The Organic Traveller
Sunday, 23 October 2022

Travelling Europe by Bike (and Train): Munich to Venice

Many years ago I noticed a sign post in Munich: This way to Venice on bike. Since then the idea has been developing, and this summer I had almost sufficient time off to get on the road from Munich to Venice. Almost: To cross the Alps and the Dolomites comfortably, in style and on the same motorless bike used in daily city traffic five days are not enough. In addition, the weather forecast for my first day off announced heavy rains on the way from Munich.

MunichInnsbruck by train and bike

So we decided on a lazy start with a local train to Lengries in the afternoon. Starting off in perfect bicycle weather, we were soon caught by pouring rain. It turned out that on the German side, the bridge over the Walchen river was the only shelter on the route. The route itself followed a pattern common for all Bavarian bikeroutes I have taken so far: straight paved road for cars, much up and down and lots of gravel on the bikeroute. The reward: Breathtaking views over both, the Sylvensteinspeicher dam and the Walchen river.

bridge over the river Walchen

After the Austrian border cyclists are taken better care of: Most of the time the signposts guided us on separate or low-traffic ways, all paved. No need for a map or a GPS so far, all the way to Jenbach.

When we approached picturesque lake Achensee the rain had ceased but the sun already started to set. So there was no time to stop for an organic farmers' ice-cream ("Biobauernhofeis") at Seestraße, to the left of the gate to the public bathing beach at the Northern part of the lake and marvel its deserted beauty after the rain. So I'm really sorry I did not stop to map the ice-cream kiosk on OSM! A little further South I also noticed a shop advertising locally produced natural bodycare and organic herbs: Kräuterhüttl. Obviously, this is tourist land.

Instead we pedalled fast to reach a late urban train from Jenbach to Innsbruck where we arrived late. The twisting road downhill to Jenbach is steep – cyclists in Jenbach must be fit! In the dark and even though there was little car traffic at that time of the day it wasn't the fun it otherwise could have been. From Jenbach the urban trains S4 and S5 run by S-Bahn Tirol give cyclists a welcome and reliable shortcut all the way uphill to Innsbruck.

Brenner Pass and Puster Valley: Innsbruck–Terenten/Terento by train and bike

Given our tight time budget we decided to continue lazily the second day: The urban train S3 from Innsbruck to Brenner/Brennero is a comfortable shortcut for the tedious (and ugly) way uphill trusted by cyclists (not only lazy us). At the once nice border station between Austria and the Italian province of South Tyrol we waved good-bye to the ugly motorway E45 crowded with equally ugly cars.

Brenner pass bike route

From here: let loose and roll on, on the track bed of the old train line over the Brenner Pass. Easy. Pedalling started around Sterzing. Lots of cyclists on the way (including families), but there was not a minute without the constant noise of fossile-fuelled passively moved obese cars on the motorway, always within hearing range, often within eye-sight.

The bicycle route is all paved and usually guarded with railings, and there are frequent signposts. However, be careful and watch out for the red horizontal stripes on the pavement: They are marking serious bumps which can be dangerous at the good speed you may gain.

Unfortunately the route avoids habitated placed, so for food you have to actively leave it as you certainly do not want to pick off the apples or corn ears along the way: Almost all of them are treated with pesticides.

For the night my partner wanted to find a nice, eco-friendly hotel – and made the mistake to trust in Google. So we left the bike route at Niedervintl/Vandoies di Sotto in the Puster Valley for Terenten/Terento. 600 meters difference in altitude divided upon only six kilometres, a proper work-out for the evening. Taking the twisting road uphill was not nice even though most car drivers behaved properly. We met the public bus no. 421 from Vintl/Vandoies station via Terenten/Terento to Bruneck/Brunico operated at an interval of half an hour (two hours on Sundays) during the day: It was nearly empty in both directions.

Arriving at the hotel it felt like becoming the talk of the town, other guests were looking at us in disbelief: Up here without an engine? When you see this nice village depending on car-driven tourism the necessary change seems impossible. Depressing.

Puster Valley: Terenten/Terento–Cortina d'Ampezzo by bike

After a quiet night with a beautifully starry sky we took the nicer road down from Terenten to Kiens. Here we met a handful e-bikers on their way uphill before we set out on our third leg to Cortina d'Ampezzo. This part of the route through the Puster Valley is hilly (approximately one kilometre difference in altitude) and passes through towns and villages.

