Boston Bike Tours

Touring Boston by bike

Wondering what to do in Boston in the summer?  Boston bike tours are a popular way to see the city, and one of the top things to do for tourists and locals.

Whether you're touring Boston in a group or on exploring your own or even planning a bicycling vacation, here's all the cycling tour info you'll need, plus where to get find bike rental shops as well as the best maps showing all the local paths.

Bicycling by the Boston Esplanade on an August afternoon

Bicycling around the city is one of the most popular things to do in Boston in the summer, and one of the best activities for enjoying spring flowers and fall foliage.

Best Boston bike tour choices for groups

If you're visiting the city and want to combine some Boston sightseeing with a bike tour, a group tour led by a professional can be the best way to learn interesting things about major sights while also discovering the best routes to bicycle safely. 

When you consider that Boston car traffic can be fierce and the narrow, often-confusing streets are not designed to accommodate bike traffic, you'll see why the professionally-led bike tours are worth considering. 

Besides, even though you could travel the same Boston bike tour routes yourself (one company even puts their bike tour itineraries on the Web), what really makes these tours worth doing is learning about the city from a professional bike tour guide who knows it inside and out.

Two of the best-known groups offering Boston bicycle tours are locally-owned independent companies, Boston Bike Tours and Urban Adventours.  Their guides are enthusiastic and skilled bicyclists, knowledgeable about Boston, and eager to share information about history, architecture, neighborhoods, and everything that you will see around you on the tours.

Although neither company sells bikes, both have bicycle shops where they offer bike rentals, provide repairs, and have small items available for purchase. 

When you go on one of these popular Boston bike tours, though, no need to worry about renting a bicycle - a bike, helmet, and water bottle are included in the cost of the tour.

Boston Bike Tours

Boston Bike Tours start on Boston Common, right in the heart of the city.  Owner / Chief Tour Guide Lyall Croft is a history teacher and avid cyclist who weaves stories about the city through the Boston sightseeing information that he provides as you cycle with him around the city.

You can choose from a number of different options for touring Boston, including the Freedom Trail, City Neighborhoods, Harvard Square in Cambridge, the Waterfront and Harpoon Brewery, and longer tours of Boston's "Emerald Necklace" of parks. 

Tours last at least 3 hours, and range from 8 to about 18 miles in length.  Some are designed for all skill levels, including beginners and children, while others require at least advanced beginners skills.  Prices are quite reasonable.

A nice value-added touch is that Boston Bike Tours can also provide guides who will conduct tours in Spanish, French, German, and Italian.

Bike rental options include mountain bikes, leisure bikes, and road bikes.  Minimum rental is 2 hours, and rates for longer periods are also available.  As a value-added touch, Boston Bike Tours will deliver your bike to your hotel.

Tours start at:  Tremont Street side of Boston Common, near the Visitor Information Center and the Park Street T station
For more information and to reserve your place in a tour:  617-308-5902; website 

Urban Adventours

Located between Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the North End, Urban Adventours has a number of different bicycle tour guides with diverse backgrounds and interests - but all with an avid commitment to bicycling. 

View of the Charles River and Cambridge from the Boston Esplanade

You can choose from a number of tour options - City Neighborhoods, Fenway and surrounding areas, City Waterways, the Emerald Necklace parks, and Boston - especially the waterfront - at night. 

Tours are designed for all ages and skill levels.  Most are run for 2-3 hours and cover 10-12 miles.  Costs tend to be a bit higher in some cases than at Boston Bike Tours, but are still quite reasonable.

One Adventour guide is fluent in French and Italian, and provides information in those languages when needed. 

If you're interested in just renting a bike, you'll find lots of options - hybrids, road bikes, tandems, and children's bikes.  Rentals are available for half or whole days, depending on the bike model.

Address: 103 Atlantic Avenue, across from Christopher Columbus Park in the North End
For more information:  Reservations: 800-979-3370; Office: 617-233-7595; website 

How to choose?

Based on the raves that I've heard about the guides and tours at both of these companies, you'll be happy regardless of which one you choose.

Touring Boston by bike on your own

If you decide to tour Boston by bike on your own, you can easily create your own itinerary based on where you want to go.  Unless you already know the city well, you'll benefit by having a detailed city map or better yet, a Boston bike map.  I'll tell you where to get one in a moment.

First, unless you have your own bike with you or can borrow one from a local friend, you'll need to rent one.

Where to find bike rentals in boston

Two of the best places to rent bikes are from the tour companies mentioned earlier.  You can make your choice based on the type of bike you want, how long you want to rent it, and whether you want to pick it up at AdvenTours or use Boston Bike Tours' hotel delivery service.

