Bike rental in Rotterdam

Explore Rotterdam by bike

Biking is an excellent way to get around within the city. Rotterdam is a pretty compact city and all landmarks, museums, bars and restaurants are at most 20 biking minutes away. Rotterdam is a biker-friendly city and offers many especially designed bicycle lanes. There are lot of companies where you can rent a bike in Rotterdam and explore the city with the wind in your face!

Bike rental companies in Rotterdam

There are several rental companies that rent out bikes in Rotterdam. You can rent bikes with Rijwielshop Rotterdam CS near Rotterdam Central Station. They offer city bikes, tandem bikes, electrical bikes and even child seats. At Use-it is you can rent a green Kronan citybike. Rotterdam ByCycle rents out bikes as well but only to groups of 10 or more persons. You can rent the green Kronan citybike here and explore Rotterdam with your own group or join one of the guided bicycle tours in Rotterdam. The StayOkay Hostel located within the Cube Houses near Blaak station rents out bikes as well. Furthermore, Zilt aan de Maas, located next to Spido, has rental mountain and city bikes. OV-Fiets is the bike rental company managed by the Dutch Railways, located at the stations in Rotterdam. Gobike Rotterdam offers sophisticated electric bikes at several docking stations in the city. Last but not least you can rent a bike with Kuijpers Tweewielers, located in the north of Rotterdam.

Cycling in Rotterdam: traffic regulations

The bike lanes are easily identified by their reddish colour and as biking is really safe in the Netherlands, there is no need to wear a helmet, unlike in other countries. The street trams in Rotterdam always have right of way! In Holland, all vehicles from the right have right of way, including cyclists. But watch out: many drivers are unaware of this rule!

Guarded cycle parking

Unfortunately bicycle theft is common in the Netherlands, so always make sure that you securely lock up your bike, preferably with a chain attached to a lamppost or fence. At night keep your bike inside or at least within a guarded bicycle parking such as the one at Rotterdam Central Station or Station Rotterdam Blaak.

Bike Parking Rotterdam Central

You are allowed to park your bike just anywhere, but at Rotterdam Central Station you are allowed to park your bike in the reserved spaces only! Under Rotterdam Central Station there are two huge bicycle parkings. It's free but unguarded. Furhtermore there's a bike parking with video surveillance. By the way, you are not allowed to travel by public transport in Rotterdam with your bike.

Bicycle routes in Rotterdam

Biking is not only the most effective means of transport, there are also a couple of tourist biking routes that lead you to Rotterdam's most beautiful sights, such as the harbour, parks or rivers. On the website www.fietseninregiorotterdam.nl many tailor-made routes are available just for free. Plan your own cycle route by linking several cycle junctions. The cycle junctions along the paths can be identified by the green signs with white text (see photo). The routes vary in distance and are also suitable for children as the Netherlands are totally flat. Theoretically you could cycle to the other side of the country by linking all those cycle routes.

Riding the dikes and exploring the port

At the website www.fietsen.123.nl there are several cycling routes within and around Rotterdam. At the Rotterdam Tourist Office at Coolsingel, the guidebook 'Cycling the dikes in Rotterdam' is available for free. A guidebook with routes through the Rotterdam port can be found on www.stadshavensrotterdam.nl.