Bicycling in Barcelona

One of the good things in Barcelona is to move on 2 wheels not only because there are a good weather and few raining days during the year but also because the city has many bike tracks dedicated to this kind of transport.

Like in some countries as Italy, China… there are a lot of motorbikes and bicycles because it is the best way to move, to avoid traffic jam and to park everywhere for free. I don’t know for the other countries but I do believe it is the same, here in Barcelona, a lot of people steal them, particularly the best ones.

In some cases, they take only one wheel or the seat if

they can’t rob the bicycle, just for bothering you and to say “ok I can’t get it but you won’t use it tomorrow”. I can tell you that it is very annoying when you leave home and find out this bad luck. On the other hand, some people who have enough space at home, bring it inside.

If you come in this city for holidays, you won’t have this problem, at least not so much because when you will rent a bike, you will have to return it before that the shop closes. In some hotels, you can have a bike free during your stay at Barcelona. But even that, during the day, you may have to park it somewhere to enter in a restaurant, in a shop, in a museum… so one advice, if you have no choice to let it without surveillance, lock it to a post with the frame and the front wheel and if you have a second chain, the rear wheel, the frame and the seat.

Above all, don’t lock only the front wheel with the post because it is the easiest part to remove so when you will go back for your bicycle, you will find only the wheel. If you don’t have a second chain and for more precaution, take the seat with you.

You will also discover that in many places, there are a row of bikes with white and red colors called bicing. Bicing is a service offered by the City Hall to its citizens to promote an ecological public transport, at least to the people who live minimum 1 year, so unfortunately, tourists can’t enjoy it. If you plan to live here, just go to the city hall of your district, fill up a form and after paying a fee, you will get a personal card allowing you to use the bike for 30 minutes minimum. For each extra minute, you will have to pay some cents more.

Whatever your situation, you will enjoy cycling because the City Hall has put in place special tracks, not in all its streets but most of them, so meanwhile you are biking, you will have spaces between you and cars and between you and walkers. In spite of all those facilities, be cautious and respect the passer-bys when you will share the same sidewalk.

If you want to know where you can rent a bike, I suggest you to read my topic Alternative transports. For the bicing, go to its official website (no english version). For a map of the city with bicing stations and bike tracks, click here to download it in pdf format (no english version).