Top Bicycle-Friendly Cities in the World

Bicycle-friendly cities make it easier, safer, and more convenient for people to use bicycles for everyday transportation. The strongest cycling cities typically combine protected bicycle infrastructure, traffic-calmed streets, secure bicycle parking, high bicycle use, bike-sharing systems, supportive policies, and urban planning that gives cycling a practical role in daily mobility.

The Copenhagenize Index 2025 – EIT Urban Mobility Edition evaluates 100 cities across 44 countries using a new data-driven framework covering infrastructure, cycling usage, governance, public perception, and urban planning. In the latest ranking, Utrecht is first, followed by Copenhagen, Ghent, Amsterdam, and Paris.

The 2025 edition is particularly useful for international comparisons because it does not judge bicycle-friendliness solely by the number of bike lanes. It examines 13 indicators across three major pillars: Safe & Connected Infrastructure, Usage & Reach, and Policy & Support.

Top 30 Bicycle-Friendly Cities

The following table presents the official top 30 of the Copenhagenize Index 2025. The score is the composite index score on a 0–100 scale.

Source: Copenhagenize Index 2025.

Utrecht: The Top Bicycle-Friendly City

Utrecht, Netherlands, ranks first in the 2025 Copenhagenize Index with a score of 71.1. It narrowly leads Copenhagen, which scores 70.8.

Utrecht’s position reflects the city’s broader cycling environment rather than one individual feature. The Copenhagenize methodology considers protected cycling infrastructure, bicycle parking, traffic calming, bicycle use, bike-sharing, political commitment, advocacy, and urban planning among its indicators.

Utrecht is also notable because its cycling network is closely connected with everyday urban mobility and public transportation. The city’s inclusion at the top of the global ranking demonstrates how cycling can function as a major part of a modern metropolitan transportation system.

Copenhagen: A Global Cycling Leader

Copenhagen, Denmark, ranks second with a score of 70.8.

The Danish capital has long been associated with everyday cycling and has historically been one of the best-known examples of bicycle-oriented urban planning. The Copenhagenize Index itself takes its name from the city and has tracked cycling conditions internationally since 2011.

The 2025 results place Copenhagen only 0.3 points behind Utrecht, showing how closely the top two cities compare in the index.

Ghent: Belgium’s Leading Cycling City

Ghent ranks third with a score of 67.6.

The city is one of two Belgian cities in the top 10, with Antwerp ranking eighth. Ghent’s third-place position demonstrates the strength of cycling in a city outside the traditional Copenhagen-Amsterdam pairing often associated with European bicycle culture.

Amsterdam: A Famous Cycling City

Amsterdam ranks fourth with a score of 66.6.

Amsterdam is one of the world’s most internationally recognized cycling cities, but the 2025 Copenhagenize ranking places it behind Utrecht, Copenhagen, and Ghent.

Its fourth-place position still puts Amsterdam firmly within the leading group of bicycle-friendly cities.

Paris: Cycling Transformation in a Major Capital

Paris ranks fifth with a score of 65.0.

Paris is particularly notable because it demonstrates how a large, dense global capital can expand cycling as part of its urban transportation system.

Its fifth-place position also makes Paris the highest-ranked city in France. Bordeaux, Nantes, Strasbourg, and Lyon also appear in the top 15.

Helsinki and Münster

Helsinki, Finland, ranks sixth with 64.9, while Münster, Germany, ranks seventh with 64.7.

Their positions show that bicycle-friendly urban environments are possible in cities with different climates and urban forms. The Copenhagenize Index specifically notes that climate and geography do not by themselves determine whether a city can develop strong cycling conditions.

Antwerp, Bordeaux and Nantes

The next three cities in the top 10 are:

• Antwerp, Belgium — 8th, 64.4

• Bordeaux, France — 9th, 62.9

• Nantes, France — 10th, 62.8

France therefore has three cities in the top 10, while Belgium has two.

Bicycle-Friendly Cities in the Top 30

The remainder of the top 30 includes a broad selection of European and North American cities.

Germany has Bonn at 11th and Munich at 17th. The Netherlands has The Hague at 12th and Rotterdam at 23rd. France has Strasbourg at 13th and Lyon at 14th.

Further down the list are:

• Montréal — 15th

• Malmö — 16th

• Oslo — 18th

• Vienna — 19th

• Bern — 20th

• Graz — 21st

• Zurich — 22nd

• Ljubljana — 24th

• Bologna — 25th

• Stockholm — 26th

• Vitoria-Gasteiz — 27th

• Wrocław — 28th

• Québec — 29th

• Vancouver — 30th

What Makes a City Bicycle-Friendly?

A bicycle-friendly city is not simply a city with many bicycle lanes. The Copenhagenize Index evaluates a broader urban system consisting of 13 indicators grouped into three pillars.

Safe and Connected Infrastructure

The first pillar examines the physical environment that allows people to cycle safely and conveniently.