If those options don't meet your needs, here are more places to find bike rentals in Boston and Cambridge:

Back Bay Bicycles
Address: 362 Commonwealth Avenue, at Massachusetts Ave intersection across from Eliot Hotel; Back Bay, Boston
For more information:  617-346-0763; website 

Cambridge Bicycle
Address: 259 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge (1 block from MIT)
For more information:  617-346-0763; website 

Boston Bicycle (actually, it's the Boston branch of Cambridge Bicycle)
Address: 842 Beacon Street, Fenway, Boston (near Boston University and not far from Fenway Park))
For more information:  617-236-0752; website 

Cambridge Bicycle, on Mass Ave in Cambridge, offers rental bikes for Boston and Cambridge

Where to get the best Boston bike maps

You can buy Boston bike maps for a small price at all city bike shops and tour companies.

If you want to get a Boston bike map before you come, a convenient place to get one, as well as bike maps for other Massachusetts areas such as the Cape, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, is through the website of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition (MassBike), a non-profit group avid cyclists devoted to the promotion of bicycle safety, use, and fun.  

MassBike publishes 5 very detailed bike maps and sells them for just a few dollars.  You can also buy these maps in most Boston bicycle shops, if you want to wait until you get here.

On the Boston bike map, you'll find bicycle paths including the Esplanade in urban areas, as well as parks and bike shops.

In addition, the Boston map depicts in great detail the entire Minuteman Rail Trail which extends along a repurposed railroad right-of-way from Cambridge to Concord.  Although you can get to the Minuteman Bikeway, which begins at the MBTA's Redline Alewife station on the Cambridge / Belmont / Arlington border, from the Esplanade and the Cambridge side of the Charles River, a few spots are tricky to navigate without getting lost.  This map will make your ride much easier.

Finally, you can pick up a free Boston map showing major attractions including the Freedom Trail at the Visitor Information Center in Boston Common.  You can also find lots of other tourism brochures here.  From the Park Street T station, walk along the Common on the Tremont Street side.  The Info Center is about a 1-minute walk from the station, roughly opposite West Street. 

The free Boston city maps are not usually in the display racks, so go up to the counter to request it.  You'll also see Boston maps available to buy . . . but check out the free one first, as it may have everything that you'll need. 

Suggested Boston bike tours and paths - plus the easy routes!

Much of Boston is almost as flat as a pancake, so you'll have no difficulty with the terrain unless you seek out the higher elevations of Beacon Hill. 

What makes most rides difficult, in my opinion, is the traffic.  Most Boston streets don't have bike lanes but even when they do, many drivers don't know what they mean and, at best, use them as turning lanes when going right.  (At worst, they're used as very narrow passing lanes - yes, on the right - or illegal parking opportunities.)

So do be very cautious when using Boston's bike lanes, particularly if you're visiting from another country such as Denmark or Canada where you're used to excellent bike lanes and drivers who know not to drive in them. 

Cambridge streets are somewhat better for Boston bike tours.  Larger and even some smaller streets now have well-marked bike paths, although they're not perfect (for example, sometimes, in the middle of busy streets such as Mass Ave, they unexpectedly disappear).  Drivers are not necessarily any more careful than those in Boston, but with a huge student population as well as lots of locals committed to exercise and a green environment all riding bikes, cars are somewhat more accustomed to sharing the streets with them. 

So, with a final caution to you to be careful, here are a few bike tour routes to consider if you're touring Boston by bike on your own.  (Hint: the last two are the easiest, safest, and among the most scenic.)

Freedom Trail - Start at Boston Common (another great spot to ride your bike, along with the Public Garden across Charles Street) and follow the Freedom Trail (pick up a map at the Park Ranger's Visitor Center near the Park Street T station on the Tremont Street side of the Common if you don't already have one) all the way to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown.  You can stop at all the sites along the way (in which case, plan on an all-day excursion) - or just soak in the sights.  Stop for a snack in Quincy Market or at one of the North End's great bakeries.  Only 2.5 miles long each way, unless you make detours!

Boston Waterfront - Beautiful views, but the route is a little tricky in spots because HarborWalk, the path that you'll take, either disappears at times or no public access is allowed.  Depending on where you pick up your bike, ride down the Rose Kennedy Greenway (I'm assuming you'll have a bike map in hand) to Rowe's Wharf.  You'll see signs for HarborWalk.  Ride north on HarborWalk along Boston Harbor, up to and around the North End. 

At the spots where HarborWalk disappears, use your map and keep going in the right direction.  Come around the West End (by now you'll be heading west, and you'll be riding along the Charles River), and keep heading west.  Once you're on the Boston Esplanade, you'll have an easy, lovely ride.

You can easily cross to the Cambridge side of the river at the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge (unless you have a death wish, ride on the sidewalk rather than in the street if traffic is heavy). 