The iconic Drei Zinnen (Tre Cime di Lavaredo) peaks of the Dolomites

Most of the route is separated from motorised traffic but only partially paved. While the gravel parts after Bruneck/Brunico and along Lake Olang would be doable on a Dutch bike, the entire way from Toblach to Cortina with its breathtaking views on the UNESCO World Heritage of the Dolomites is a nuisance: gravel, gravel, deep gravel while the motorised traffic runs smoothly on the new-paved road within hearing range.

Interestingly, this leg of the route was the only part where oncoming cyclists wouldn't nod (or say) a greeting, not even return our greeting. The vast majority of them used e-bikes, probably car drivers no longer used to this comradely tradition of the hills.

On the pass at the border between South Tyrol and Belluno we decided to continue on the Strada Statale downhill as we wanted to reach Cortina before sunset: Apart from the constant danger of being steamrolled this road lives up to the standard other Italian long-distance bicycle routes definitely have.

Finally traffic congestion into Cortina and no way around for cyclists.

Cadore Valley, Piave river and the home of Prosecco: Cortina d'Ampezzo–Conegliano by bike

The fourth leg of the tour started nicely downhill on a paved separated bikeroute out of Cortina. At Località Socol the route u-turns to the left into the gravel nuisance of a hiking trail. Only after leaving the municipality of Cortina d'Ampezzo the route changes to a bicycle route worth the name.

bicycle path on the former Dolomites railway

The fun starts on the former railway line to St. Vito di Cadore, and continues along the Cadore Valley. Comfortable cycling with great views. The only point without a route sign comes when you have to leave the former rail line for the approximately one kilometre difference in altitude downhill to the bottom of the valley.

This is where you start sharing the road with cars, but no worries: The neverending stream of passive mobilists is now using a new motorway (of which you don't hear much noise), and the old Strada Statale di Alemagna 51, nicely paved, is only for you and your downhill fun, occasionally shared with you by a local car. The contrary wind helped to slow down downhill (and the oncoming pedalists uphill). Hopefully the road will continue to be maintained for cyclists.

Unfortunately the fun stops when reaching the lowlands. On the remaining route to Prosecco land signs have been put up less frequently and only on short stretches active mobility is separated from passive. The landscape itself is interesting: the scarse flat shaped by the river Piave, through industrial zones, along lakes. But don't be mistaken: it's hilly, with only short flat stretches. Our day ended with a gorgeous, partially organic dinner in Conegliano.

Through the Veneto: Conegliano–Venice by bike

The final leg of the München–Venezia bikeroute is flat, dry and hot (in August). The usual Veneto bicycle route mix: leisurely alleys in the shade along the river, here and there separated communal bikelanes of varying quality, shared traffic on not too highly frequented roads. The route is marked but often with small signs easy to be missed.

Ponte della Liberta with the skyline of Venice

We did not follow the route strictly but cut off here and there on local bikeroutes. Arriving in Venice by bike is a breathtaking experience: The railway and road bridge Ponte della Libertà ("Freedom Bridge") connecting Mestre on the mainland shore with the city of Venice itself has a dedicated bicycle lane, and you see Venezia St. Lucia approaching in front of you.

The bikes waiting for the ferry to the Lido of Venice

Bicycles in the waterborne city itself are naturally a nuisance, so we decided to stay on the Lido. Unfortunately there are no signs guiding cyclists from Piazzale Roma to the car ferry on the artificial island of Tronchetto. The ferry ride is an inexpensive pleasure – watch the city passing by from Giudecca Channel.

We did not take the bike back to Munich. Instead reliable Austrian Railways ÖBB gave us and the bikes a lift (to be safe we had bought the tickets and reservations well in advance).

Accommodation on the route

The route's official webpage has a directory of bicycle-friendly accommodations, but since you cannot simply search for a place its use is limited. More, (sometime the same) places can be found on the reliable Bett&Bike site run by Germany's bicycle association, the ADFC. Unfortunately none of these directories allows to filter for environment- and climate-relevant measures like organic breakfast, use of renewable energies or environment-friendly cleaning agents. These efforts towards sustainable tourism are taken into account by the EcoBNB platform.

Most other cyclists we met on the route had a tent with them, certainly the cheapest, but also the most uncomfortable way to spend the nights. We preferred to carry a minimum of luggage, and decided on a budget between 100 and 200 EUR for the night. Unfortunately this budget was too tight for the places I found where you probably could have a fully organic breakfast.

