Bike Rentals in Barcelona: A Perfect Way to See the City
Thank you to Happy Rental Bike for hosting us for this experience. All opinions are my own.
On our last morning in Barcelona, we knew we wanted to see all of the sites one last time and also to get out in the fresh air before spending the next 24 hours traveling home.
We decided to get bikes to ride through Park Ciutadella, or Parc de la Ciutadella in Catalonian, and then to a few more Gaudí homes for one last glance!
Happy Rental Bike
We found Happy Rental Bike, who provided us with an eCargo Bike for the boys and myself and an Urban Bike for Jon. Happy Rental Bike had great products and was super easy to work with. Everything was super clean and worked perfectly.
The shop location we rented from was located in between the Arc de Triomf and Parc de la Ciutadella. It was the perfect location to explore both the park and heading up to some of the Gaudí houses.
Happy Rental Bike has a great variety of offerings, especially for families. While Barcelona has a thriving rental bike market with grab-and-go bikes and a plethora of small bike shops, we found that Happy Rental Bike had some of the best options for families.
If you have small children, Happy Rental Bike has baby bike seats for the urban bikes and eCargo bikes that have room for up to four small children. They also have various sizes of kids bikes available to rent.
They also have both child and adult sized helmets available to use.
You can find all prices on the website. Make sure to be prepared to pay a deposit for the bikes that you rent. You can pay the deposit either in cash or with a credit card.
If you are nervous about going out on your own, Happy Rental Bike also offers private tours including a city tour, a Gaudí tour and a beach tour, as well as custom private tours based on your interests.
Park Ciutadella
The first thing we did after picking up our bikes was head across the street and into the park. There are some gorgeous views throughout the park and biking was the perfect way to see it all.
The first stop was the Cascada Monumental, a huge fountain in the park. It’s a gorgeous view and has a large open area where we found street performers, locals and tourists milling about.
This waterfall fountain is actually a lesser-known Gaudí piece. When Gaudí was a student, he created the hydraulics for the fountain. The fountain features a statue of Venus in a clamshell and on top is a striking gold statue of Aurora, goddess of the dawn, and her chariots.
The boys loved the fountain, and even more they loved chasing bubbles around the plaza when they noticed there was a street performer creating massive bubbles.
The next highlight was the huge mammoth statue that is right out in the open for people to explore. The boys had so much fun!
From there, we rode past the lake and through the gardens.
Jon got a turn with the cargo bike, too! Or maybe I just let him sit on it for a picture 😉 It was too fun riding to give up!
We have always wanted one of these bikes ever since we saw them in Copenhagen last year. Perhaps we need to get one for at home in Denver.
We rode past the Catalan Parliament House. It was such a beautiful day!
Then you’ll reach the Barcelona Zoo. We didn’t choose to explore the zoo, but it’s a great option when you have a bit more time!
Looking for more things to do in Barcelona? Check out our 5-day itinerary!
Barcelona is a Great City for Biking
Once we got to the zoo, we circled back through the western side of the park and towards the city.
We rode up through the Arc de Triomf. This was particularly fun because Jon and I had recently seen the Arc du Triomphe in Paris and it was fun to compare the two. We loved the street performers and super fun atmosphere along the walkway to the arc.
From there, we wanted to see a few more Gaudí houses before returning the bikes and heading back to the hotel to grab our bags and take a taxi to the airport.
I put my 4-year-old in charge of taking pictures on my phone from within the cargo bike and he did a great job. Our newest blog contributor 😉 I pay him, don’t worry.
I was a little nervous that once we got onto the streets, we would have trouble biking. However, Barcelona has fabulous bike lanes. They are often separated from traffic either in the middle of the road or with a small curb in between traffic and the bike lane.
In the photo above, there were huge bike paths on the sidewalks. You can see how far we were from any traffic at all.
There were other times that we rode through alleyways and all we had to dodge were people.
On the smaller roads, bike lanes were often on the shoulder, however there were really great signs and precautions put into place to protect the bikers.
The bike lanes even had their own traffic lights. I thought they were so cute!!
We stopped at Casa Batlló, which was one of the houses I was most looking forward to. Unfortunately, it is under renovation and completely covered. I had to take a picture to prove we were there, and we’ll just to come again another time when it’s unveiled to the public again!
Then across the street and down a few blocks is Casa Milà, or La Pedrera. I loved the curving balconies and the incredible ironwork on this building. I was also surprised by the lack of color. And yet, still so beautiful!
From there, we rode down Avinguda Diagonal, which runs diagonal to most major streets, back toward Happy Rental Bike.
Passeig de Sant Joan was my favorite street to ride on because the bike path was in the middle of the street and it was just so pretty!
The boys loved riding in the eCargo Bike and once I got used to the very wide turning radius and the feeling of tipping over any time I went up on a curb or a ramp at an angle, we had a great time! This was the e-Big model.
I rarely engaged the electric motor, because for the most part we were enjoying a slow, leisurely pace. If we were riding to the beach or had time to go all the way up to Sagrada Familia, I would definitely have been grateful for it.
Renting bikes is one of our favorite ways to explore a city and get to know our way around! We have also written about renting bikes in Washington, D.C. if that is more your jam.
Have a friend heading to Barcelona soon? Make sure and send this on to them!
