For me, one of the most pleasant aspects of Vienna was how bike-friendly the city was. It is the 16th bike-friendly city in the world, and 4th in Europe. Vienna has over 1.300 km of cycle paths, some of which are in areas with hardly traffic. There is a public bike rental system – Citybike -available to rent in order to get around, and several other bicycle rentals and bike sharing providers, which makes biking the most exciting way to discover Vienna.
Within my third visit to Vienna, I invested in a bike here as well, which now, after my move, I use every day to get to class and from class, and during the weekend, sometimes I take the Donau Kanal route, which is so great and freeing, to pedal alongside the water and the nearby floating ships.
The Ring Straße also has a wonderful route, which I bike on the way to the Donau Kanal. It was a pleasant surprise to see how many people are biking in Vienna, certainly an improvement to my homecity. It was also an adjustment, to pay attention to other bikers in traffic, and to be mindful of pedestrians, or even more so, as a pedestrian, to make sure to avoid the bike lanes. Funny story: sometimes, I’m so used to standing at the traffic light on the bike spot, that as a pedestrian I sometimes find myself in the same spot and say “oooh, wrong isle”.
How do you like the biking culture in Vienna?