Have you ever taken a bike ride around Paris? Well I’ll tell you its one a scenic experience you don’t want to miss out on. Vélib is a bicycle-sharing operator in Paris with over 20,000 bicycles available. What’s great is the fact that they do have about 1,800 stations that are located approximately 300m from one another. There is an app available,‘Velib’, that helps you locate stations, informs you on where bicycles are available and how many parking spots there are. Its great! You don’t ever have to worry about loosing a bicycle!
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile at the western end of the Champs-Élysées.
How it works?
Show up at any station and follow the instruction on the screen. Now you must have either a debit or credit card, as if the bike is not returned within 24h, there will be a fee of €150 charged onto the card.
It only cost €1.70 for 24h but you’d have to return the bikes to any one of its stations within 30-minutes of each journey, or else you’d have to pay a service charge. You can park and remove the bike at anytime within the 24h of your initial payment – you don’t have to pay €1.70 every time you take out a different bike as long as within the 24h duration. In short:
• First 30 minutes of any journey: Free
• 1st additional half-hour: €1
• 2nd additional half-hour: €2
• Any additional time after, per half hour: €4
Upon returning the bike, you can always check the same if not another bike within minutes of the initial return time.
Therefore, my advice would be to do what we did - take short trips and keep the bicycle for less than 30-minutes. By doing so, you won’t pay any additional charges!!
Show up at any station and follow the instruction on the screen. Now you must have either a debit or credit card, as if the bike is not returned within 24h, there will be a fee of €150 charged onto the card.
It only cost €1.70 for 24h but you’d have to return the bikes to any one of its stations within 30-minutes of each journey, or else you’d have to pay a service charge. You can park and remove the bike at anytime within the 24h of your initial payment – you don’t have to pay €1.70 every time you take out a different bike as long as within the 24h duration. In short:
• First 30 minutes of any journey: Free
• 1st additional half-hour: €1
• 2nd additional half-hour: €2
• Any additional time after, per half hour: €4
Upon returning the bike, you can always check the same if not another bike within minutes of the initial return time.
Therefore, my advice would be to do what we did - take short trips and keep the bicycle for less than 30-minutes. By doing so, you won’t pay any additional charges!!
A great way to stop at various sights, take in the city and continue exploring at your own leisure!
View the gallery for more photographs.