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The 12 Best Cities for Cyclists Who Want Pastry at the Halfway Point

I do not ride for fitness. I ride to earn a croissant. Here are the best cities for casual cycling routes where a great bakery sits right at the turnaround, plus where to stop and what to order.

Let me be honest about something. I am not a cyclist. I own no Lycra. I have never once looked at my average speed. What I am is a person who has worked out that the best cities for casual cycling routes are the ones where you can pedal gently for forty minutes, eat something laminated and buttery, then roll home feeling like you earned it. You didn’t, really. But the legs ache a little and the pastry tastes better for it, and that’s the whole game.

This is leisure riding. The bike is the excuse. The bakery is the point.

Flat-ish. Separated from traffic where possible. And a bakery roughly at the halfway mark so you’ve got a reason to stop and a reason to keep going. That’s it. I don’t plan elevation. I plan snacks.

1. Copenhagen, Denmark

The obvious one, and it deserves it. The whole city is built for bikes, the cycle lanes are basically motorways for the two-wheeled, and the loop out along the harbour to Refshaleøen is gentle and gorgeous. Halfway, stop at Lille Bakery on the island — the cardamom bun there is the size of your fist and costs around 45 DKK. Worth every krone.

2. Bordeaux, France

The Garonne riverside path runs for miles, flat as a table, and the city has more bike lanes than it has any right to. Ride out toward the Bassins à Flot and double back. The pastry stop is non-negotiable: a canelé from Baillardran, that little fluted rum-and-vanilla thing with the burnt-caramel shell. Two of them and a coffee and you’re set.

3. Kyoto, Japan

People forget Kyoto is flat in the middle. The Kamo River path is a dream — locals jogging, herons standing about looking judgmental, and the whole thing utterly traffic-free. Halfway, detour to a tiny place near Demachiyanagi for an matcha-laced pastry. Yes I rode a bike to eat cake in a temple city. No regrets.

4. Amsterdam, Netherlands

Cliché, but the route out to the Amsterdamse Bos through the quieter southern streets is calm in a way the centre never is. The centre is chaos, frankly — tourists wobbling everywhere. Get out of it. There’s a pancake house (Boerderij Meerzicht) in the woods that does poffertjes, those tiny puffy pancakes drowned in butter and icing sugar.

5. Ferrara, Italy

Nobody tells you about Ferrara. A whole walled town you can ride around the top of — there’s a path along the ancient ramparts, shaded by trees. Stop for a slice of pampepato, the dense chocolatey spiced thing they make here. The riding is so flat you’ll feel like a fraud.

6. Münster, Germany

Germany’s cycling capital and proud of it. The Promenade is a ring road for bikes only, looping the old centre. Pull off for a Streuselschnecke (cinnamon-streusel swirl) at any bakery near the Prinzipalmarkt. The students here ride everywhere; you’ll blend right in.

7. Ljubljana, Slovenia

Tiny, green, gentle. Ride the river path out toward Tivoli Park. Then — and this is the move — get a kremšnita, the custard-and-cream square that’s technically more a Lake Bled thing but turns up everywhere round here. Flaky top, wobbly middle. Devastating.

8. Strasbourg, France

The canals, the half-timbered houses, the Germanic-French confusion of it all. Ride out toward the European Parliament along the water. A kougelhopf — the studded, dome-shaped brioche — is the regional thing, though honestly I’d take a fresh pretzel from a market stall over it any day.

9. Seville, Spain

Seville quietly built one of Europe’s best cycle networks and barely told anyone. Ride along the river past the Torre del Oro early, before the heat turns murderous. Stop for a slab of torta de aceite, that thin sugary olive-oil crisp. Mornings only. After noon you’ll melt.

10. Utrecht, Netherlands

Smaller and lovelier than Amsterdam, with the same flat ease. The route along the Singel canal loops the whole centre. Halfway, a stroopwafel made fresh — pressed warm so the caramel runs. The cold packet ones are fine. The fresh ones ruin you for the packet ones forever.

11. Girona, Spain

Okay, Girona is where actual pro cyclists live, so the hills exist. But the Carrilet greenway — an old railway line turned into a flat, smooth path — is pure leisure. Ride a stretch of it. Then back to the old town for a xuixo, the cream-filled fried pastry that’s basically a churro that grew up and got ambitious.

12. Bologna, Italy

I saved my favourite for last. Bologna’s a bit hillier than the others but the porticoes mean you ride in shade half the time. Loop out and come back for a slice of torta di riso, the rice cake that nonnas argue about. And then maybe a second slice. You rode a bike. You’re basically an athlete.

Bring cash for bakeries — the good small ones often don’t take cards, and there is nothing worse than standing pastry-less at a counter, defeated. Lock your bike even in the bike-friendly places; thieves love a tourist’s rental. And don’t over-plan the route. Half the joy is getting a bit lost and stumbling on a bakery you didn’t know was there.

That’s the secret nobody on the fitness apps will tell you. The ride is just transport between snacks.

Ride slow, eat well, and never trust a cyclist who skips the bakery — they’re missing the entire point.

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