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Getting Around Rome By Bike and Bicycle

"Getting Around Rome By Bike and Bicycle" submitted by RomeTour Editorial Team and last updated on Tuesday 10th January 2012

Getting Around Rome By Bike and Bicycle, Italy

Even moderately experienced cyclists, however, may find that cycling through Rome's streets offers an unparalleled way to learn the city intimately and get around very cheaply and efficiently. While the Roman traffic is certainly chaotic to someone from a country with more regimented and enforced rules of the road, Roman drivers are, generally speaking, used to seeing bicycles, as well as scooters and motorcycles, and one may move throughout the city relatively easily. If you are in a car's way, they will generally let you know with a quick beep of the horn and wait for you to move.

Bicycling alone can be stressful because of the traffic. The best way is to discover first how to move around and avoid traffic and stress with a guide thanks to one of the tours offered by almost all rental shops. There are different itineraries offered from the basic city center, panoramic Rome tour to the Ancient Parks (from €29 for 4h). The experience is well worth it and you would reduce also your impact on the city environment and on the traffic.

A 15 km long cycling track takes you from up-town - the Castel Giubileo dam in the northern side of Rome - to Ponte Risorgimento near the historic centre. The itinerary mostly unwinds along a natural environment coasting the Tiber; only the last three km run in downtown Rome.

The Cycling tracks in Rome run along the following itineraries:

On Sundays and holidays bicycles can be transported on the trains of the Railway Rome-Lido di Ostia (on the Roman coast) on the front carriage of each train. Groups of more than five bicycles must call the ATAC Call center(See below).

Rome bike path
Rome bike path

Bicycle and Scooter rental

Although most of the sights in Rome are within walking distance or accessible by public transportation, riding a bike or a scooter may give you more freedom to see exactly what you are interested in, and in less time. To really "do as the Romans do" you'll have to drive around on a Vespa - even though Rome is definitely not the place to learn how to operate a scooter! However, if you think you can handle it, you'll have no problem finding rental places all around the city. Most of them also rent bicycles:

Bike sharing Roma (Rome Bike Sharing Scheme):

Bike sharing in Rome
Bike sharing in Rome

Rome's public transport company, ATAC, operates a bike sharing scheme. The bicycles, which are green, are available at numerous locations in the downtown area and further afield. Whether it's faster or not, remains to be seen, but if you enjoy biking, this might be a great way to get around the city and see the sites. In the downtown area electronic cards can be obtained at the Metro ticket offices of Termini, Lepanto and Spagna. You have to register for the service at one of three points in city and pay a 5 euro fee. After that, you can "charge" the card with money to use the bikes. It costs 0.50 euro for every 30 minutes that you use the bike for a maximum of 24 hours. There are 22 Bike-Sharing around Rome, and you can see how many bikes each station has available by visiting their modified Google map. The rental cost is Euro 1 an hour. The application procedure is a bit cumbersome and you have to give credit card details but this is a good system if you want to move around Rome quickly and with minimal exhaustion. For further information about the service, how to subscribe and to take a look at the map of the stations to find out the exact situation of bikes available, to download the maps, you can take a look at the web site of ATAC Bike-Sharing, Bicycle route, Distance, Service points, etc. Here you will find everything you need including Refuel columns for mopeds and electric bicycles, Bike-Sharing Parking, Parking bicycles.

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