For the first and last stop, Innsbruck and Venice we booked accommodation upfront, but being unfamiliar with the route we decided on last-minute booking directly from the hotels.

The first night we spent at Hostel Marmota in Innsbruck. It has a spacious bicycle storage room in the basement which is locked during the night. Arriving late was no issue; even though the reception did not answer the phone. The bar did not offer any organic refreshments, but there was one type of organic tea and organic oat drink at the breakfast buffet. Clean, basic, no-frills room.

For the second night in the Puster valley my partner learned a lesson: Do not rely on Google Maps (personally I don't use Google services unless forced to): Even a few kilometers can be very long when they turn out to be uphill after a day on the bike. Our last minute booking call to Naturhotel Edelweiß in Terenten/Terento resulted in a very friendly price for a spacious, very nice, wood-furnished room including four-course dinner (for guests only).

The kitchen at this family-run hotel uses local ingredients, but isn't suitable for vegetarians. Also here the only organic items on the breakfast buffet were one type of tea and a plant-based drink (soy in this case). There's no storage room for bikes, but we were allowed to park directly in front of the hotel and turned out to be an attraction for car-dependent hotel guests.

Hotel Montana Cortina d'Ampezzo

Famous for hosting the winter olympics of 1956 the 2022 version of Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomites turned out to be a single expensive (though still quite elegant) pedestrian street in the middle of a car jam which even us on our bikes forced into a stop-and-go. The most expensive night of our tour we spent in a basic room with plush furniture at Hotel Montana with a very nice view from the balcony and the air of past grandezza. In addition to the one variety of organic tea and organic soy drink (by now experienced as a sort of minimal standard) the breakfast buffet offered one variety of organic blueberry jam! The hotel was listed as bike-friendly, and indeed, we could store the bikes in a crammed storage room dedicated to the purpose.

Hotel restaurant Enrica Miron, Conegliano

The last night on the way to Venice we spent in Conegliano, at Relais Le Betulle which we found at at EcoBNB. Their hotel restaurant, Enrica Miron, serves organic meat and eggs, and we were very satisfied with our carte blanche menu of the day. The breakfast buffet however did not offer more organic items than we by now found usual. There's no dedicated parking space for bikes; we were allowed to take the bikes on the (spacious) room (which had sufficient space on the balcony), but decided to use a car parking lot.

To find a bicycle-friendly accommodation at the final destination, Venice, is not so easy given the aquatic nature of the city. Riding a bike is possible on the Lido, and from a previous bike tour through the Veneto (via Chioggia) we knew that the friendly, family-run Villa Casanova would allow us to park the bikes in its backyard. From that visit we also knew not to expect any organic items on the breakfast buffet (not even tea and milk), despite the fact that the hotel advertises partially organic breakfast. But the rooms are pleasant and the price is friendly compared with Venice standard.

Map of all places listed in this article

More to try

For the following hotels I found sufficient evidence for use of organic produce in the kitchen and/or a significant part of organic food and drinks at the breakfast buffet, but I cannot give an eyewitness account.

2022-10-23 13:00:00 [The_Conscious_Traveller, MuenchenVenezia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Munich, Innsbruck, Terenten, Terento, Bruneck, Brunico, Cortina, Alps, Achensee, Pustertal, Puster_Valley, Dolomites, South_Tyrol, Alto_Adige, Suedtirol, Belluno, eco, trains, bikeroutes] Link

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Sunday, 16 October 2022

Berlin: Organic Kreuzberg

Nowhere in Germany it is easier to adhere to an organic lifestyle than in its capital – provided you aim for appropriately inhabited neighbourhoods all you have to do is to keep your eyes open. Many of those neighbourhoods can be found in the administrative unit of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, and this blog will cover only the tip of the iceberg, i.e. the places I found during a two-days visit. The places covered in the first two sections are all located in Kreuzberg 61, the neighbourhood considered the bourgeouis part of Kreuzberg.

Near Deutsches Technikmuseum

The German Museum of Technology near tube-station Möckernbrücke clearly is a place to spend hours in – but what if you start to feel hungry or the urge for a coffee? For the occasional tourist this wonderful museum seems to be located in the middle of nowhere, but don't dispair! Head East and follow Tempelhofer Ufer back to the tube station, and turn to the right after the second traffic-light. A few steps into Großbeerenstraße you will find an organic gem with roots back in former West-Berlin's green-alternative past. Today it's a friendly though a little worn-out grocery cum eatery dubbed Ökotussi ("eco-Sheila") run by a bunch of practical women. Stop by for a hearty vegetarian (usually vegan) lunch (the vegan lasagna we had was delicious and sufficient for two), a salad or snack or an Italian-style coffee drink.

