We have been in Paris for two of our six night stay so far. I was intrigued by the Velib bike system here and after reading some posts on this forum I really wanted to give it a try. Problem was convincing my wife to ride in the city so I came up with a plan. I booked a tour with Blue Bike which she grudgingly agreed to try. Turns out she had a great time, felt safe riding with a group and a guide and the tour was really fun and informative. We stopped at many of the major sites (only outside of course) and saw some smaller points that we would have never known about otherwise. I highly recommend Blue Bike although Fat Bike probably does an equally good job. Biking around the city is just easy and fun.
Step two of my plan was to sign up online for the Velib system which means you don't need the elusive chip and pin card to use the system. A seven day pass costs €7 and if you don't keep the bike out for more than 30 minutes at a time you don't pay anymore that the €7 Sign up fee. We have a Velib station outside our rental apartment which I saw on Google street view which was also a reason I wanted to try it. Today we rode the bikes to a wine class near the Louve and then to the Orsay. It cut our walking in half and really was easy and fun. While I'm sure it's not for everyone, for this mid fifties semi active couple it is working out well. Riding down along the Siene which has almost no traffic would be worth the cost of signing up even if thats all you ever did.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Glad it's working out for you.
Just watch those bus lanes on the other-wise one way streets, where the bus is coming from the opposite direction than the rest of the one-way traffic.
Stay safe.
Posted by
Eugene, Oregon...Formerly Ventura, CA
2261 posts
Richard, my better half was not excited about navigating a bicycle in central Paris, either, as much as I wanted to. While we did not do it, there are a couple good places to check out without the car traffic, such as the Bois de Vincennes or the Bois de Boulogne, the latter of which has a Velib stand nearby, probably more than one. I'm not sure if Velib extends to Vincennes, but I have read that there are rental bikes available there.
Have a great time and let us know how it goes!
Posted by
OP
Los Angeles
1825 posts
Thanks Kent and Dave. We are only riding with the flow of traffic and everyone seems to respect the bikers. I checked with our guide and it's OK to ride on the sidewalks or otherwise improvise without fear of a ticket from the police. For the wide sidewalks without a lot of pedestrians sometimes that is the best route. The most comfortable is when we follow along with a local although we don't try to weave around traffic like they do. I amended my original post about riding down along the river for some traffic free easy traveling.
Posted by
Chicago
8035 posts
Just be aware that that improvising does not include parks. I have seen tourist bikers on those little tiny suitcase bikes get tickets in the Luxembourg Gardens because biking is not allowed in the parks. (it was ridiculous as the tourists were on these dweedly little toy bikes (small wheels high seats, ridiculous looking things -- and they were doing about 2 miles an hour -- the cops ignored the bikers speeding by on 10 speeds because they couldn't catch them but ticketed these obviously clueless tourists who really only needed to be told it was not allowed.
Posted by
Chicago
8035 posts
Just be aware that that improvising does not include parks. I have seen tourist bikers on those little tiny suitcase bikes get tickets in the Luxembourg Gardens because biking is not allowed in the parks. (it was ridiculous as the tourists were on these dweedly little toy bikes (small wheels high seats, ridiculous looking things -- and they were doing about 2 miles an hour -- the cops ignored the bikers speeding by on 10 speeds because they couldn't catch them but ticketed these obviously clueless tourists who really only needed to be told it was not allowed.
Posted by
Denver, CO
731 posts
Richard,
I was so tempted to rent a Velib bike on my last trip to Paris, but ended up not doing it - now I wish I had, it sounds great. Next time!! Like you said, just biking along the Seine would be worth it.
Keep having a great time!
Posted by
OP
Los Angeles
1825 posts
We've been home now for a few weeks so I thought I'd post a little follow up. We used the Velib bikes every day of our trip and never used any public transport other than a few taxis. My wife was very comfortable riding around the city towards the end of the week and prefered it to the congestion of public transport. After studying Google maps (obsessively) and it being our second visit I was pretty good at finding my way around. Paris is easy since you always have the river as a point of reference. A cheap paper map with destinations marked and strategically folded along with a small compass is the way to go. The Velib app on a smartphone is pretty handy but you need to figure out a data strategy before your trip. We got rather good at recognizing the signs pointing out the bike paths and when to go down toward the riverbank or not. We also learned it was easier to make a left turn by staying to the right and using the crosswalk instead of standing in the middle of the street to make the turn with the cars.
Riding the bikes was one of our more memorable activities and the cost and convenience was minor compared the fun and freedom of mobility we had. It saved our feet and my wife's Plantar Fasciitis was probably helped by the pedaling (she said).
Can't recommend it enough!
Posted by
Idaho
71 posts
Thanks for your post! This sounds great! We don't have time enough to do this but we are thinking of joining a bike tour through Bike About Tours - we will definitely think about this in the future.
Kelly