Bike Rentals - Lucca

Yes - Riding the walls is a great experience and bikes are a great way to get around in Lucca - which is surprisingly large. There are a number of bike rental agencies located inside the major gates of the wall.

just inside the Porta Santa Maria gate, on Piazza Santa Maria are two bike rental places, with a handy Tourist Info centre between. I don't remember the names of the rental places, but they were very reasonably priced. The bike ride is very easy, the route is flat and safe. It's great to peek down into the town, and pick sites to go scope out later on foot! I highly recommend the bike ride - we went twice around, once in each direction, rode quite slowly, and I think we were done in about an hour.

Don't get a tandem bike unless you and your partner are experienced riding them. It was very crowded with foot traffic on the day we rented a bike. Turned out to be not much fun dodging errant children and seemingly drunk strollers. I wouldn't do it again. I'd walk. The walls take about 25 minutes, even at a slow pace, to circumnavigate by bike. There is a gelato shop right next to the bike rentals. Page 307, RS Italy has info.

Ann: Yes - it is certainly worth it. We have done it twice - First in 2004 with the kids - they had a blast. We rode around twice and had a nice little picnic. In 2007 we did it with two other couples and we all had tandem bikes. We did not experience any of the problems the other poster reported. We might have been the tipsy ones as we had a more adult picnic on the ramparts. Lastly, try to be in Lucca on Saturday morning. It seems EVERYONE is out on the main street to shop (and see and be seen). Have fun.