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Bike trips - Paris & environs
If you come on your own or with a very small group
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City Hall multiplies one-way streets to discourage cars while increasing bicycle-lanes. It also provides protected bus-lanes that cyclists can use - and cheap bike rentals.
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One sees many more Parisians cycling...
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 - 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: |
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- Parisian journey - from Bastille to the Eiffel Tower
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 - 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
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 - 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.
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• 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).
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• 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... with a plus on Saturdays in July
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•Bike rental: We use the City's new bike-renting service - our guide will explain how it works.
•Please have your own insurance.
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