Biking in Baltic Ports

We are going on a Baltic cruise and would like a review of biking in the Baltic ports of call (St. Petersburg, excluded, of course.) Specifically, we are interested in the terrain and difficulty in biking in Helskinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Tallinn. Also, if you know of a private bike tour company in Stockholm, we would be interested in that information as well.

Thanks

Biking is a major mode of transportation in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Both are really pretty flat. We wished we had had our bikes there. You can rent them in both cities.

In Helsinki, it was pouring rain, so a bike wouldn't have been a good choice that day.

Tallinn is good for walking because everywhere that most tourists are interested in is in a fairly compact area. I think a bike there would be more trouble than it is worth.

Here is the Helsinki metropolitan cycling and outdoor map. You should be able to get a similar map for free at tourist info points.

http://ptp.hel.fi/ulkoilukartta/default.asp?l=3

We are biking the Baltics too. What ship are you on? We are bringing our folding bikes and writing a travel article on the experience. In some cities we are going on organized tours and some we have a private guide.

Celebrity Century leaving Amsterdam on May 21. I've come up with bike tours in every city except Stockholm and the cruise company wants an arm and a leg for a 3 hour bike tour ($82 pp). Any ideas on a tour company in Stockholm?

Dogprof

We are going on a Baltic cruise and would like a review of biking in the Baltic ports of call (St. Petersburg, excluded, of course.)

Thanks

Why not St Petersburg? It is easy to get the bike in, just fill out a customs form to show that you brought it in so you can prove you did not buy it here.

Lots of people enjoy bicycling in St Petersburg but not many foreigners do it. You need a visa however so you don't need a guide to provide the visa free entry. I have a touring bike myself and ride it all over the city, it is particularly stunning early in the morning.

Here is the Helsinki metropolitan cycling and outdoor map.

To be fair, I'd have to say that Helsinki is not good to cyclists and certainly not in the same league as Stockholm. Many of the downtown cycle tracks are far too narrow and not properly separated from the roadway or sidewalk.

On shared tracks, drivers are generally far from considerate and pedestrians easily get upset, understandably so when someone unexpectedly goes hurtling past a few inches away.

The rentabike system (insert a coin and get it back when you return) is cheaper than Stockholm, which is probably why the bikes are vandalised and stolen so much. Don't rely on anything rideable being available.

The rentabike system (insert a coin and get it back when you return) is cheaper than Stockholm, which is probably why the bikes are vandalised and stolen so much. Don't rely on anything rideable being available.

I agree. The quality of the rentabike on the street bikes is horrible. Don't rely on them.

There are two bike touring companies in Stockholm:

1.Tour company Scanbalt Contact kristofer@scanbaltexperience.com

2. Tour Company http://www.stockholmadventures.se Contact: tomas@stockholmadventures.se

I'd be interested in comments from anyone who has done some of the bicycle tours offered by cruise lines, especially in Baltic ports like Ronne (Bornholm), Klaipeda (Curonian Spit), Visby (Gotland), Tallinn and Mariehamm (Aland). I'm in decent shape and have done quite a bit of road cycling, and this kind of touring sounds as if it might be a good way to experience some of these areas - and burn off a few shipboard calories, too.

I'd be interested in comments from anyone who has done some of the bicycle tours offered by cruise lines, especially in Baltic ports like Ronne (Bornholm), Klaipeda (Curonian Spit), Visby (Gotland), Tallinn and Mariehamm (Aland). I'm in decent shape and have done quite a bit of road cycling, and this kind of touring sounds as if it might be a good way to experience some of these areas - and burn off a few shipboard calories, too.

We have rented bikes DIY in Tallinn and Visby - I just Googled bike rentals for both ports - Visby the bike rental shop is within walking distance of the tender dock - across the street from the dock area - fabulous biking on the island and town of Visby. self guided in Visby. In Tallinn we walked into the old town - fair distance - and rented bikes - the young tour guide took the group out of the Old Town and we visited Soviet era Tallinn - a local market, a former Soviet prison for political prisoners and a Soviet era submarine were just a few of the highlights of our tour. Our young tour guide had definite opinions about the Soviet occupation of his country....check out DIY - definitely cheaper than the ship's shore excursions. Ship's bike excursion was $100.00 pp in Visby - We are renting bikes DIY in Reykjavik this summer - good luck and remember - "Only you can pedal your bike!"

We just got back recently from our Baltic cruise. We booked a private bike tour for our family of 5 in Tallin. It was fabulous. It's one of the tours my 3 daughters still talk about. Our guide was excellent and she truly engaged our girls. The price was reasonable at 15 Euro per person. We booked through Tallin Traveller Tours. Ours was a private version of the Funky Bike tour.

http://www.traveller.ee/tallinn-bike-tours

Bump

Anyone know if these suggestions are still good? Any other cycling recommendations?

I am a fairly advanced cyclist but would be delighted to hear any and all experiences.

The early posts in this thread are 8 years old, so many things are better nowadays. Copenhagen is still one of the very best biking cities in the world. Stockholm and Helsinki have done a lot to make biking a more attractive form of transport over past years and are still working on this Stockholm being somewhat ahead. If you are comfortable riding a bike in traffic on smaller streets and on bike lanes or bike paths on busier ones, you will do fine. Tallinn's old town is on a hill and all cobble stone so it is not the best place for biking.

Bike rental and bike tours are offered by several companies in all ports. Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki also have city bike systems. The system in Helsinki is not the same as in the 2009 posts above but a new one launched in 2016. You can find the city bike system websites here: Copenhagen: https://bycyklen.dk/en/ ; Stockholm: http://www.citybikes.se/p/site/user-information ; Helsinki: https://www.hsl.fi/en/citybikes

Depending on your interests you might want to book a guided bike tour, rent a bike for the whole day, or use a city bike system for moving from place to place.

The following link from youtube is from instacruising who was a cruise ship dancer last year. Here is one of his visits showing renting bikes. Last year they rented bikes several times. I really enjoyed his visits and coverage of several countries/cities multiple times.

sightcrr

Thanks for the link. That's a great resource!