The city of Paris, with its large geographical area and limited parking spaces, is ideal for bicycle riding. Many residents now ride bikes, and luckily for visitors to Paris, there are several options for bike rentals.
The Paris City Hall oversees a self-service bicycle rental system called Vélib'.
Available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, Vélib' has hundreds of bike pick-up and drop-off stations throughout Paris, where for one Euro, you can rent a bike for up to 30 minutes.
When you reach your destination, you just turn in the bike at any nearby Vélib' station. The program has thousands of three-speed bikes, and you can also purchase a seven-day ticket or an annual pass.
Commercial bicycle rentals are readily available, as well. One of the most popular is Fat Tire Bike Tours, which offers rentals by the hour or day, but their most popular offerings are guided bike tours throughout Paris.
The four-hour Day Bike Tour covers 6.5 miles past sites such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Napoleon's Tomb, Tuileries Gardens, and the Rodin Museum.
The Night Bike Tour also lasts four hours, but covers 8.2 miles along a different route and includes a boat cruise with free wine.
For more adventurous bikers, Fat Tire Bike Tours offers a full-day tour to Versailles; this is an excellent way to see the vast tree-lined gardens that are too large to explore on foot.
