Bike Trails in Manhattan, NY
When I started Trailsnet over 14 years ago, my goal was to provide information about trails of all types to trail users of all types. As much as possible, I have fulfilled that goal and featured a diverse type of trails of all kinds from all over the world. Above all, Trailsnet has included a mix of urban and rural trails for walking and bicycling. However, considering the vast population of cities worldwide, I felt as if we needed more urban trail featured on this trails network website. So this post is dedicated to bike trails in Manhattan, New York. I wanted to specifically focus on Manhattan bike trails because I can’t do justice all hiking and biking trails in the entirety of New York City in just one blog post. That is easily enough to populate an entire travel guide and still be insufficient in scope. In fact, I’m going to focus even more specifically on (mostly) car-free bike paths in Manhattan to provide some examples of safe and enjoyable rides in this amazing city that has really done a lot to provide alternative transportation for residents and visitors.
Best Bike Routes in New York City
I have enjoyed four particularly fun bike routes in New York City. I will post trail reviews for each of these bike rides in the “Trails” section of this website. But I will briefly describe them on this page also. To get a nice overview of where each one is located, check out the bike routes function the next time you view Manhattan in Google Maps. Four of the five routes I will describe are mostly car free except when there are detours such as the ones currently happening along the East River bike route. Follow these links to find some of the best bike trails in New York City:
- Manhattan Waterfront Greenway along the Hudson River
- East River Greenway in NYC
- Central Park Full Loop Bike Path
- Bikeway Over Brooklyn Bridge & Beyond
- Governors Island Bike Trails
NYC Bike Recommendation
I have visited New York City four times in the past six months. My initial intention was to purchase a bike so that I could have easy access to it for my frequent trips to the city. I didn’t end up doing that, and I’m glad. My second plan was to rent a bike from one of the many New York City bicycle rental businesses. I only did that once, and I’m glad I found a better option. On my most recent trip to Manhattan, I ended up getting a 15 day free trial to New York Citi Bikes. I absolutely loved that option the best, and I will likely utilize CitiBike on future trips to the Largish Apple. Citi Bikes work well, and they are ALL OVER the place. I never had a problem finding Citi Bikes whenever and wherever I needed them. The only problem I occasionally had was finding open docking stations  when I needed to return a bike. So here’s how it works:
- First, get the Citi Bike app. (You can also use the Lyft app.)
- Check to see if there are any special offers like the free 15 day offer that I found.
- Each time you’re ready to bike somewhere, you just pick out one of the bikes at the docking station and scan the bar code on the handlebars.
- That will unlock the bike, and you’re ready to ride.
- Once you finish your ride, return the bike to a docking station. They’re easy to find using the Citi Bike app.
- Dock your bike making sure the green light shows up on the station/dock.
- You’ll immediately get a notification that you have successfully docked the bike. It will tell you how much you were charged. (Every time, mine said it was free except one time when I kept the bike too long, I was charged $4.90. No biggy!!)
