Bicycling in Stockholm

If you are going to be in Stockholm a few days and the weather is nice, a great form of transportation is bicycling.
Scandinavia, particularly Stockholm, is very bicycle-friendly. The Swedish Road Administration and other Swedish associations for promoting bicycling have been working to make bicycling more attractive. They want provide reliable, accessible, accurate information about where to ride fastest and safest.
Because Stockholm is dedicated to expanding the ecological transportation alternatives available to those in Stockholm, there are an ever increasing number of bicycles available to rent throughout the city. There are places around Stockholm where you can rent a bicycle, for example, CityBikes or Gamla Stans Cykel.
Once you have a bike, where should you ride? You can check with the Stockholm Visitors Board, as they have a great pamphlet (called “att cykla i Stockholm city”) available about bicycling in Stockholm.

There is an online website that has route maps with the fastest and safest bicycle paths all over the city and information about where to park the bike to continue on using public transport.

The bike paths are along busy arteries, carved into sidewalks, and along waterfront esplanades, making for ways for bicycles to go almost anywhere. You can go to the medieval narrow streets of Gamla Stan (Old Town) or to the modern parks at Djurgarden, or the trail around Sodermalm. There are wooden boats in the harbor you can ride past, and you can eat at the waterside in a little café. There are many places to swim, too.

Be sure to wear a helmet. It is the safest, and some “rent-a-bike” plans come with a free helmet! Stockholm has many bike-only paths that are generally away from the automobile traffic, but there are still many places where the cyclists and drivers must share the road.