Around Marheinekeplatz

Follow Zossener Straße from tube-stop Gneisenaustraße in Southern direction, and you'll end up in a neighbourhood that most eco-conscious people will consider the ultimate paradise: three organic (or predominantly organic) whole-sale supermarkets, four organic bakeries, four at minimum partially organic restaurants and eateries, and a number of other shops offering selected organic products, everything within a five minutes walk, all with liberal opening hours compared to the rest of Germany. The eateries of this neighbourhood dubbed Bergmannkiez try to outdo one another in advertising their vegan options – it seems a luxury to point out that vegan even here usually does not imply organic.

Restaurants and eateries

Promenading Bergmannstraße (which makes for the Southern border of Marheinekeplatz) to the West you will find Fratelli La Bionda, a decent Italian pizzeria using organic flour and tomatoes for their pizze. No place for lunch since the restaurant does not open before evening. If you take your seat around the tables on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, opposing a park with a children's playground you will kindly be asked to move inside around half past 9 pm. Since the eateries covered below all close between 8 and 9 pm (or even earlier during the weekend) this place is the only option for your evening out covered in this post.

This nicely restored mall is a Mekka for foodies. Opposite Friesenstraße you will find Piechas Bio-Buffet, a slow-food whole-organic grill. Although vegan and vegetarian dishes are offered, too, their focus is clearly on organic meat, from nose to tail. Arguably Berlin's best beef burgers are served here, and unlike other places they won't cook your meat to death when you forget to order rare. If you want to try Berliner Currywurst (curried sausage) and other German meat dishes at all – so here. Heavily frequented during lunch hours service can be a bit bumpy, and more frequent cleaning of the bar tables would often be nice. You can choose from an impressive range of organic softdrinks, or have beer or very decent cider made from apples organically grown in the wild of Berlin's surroundings. Mayonaise and ketchup for your fries have to be ordered separately.

If you walk around the booth you will find the counter of the organic butcher's shop where you can buy sausages, offal and all the cuts from free-range cattle and pigs kept well at small-scale organic farms in the vicinity and slaughtered respectfully.

Beumer & Lutum Kreuzberg

Bakeries

Lunch and coffee drinks are also being served by organic bakery Beumer & Lutum, a few steps north on Zossener Straße. If you want your coffee on the go make sure to bring your own mug which entitles you to a small discount. While the two organic bakery boothes within the Marheineke mallMehlwurm in the centre of the market hall, and Biobackhaus in the North-Eastern part – are closed on Sundays and open at 8 am, Beumer & Lutum is catering for the early bird Monday through Saturday from 7 am. It also used to keep open on Sundays, but that's past: Due to staff shortness in 2022 the shop is open only on weekday mornings. It offers a small selection of organic food items to complete your breakfast table. The bakery boothes in the mall still have longer opening hours, but do not serve coffee or lunch. Mehlwurm is the first bakery I know of offering an open source bread (with beetroot and walnuts).

For the sweet tooth

Italian-style organic coffee drinks can also be had from the Tanne b ice-cream parlour on the crossing of Zossener and Bergmannstraße. They use organic milk for their all-natural ice-creams served in vegan cones, and offer vegan options, too. Children are served slightly smaller scoops for the price of 80 cents (instead of 1.20 euros for regular servings). In 2019 the ice-cream season has been announced to start 7th March.

Conni Island

Around the corner from Fratelli La Bionda you'll find cosy Cafe Conni Island where you can treat yourself with lovely home-made, partially organic cakes and a coffee drink made with organic milk. The place is run by an artist whom you can hire to paint your walls with art, and since she usually serves herself the opening hours are restricted to afternoons and the second half of the week.

Supermarkets

With a branch of the vegan supermarket chain Veganz on the first floor of Marheineke-Markthalle facing Marheinekeplatz, a branch of Berlin-based organic wholesale chain Bio-Company on Bergmannstraße/Friesenstraße crossing and an Alnatura branch on the East-side of the park, all with liberal opening hours compared to German standards it's hard to find an excuse for not buying organic. The Bio-Company bakery booth even opens for the early bird at 7:30 am.