View of the Boston skyline from the middle of the Mass Ave Bridge in July

If you have your camera with you, you can get some gorgeous views of the Boston skyline from either the bridge (this one was taken near the half-way point) or the Cambridge river path.  The tall building toward the left is the John Hancock Tower.  You can see the backs of Back Bay mansions (now condos) and the Prudential building toward the right.

Boston Neighborhoods - Boston is so compact that you can easily explore a number of neighborhoods by bike in a relatively short time.  Use your map, and create a route for your own Boston bike tour through Beacon Hill (Charles Street, plus whatever smaller streets you want to explore - this is the hilliest area that you'll be in) through Back Bay (I'd be inclined to take beautiful Marlborough Street and avoid busy Newbury Street) and over to Fenway.  Ride around the famed ball park, and also check out the Boston sports bars and nightlife on Lansdowne Street and Yawkey Way.  Ride around the Fens. 

Either come back through Back Bay (I'd avoid busy Huntington Ave) or dip down and enjoy the gorgeous Victorian architecture in the South End and the Federal and Art Deco architecture in Bay Village.  Head back across the lower part of Downtown (avoid the very narrow streets of Chinatown) and head toward the Moakley Bridge.  Just north of it, pick up Harborsalk and head up to the North End.

Of course, you can start/end at any point in this loop - or create a different loop.

If you're focused on completing your Boston bike tour, you can cover all of these neighborhoods quickly - but why rush?

Finally - the easy routes for Boston bike tours - the beautiful Boston Esplanade and the Cambridge side of the Charles

Boston Esplanade in late April - Cyclist is helping with clean-up along the Charles River

Along both sides of the Charles River, you'll find wide paths accessible only to bikes, walkers, runners, in-line skaters, dog-walkers, and baby carriages - in other words, no cars.  OK, that's still a lot of traffic - but at least you won't have cars zipping past you, one half inch away from your back wheel.  You'll see and hear them on the "River Roads" - nearby Storrow Drive (Boston side) and Memorial Drive (Cambridge side) - but your awareness of them will quickly fade away as you enjoy the scenery along the river.

Riding bikes along these paths is, for many people, one of their favorite things to do in Boston in the summer.  Although paths extend along large chunks of the 20 mile length of the Charles River Reservation, the Boston Esplanade starts near the Museum of Science and goes west to the Boston University Bridge. 

Accessing the path along the Cambridge side of the Charles is fairly easy because side streets intersect Memorial Drive at a few points.  Just wait for the traffic light to turn green, and cross over to the path.

On the Boston side, you won't find any traffic lights.  However, you'll see car/pedestrian bridges and footbridges at several points, and most of these have ramps down to the Esplanade. 

If you're in Beacon Hill or the West End, the Charles Street Footbridge near the Charles/MGA subway station is a convenient access point.  If you're in Back Bay, you'll have lots of choices.  The Fiedler Footbridge near Arlington Street, Dartmouth Street Footbridge, and Fairfield Street Footbridge are all convenient, depending on where you are. 

Boston bike riders use the Mass Avenue Bridge ramp to access the Esplanade by the Charles River

The Mass Ave Bridge near the western edge of Back Bay, which is also convenient to Fenway and BU, has one of the best ramps going down to the Esplanade.  The Mass Ave bridge is also the most popular place to cross the river between Boston and Cambridge.

Summer treat - Memorial Drive closed to cars!!!

Well, not all of it . . . But from 11am - 7pm on Sundays, from the last Sunday in April through the 2nd Sunday in November, Memorial Drive is closed to vehicle traffic between Western Ave and Mount Auburn Street. 

You'll share the space with walkers, skaters, etc. - but riding in this wide park-like area so close to the river is still one of the top Boston activities and tops many Bostonians' "what to do in the summer" lists.  You can easily explore side streets, or stop for a picnic or just bask in the sun on the river bank (don't forget your sunscreen!) and watch the boats sail by. 

And of course, you can continue your Boston bike tour on the riverside path and cross over to the Esplanade.

Bike trails beyond Boston Bike Tours

If you're an avid bicycler, you'll probably want to find bike paths beyond the usual Boston bike tours.  Cape Cod Trails are day-trip favorites with a lot of cyclists, and are also great if you're planning a bicycling vacation.  You can pick up a map showing Cape Cod Trails at most bike shops, or order one in advance from MassBike.  You'll find some great information about each trail at Cape Cod Bike Trails.

You'll see gorgeous scenery like this along the Cape Cod Bike Trail

The Cape Cod Rail Trail is the best known path.  Its 22-mile length cuts across a wide swath of the Cape from Dennis to Wellfleet.  Not only is biking down it great exercise, but this route gives you a wonderful way to experience the magnificent scenery of the Cape.   Best of all, you can stop along the way for a swim (be sure to bring your swimsuit) or to explore the Cape's small towns and villages.