Bicycles in Budapest and Prague

Bicycles are pretty common in Budapest, and in all parts of town despite the traffic. The safest and most enjoyable place to ride would probalby be Margaret Island which is a rather large island in the Danube on the north side of town. Its well within walking distance of the major sites and easy to get to by tram if thats your choice. I am pretty sure you can rent on the island, as well as peddal cars. In case I am wrong, to be safe you could rent a bike at Yellow Zebra Bikes behind the Opera house and ride over to the island. http://www.yellowzebrabikes.com/

I saw cyclists in Prague, too. But Prague is quite hilly and a lot of streets are cobblestone. There are a lot of parks in Prague. Large park Stromovka could be nice for cycling because it is flat. I am sure there are rental stores in Prague. I would not say plentiful. Try google for more information and also TI in Prague. Sorry I never cycled in Prague. But I did in south Bohemia and Moravia.

Jon, I was amazed to see bicyclists streaming down the main boulevard, Andrassy ut, while I was eating dinner at Abszint two years ago; and then, again, on my way up Andrassy headed to Liszt Ferenc ter...bear in mind, that it seemed to be rush hour both times! And the heavy traffic seemed to be civilized. I would defer to James on where bicycling is best suited, but I do know that what I saw on the main street of Pest I'd never expect to see in Nashville.

There is a dedicated bicycle lane on Andrassy Ut, with bumps on the edge to help cars keep out.

Thanks:
I believe we'll give cycling a try. We thought we could see more of both cities "up close" on a bicycle than we could by only walking. A bicycle also allows some serendipitous stops along the way to check-out interesting things. If renting a bicycle, does the rental include a lock, or is it pretty safe to leave a bicycle unlocked if we stop at a cafe, etc?

Several of the major roads have bicycle lanes. You just asked for a place away from the commercial and Margaret Island is sort of the NYC Central Park of Budapest. Google it and see some pictures. Very pretty. But yes, you can bicycle to most of the major sites in Budapest without much worry about getting run over. With the crowds I saw in Prague bicycling might be a little more interesting there. Go, have fun.