the Wall

Especially popular is a bike ride along the Mauerweg, a path which follows the course of the former Berlin Wall. The mostly paved former border patrol road is still largely intact and is well suited for cycling. In the city centre, the path of the wall is partly marked with a paved strip; mostly, the traces of the wall can be pursued here on quiet back streets.

Call-a-Bike: A Special Offer from Deutsche Bahn

The German rail company Deutsche Bahn has been offering Call-a-Bike, a special service for cyclists, since 2002. It has set up more than 1,650 red and silver touring bikes that can be borrowed free of charge at the city's major crossroads and on mainline and S-Bahn rail stations. The bikes can then be returned at any other Call-a-Bike location in the city.

Tour Planner

The tour planner by bbbike.de covers all primary and secondary roads in Berlin and Potsdam. If a road isn't recognised, the next street will be automatically detected.

More at www.bbbike.de

Another route planner, not just for Berlin but for the whole of Europe, is komoot.de, which also offers a smartphone app. Participation is free for a single region; additional regions are available for a fee.

More at www.komoot.de