While both, Alnatura an Bio-Company sell exclusively organically certified items you have to be careful at Veganz: The grocery products and most of the German and Austrian brands on display are organic (and can be found in almost any other organic supermarket), but they also offer a lot of imported vegan products, and a great deal of them are not organic. Unfortunately these are not clearly marked on the shelves, so you should be familiar with organic branding outside the continent. On the plus side this Veganz supermarket introduced self-service dispensers offering more than 80 different dry products waiting to be filled in the containers you brought with you.

Shopping

If you're on a shopping spree or in search for a gift, and the body care sections of the organic supermarkets seem too boring, there's an organic beauty shop dubbed Belladonna in Bergmannstraße. Light and inviting, with a great selection of all kinds of natural creams, body lotions, perfumes, hair care, make-up and much more, both for men and women, this is a must-go for everyone, not just beauty addicts.

Tranquillo

Also need new clothes? One of the three Berlin-based shops of the Dresden-based organic fashion and interior design label Tranquillo is located right in the vicinity.

Around Schlesisches Tor

The Japanese go mad about Trippen shoes, and if you go for fairly and eco-consciously produced leather shoes of unusual design (some of the soles alone can be considered art) the Trippen factory outlet near tube stop Schlesisches Tor is definitely worth a visit. Unlike in their stylish flagship store within Hackesche Höfe you have to browse shoe boxes for your size, and all the pairs are remaining stock or have small defects like miscolourings. In return prices are well below usual market price. You will find children's, women's and men's shoes (even the ones better described as sculptures are astonishingly comfy), and the staff is very helpful.

Kreuzberg 36

One of the many organic groceries turned partially organic eateries and delis is Der Milchladen ("The milk shop") near tube stop Moritzplatz. In the heart of what is dubbed the wild and autonomous migrant Kreuzberg you can have a hearty lunch, sandwiches, coffee and (cheese) cake as well as breakfast, vegan, vegetarian and omnivore.

The place is situated a few steps from the flagship store of one of the oldest eco-conscious Berlin fashion labels, Luzifer in Oranienstraße. All their clothes are made of linen and hemp, and unlike other labels they don't have short-lived collections: If you wore out your favourite dress, shirt or pair of trousers, you will usually be able to buy a replacement. When my favourite dress (of which I had two copies) after ten years continous use had too many holes they happily made a new one of the good parts for a very competitive price. They offer both, a men's and a women's collection, and you will often be served a tisane or a cookie in their light and friendly showroom.

Map of all places listed in this article

Shut down

The following places are closed for good:

2022-10-16 21:00:00 [Berlin, Kreuzberg, organic, vegan, Italian, pizza, coffee, ice-cream, supermarkets, fashion, bodycare, household, shoes, deli, grocery, eatery, zero_waste, bakeries, butcher, burgers, confectioners] Link

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Tuesday, 13 September 2022

Organic Bruneck/Brunico

On a long-distance bike tour like the one from Munich to Venice the challenge is not to know when you will arrive where. So upfront research on the net isn't an option unless you really have lots of time to spend on preparing the tour. So when we arrived in Bruneck at lunch time my backlist contained only one item, a small organic supermarket which not only was closed for the traditional Italian lunch break, but had closed for good a few monthes ago, in June 2022.

Luckily we found a branch of the South-Tyrolean delicatessen Pur Südtirol selling regional produce, a majority of certified organic quality. Everything is presented in style, there's an organic bakery till and one for cheese and (not organic) cold cuts. A few gravity bins allow customers to refill dry food (not organic as far as I could see); the fresh fruits and greens were all organic.

There's a nice self-serviced cafe corner offering a daily changing seasonal vegetarian main course. Since we wanted to have our bikes within eye-sight outdoor seating was the only option. Unfortunately all these tables were taken, so we decided to proceed our tour through the Puster valley and take with us rolls, which the friendly service staff filled with cheese and some greens while I was waiting.

Across the main street, Graben, a health-food shop, the Reformhaus Egger can help to complete supplies.

Map of all places listed in this article

More to try

Closed

2022-09-13 07:15:01 [The_Conscious_Traveller, Italy, Bruneck, Brunico, Pustertal, Puster_Valley, MuenchenVenezia, organic, biologico, supermarkets, grocery, cafe, eatery, lunch, deli, zero_waste] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.

