The French Riviera creates new spaces for cyclists
If you have been on the French Riviera and cycled the coast roads between Nice and Cannes you have probably met some cycling paths that you’ve had to share with pedestrians, people on rollerblades, loose dogs (and kids:), and roads full of A LOT of cars.
As well as in other parts of France, a number of towns at the French Riviera have decided to give room for more bikes in the street in a response to the COVID-19 health crisis. Roads that used to be full of cars have now been changed into roads dedicated to bikes and pedestrians. In the coming months they are part of a testing phase, but we hope that more permanent bike spaces will come out of it.
Nice – now much nicer for cyclists!
For the last couple of years more cycling lanes have been made in Nice city center. The pandemic puts physical distancing as a top priority on the political agenda and as a response to giving the nicois and nicoises more choice for transportation when commuting, Nice town has over a few nights turned main streets into roads dedicated to bikes and pedestrians.
Who would have thought that the Promenade des Anglais would look like this by May 2020? Motorised traffic is now only allowed one-way from the harbor and until the park area Jardin Albert 1er, which brings you to place Massena. Where you used to struggle with pedestrians and much more as a cyclist on the Promenade, you now have a wide double directed bike road. On the opposite side, more road has been dedicated to pedestrians.
There is now plenty of space to walk and keep physical distance when doing your promenade – we look forward to having this extra space when we again can welcome tourists.
Did you miss out visiting the Russian Cathedral in Nice?
By bike it is easy to reach. One way to go there is via one of the main streets from the sea and to the city center, which is called Gambetta. Normally only the most daring cyclists would go that way.
Today Gambetta has completely changed as it is now forbidden to go there by car or motorbike, unless you live in the neighborhood or do deliveries. Instead the road is now shared between bikes and buses.
More roads for cycling are still underway in Nice. We are excited to see all the new bike lanes!
Cannes - Nice
If you have ever dreamt of cruising the Côte d’Azur by bike from one fashionable town to another, now your cruise can become better than you have ever dreamt of!
Towns along the coast between Nice and Cannes have come together to promote cycling as a means of transportation by creating bike roads on long stretches of roads that until now have been either dangerous or quite inconvenient to ride.
In Cannes, la Croisette is now more mellow to ride under the golden palm trees as some parts of the road have been changed into bikelanes.
.
Also on the other side of Golfe Juan, the cycling lane between Antibes and Villeneuve-Loubet has been increased so you can feel safer than before.
When you come to the other side of Villeneuve-Loubet, you find that there is a new broad cycling road which starts at the Hippodrome and continues all through the beach side of Cagnes-sur-Mer.
It has become slow to go by car in the limited space for cars on the coast road. It should motivate more people to let go of the car and get in better shape by cycling the distance!
In Nice, the vélo bleu are free of charge in the deconfinement phase until the end of June – but if you want to be sure to try cycling with a good bike, before you go and buy your own bike – why not try out cycling by renting a bike?
If you feel insecure when cycling in traffic, we are also happy to help you book a bilingual English/French speaking local guide, who does classes for cycling in cities.
Happy deconfinement cycling!
BikeTrip