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Bike trips – Paris & environs

If you come on your own or with a very small group

City Hall multiplies one-way streets to discourage cars while increasing bicycle-lanes. It also provides protected bus-lanes that cyclists can use and very cheap bike rentals. One sees many more Parisians on bikes...

 

 

Background: Fontainebleau château, where we go via the forest...

Our guide is an American writer. One of his subjects – Paris's hidden villages and little-known sites. He creates bike-trips around these possibilities. As well:

 

 

  •  Parisian journey – from Bastille to the Eiffel Tower

 

 

Notre-Dame and bookstalls

 

From Bastille, we cross the Seine to the Institute of the Arab World (most important hommage to Arab civilization in Europe) and cycle past the book-sellers' stalls that line the Seine. We pass Notre-Dame and can enter it...

 

 

  • Explorations outside Paris

 

 
Invalides

 

We continue along the Seine's Left Bank past the Pont Neuf, with a detour into the delightful Place Dauphine. We come to the magnificent Musée d'Orsay and stop to admire its 19th-century decoration. We pass the Invalides with its shining dome, which harbors Napoleon's tomb.

 

The river bends. We come to the Eiffel Tower to picnic at its foot.

•  Biking along canals

 

Built in the 19th century for barge traffic and once extremely active, the canals Saint-Martin and de l'Ourcq are now serene.   

 

A two-hour bike ride takes us through a forest that is ideal for the picnic our guide brings.

 

We return by express train (RER). 

• Ancient stone villages 

 

We take the train at Gare Saint-Lazare northwest to Pontoise to cycle along the small departmental routes. We cross the Vexin national park, which is hilly – but the beautiful stone villages justify frequent stops.

     

     

    •Fontainebleau, forest and château...

     

    For a plus on Saturdays in July, please CLICK.

     

    • Costs, 1-5 people

     

    To guide, 250€ half day, 350€ full day

    To PEF, 20% + dues

    ° Bike rental and picnic included, RER and château entry not included

    ° Please have your own insurance.

     

     

     

    Credits: Fontainebleau photo / supplied by our guide; other photos / Claude Abron

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