Monday, 12 September 2022

Organic Sterzing/Vipiteno

The nice little town of Sterzing is not only a train stop on the reliable European train route from Munich over the Alpes to the Veneto, operated by Austrian ÖBB; it's also a destination on the bike route München–Venezia. Unfortunately we arrived there on a Sunday when shops are closed. We did not find a place to have an organic lunch (locals, please help!), so this post is based on up-front research on the net, window shopping on destination and more research on the net afterwards.

On a weekday I would have loved to have a glass of milk at the milk shops of the local organic dairy Milchhof Sterzing. There's one on the premises of the dairy and a second one in the new town of Sterzing, the Neustadt.

Gut und Gerne

A few steps further down the pedestrian street there's a wonderfully looking delicatessen shop, Gut&Gerne, offering a good deal organic products from the region. The shop is a venture of the family-run Hotel Lilie nearby and you can buy convenience food from the hotel kitchen and bakery. The hotel itself does not advertise organic breakfast, but they have dairy products of the Milchhof Sterzing, and given the Gut&Gerne shop window you will likely find more organically or at least more sustainably produced agricultural products from the region. To which extend the hotel restaurant and cafe use organic products I cannot say.

Map of all places listed in this article

2022-09-12 21:30:00 [The_Conscious_Traveller, Italy, Sterzing, Vipiteno, MuenchenVenezia, organic] Link

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Sunday, 11 September 2022

Germany: Bremen and Lilienthal

The hanseatic city of Bremen is one of Germany's most bicycle-friendly cities and a destination of several short and long distance well-kept bicycle routes, among others the Weser bicycle route. Given the shortage of bicycle space in rapid long distance Deutsche Bahn trains it may however be challenging to get here by train with bikes, especially on short notice and during high traffic periods on summer weekends or school and public holidays.

The city has been climate- and environmentally (as well as socially) conscious for a much longer time than most other major German cities, and so you'll find probably many more interesting places than I am able to list here.

Public transport and bike rental

Bremen has a generally well working tram and bus system for which tickets are easily available from ticket machines inside the vehicles. As these ticket machines accept cash you can travel without additional carbon dioxide emissions generated by data tracking apps.

People in Bremen use the bike a lot: With many bicycle lanes, bicycle-first streets paved in red and virtually no hills it's convenient to ride a bike even with a Dutch bike and when it's raining. Compared with other major (German) cities most car drivers are used to bike trafffic and behave respectfully.

To rent a bike there are several app-based schemes. I prefer the friendly service of local bike shops which not only spares the climate for extra carbon dioxide emissions by privacy-invading data tracking, but allows for chats with interesting local people.

Unfortunately, the most convenient of them, the ADFC-Radstation at the main train station closed in 2021 in consequence of the covid-19 pandemics. So you have to invest half an hour or so to find one of the reliable bike shops with rental service during their opening hours. You may prefer to ring in upfront to make sure a bike is waiting for you (especially for the weekend). Prices in 2022/23 were about 12 EUR per day for a 3 to 6 gears city bike.

Fahrrad Witt

Most of the shops I am aware of are in the bicycle-friendly neighbourhood of Neustadt: The Fahrradstation Neustadt (which I have not used yet) and Fahrrad Witt a few steps from the tram stop "Pappelstraße" are both located south-west of the river Weser. The Witt bike shop is very convenient as you can return the bike out of their opening hours: Lock it to a chain in front of the shop, put the key into the letter box and send a text to the shop. The number also works as a help line in case the bike is broken, even outside the opening hours.

While the Witt bike only has three gears, the third Neustadt-based bicycle rental, 1-2-3 Rad at Buntentorsteinweg, rents out six-gear bikes with a hub dynamo at the same price plus a 30 EUR deposit which you'll get back when you return the bike. They also offer bikes for kids and youth (as well as tandems) and run a rikshaw service.

1-2-3 Rad

From the main train station tram no. 6 to Arsten will take you there. A little German is helpful in order to communicate with the friendly (but nerdy) mechanics. Do not hesitate to return with the bike when you find it misbehaving after the first few hundred meters. As long as you stay polite they will see whether they immediately can fix the problem or hand you a new bike. I also love the place for their hand-written (and stamped) receipts.

Renting bicycles for kids isn't easy, but with the Bartels bike shop in Oberneuland there's a second bike shop which is happy to help you if you let them know in advance. They also rent out child carriages (your kid should be able to sit, though). The downside is that this shop is quite a way from the city.

Map of all places listed in this article

Closed

2022-09-11 14:00:03 [The_Conscious_Traveller, Germany, Bremen, Lilienthal, Neustadt, Weserradweg, bicycle] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.