Oakland is considered a great place to ride bikes—it has temperate weather, flat streets, hills and a diverse array of scenery. After Oakland North did a story on 10 great walks in Oakland, we thought a story on five great bike rides in Oakland would be helpful, too.

All rides we picked originate at City Hall on 14th Street and Broadway, but you don’t necessarily need to start there—they can be taken from anywhere in Oakland. Each route dips in and out of Oakland’s surrounding cities, such as Berkeley, Piedmont, Alameda and Emeryville. We chose a total of three flat rides and two hill rides and several variations can be made for each ride—shortening or combining routes to make an extra long ride. The routes are all based on good scenery, low traffic and using as many designated bikeways as possible. Look at the photo slide-show to see a photo from each route as well as a route map. Below are links to interactive maps for all the routes which show mile markers, distance totals and the exact trails to take to follow each route.

Routes:

Embarcadero to Martin Luther King, Jr. Shoreline –17 miles

Port of Oakland–8 to 13 miles

Montclair to Skyline–20 miles



Old tunnel road–17 miles

Bay trail through Emeryville–6 to 30 miles