Paris is mostly flat and home to a public bike sharing system (Velib). Does it work to join Velib for a day or a week and use the service? Given the fearsome reputation of Parisian drivers, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to get around Paris by bike. Although the city is nothing like Copenhagen (see “Danish happiness: bicycle infrastructure”) there are marked-off bike lanes on a lot of streets. Sometimes cars waiting for a red light block these lanes but usually it is possible to weave around. Thus at rush hour a bike is actually somewhat faster than an Uber.

The Velib kiosks have instructions in English.

One nit is that if you’re over about 5’9″ tall it is likely that the seat can’t be raised high enough for long-term biking comfort and efficiency.