Spring is finally in full bloom and we are itching to get outside at every chance, especially with our older son’s newly-learned ‘real’ bicycle riding! Germany is incredibly friendly for biking. With much of the landscape fairly flat and with very well marked trails, often bicycle-only, you’ll see tons of bicyclists from young to old out enjoying the ride. If you have small children, fear not, as biking in Germany is quite child friendly. We pack our littlest one into our favorite Chariot bike trailer, and you will often run across playgrounds and biergartens (casual outdoor eating) enroute.There are a number of great guides to lead you on your biking journeys. One of our favorites is Biking with Kids around Stuttgart (in German), and Bikeline produces a few maps in English (Cyclin
g the German Danube).One important tip to deal with crowds on the weekends. .. You definitely need a bell on your bicycle, and don’t be afraid to use it! I was at first nervous at being rude, but it is in fact no problem and quite helpful in getting past slower riders or walkers.
In later posts, I’ll tell you about some of the bike rides we’ve enjoyed around Germany with our kids!
4 comments:
We love cycling wit our kids. Shorter trips in the park we let our oldest ride his bike and the little one goes in the trailer. Longer trips we can still fit both of them in the trailer. We plan to make it from Bonn to Koblenz this summer!
Love reading your blog! Quick question for you if it is not too much trouble: I've been looking into bike possibilities for my 3 year old having outgrown her tricycle, and keep finding reference to european children using walking bikes or balance bikes. Have you found this to be the case?
Hi Veronica!
Thanks for the compliment! Yes, we looooove the "running bikes". We can highly recommend them and you can also buy them in the States. See here, including links to buy them at amazon.com (click on like-a-bike) http://www.baroquebabies.com/2009/02/like-bike.html and here: http://www.baroquebabies.com/2009/04/from-running-bike-to-pedal-bike.html
I just got a bike with a child's seat on the back and am slowly gaining courage in biking around my town. Once I make it to the forest near my house, it's wonderful...but the drivers here still make me really nervous. My daughter really loves it, though, and I hope to keep it up.
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