It includes:

• Bicycle infrastructure

• Bicycle parking

• Traffic calming

• Cycling safety

Protected bicycle infrastructure is particularly important because it separates cyclists from motor traffic and can create a lower-stress environment for everyday trips.

The index measures protected cycling infrastructure as a share of the city’s roadway network, while bicycle parking is assessed relative to population. Traffic calming considers the share of streets with speed limits of 30 km/h or lower.

Bicycle Infrastructure

Protected cycle tracks and other forms of separated infrastructure provide dedicated space for cycling.

The 2025 methodology measures the amount of physically protected cycling space relative to the city’s roadway network. This allows infrastructure coverage to be compared across cities of different sizes.

Bicycle Parking

Having somewhere secure to leave a bicycle is an important part of a functioning cycling system.

The index measures public street racks and enclosed bicycle-parking hubs per 1,000 residents. Secure parking can make cycling more practical for commuting, shopping, education, and connections to public transportation.

Traffic Calming

Traffic calming can make cycling more comfortable by reducing vehicle speeds and creating streets that are easier to navigate by bicycle.

The Copenhagenize Index measures the proportion of the roadway network covered by speed limits of 30 km/h or lower, including 20 km/h zones and designated bicycle streets.

Cycling Safety

Safety is another core component of bicycle-friendliness.

The index includes cyclist fatalities per 100,000 residents. A lower fatality rate represents a safer result under this indicator.

Bicycle Use and Reach

The second pillar examines how cycling actually functions within everyday mobility.

It includes:

• Bicycle modal share

• Growth in bicycle modal share

• Women’s share of bicycle trips

• Bike-sharing systems

• Cargo bikes

This distinction is important because infrastructure alone does not tell the entire story. A city can build bicycle infrastructure, but the extent to which people actually use bicycles provides another indication of how deeply cycling is integrated into everyday transportation.

Bicycle Modal Share

Bicycle modal share measures the percentage of daily trips made by bicycle.

The 2025 Copenhagenize Index uses bicycle trips as a proportion of all daily trips within the city’s administrative boundaries.

A high modal share indicates that cycling is not merely a recreational activity but an established transportation option.

Growth in Cycling

The index also examines changes between 2019 and 2024.

This five-year comparison measures whether the proportion of trips made by bicycle increased or declined after the pre-COVID baseline. The measure helps identify cities that have translated recent investments and changes in mobility patterns into longer-term cycling use.

Women’s Share of Bicycle Trips

The methodology also considers women’s participation in cycling.

A broader gender balance can provide information about whether cycling is functioning as a practical transportation option for a wide range of residents rather than being concentrated within a particular demographic group.

Bike-Sharing Systems

Bike-sharing is another component of a bicycle-friendly transportation network.

The Copenhagenize Index evaluates the density of bike-sharing systems, their usage, and their integration with public transportation. This reflects the idea that shared bicycles can complement private bicycle ownership and public transit.

Cargo Bikes

Cargo bikes are increasingly relevant to both household transportation and urban deliveries.

The index considers household subsidies, commercial support, cargo-bike adoption, supportive infrastructure, and other measures that help cargo bikes become part of everyday urban mobility.

Policy and Support

The third pillar examines whether a city’s institutions and public environment support cycling over the long term.

It includes:

• Political commitment

• Cycling advocacy

• Image of the bicycle

• Urban planning

This is one reason the Copenhagenize Index is broader than a simple infrastructure ranking.

Political Commitment

Investment is an important part of building and maintaining cycling infrastructure.

The index measures city-government investment in cycling per resident, averaged over the most recent five-year period. This provides an indication of sustained financial commitment rather than a single year’s spending.

Advocacy

Cycling organizations, community groups, and advocacy networks can influence public debate and urban transportation policy.

The Copenhagenize framework includes advocacy activity as part of its assessment of the wider cycling ecosystem.

Image of the Bicycle

The perception of cycling also matters.

The index considers whether bicycles are promoted and understood as normal everyday transportation for different ages and social groups. It also examines media tone, city cycling branding, and school-based cycling programs.

Urban Planning

Cycling becomes easier to maintain when it is integrated into broader urban planning.

The methodology considers whether cities have strategic and technical tools for planning, designing, delivering, and monitoring protected cycling infrastructure.

How the Bicycle-Friendly City Ranking Is Calculated

The 2025 Copenhagenize Index evaluates 100 cities from 44 countries. Cities were selected using factors including cycling focus, cycling modal share, recent growth, data availability, and global representation.

Each indicator is converted to a 0–100 scale.

For quantitative indicators, the index uses min-max normalization. The best observed value receives 100, while the lowest receives 0, with other values positioned proportionally between them.

Qualitative indicators use predefined scoring bands that are also converted to a 0–100 range.

The city’s final composite score is calculated as the simple average of its 13 indicator scores, giving each indicator equal weight.

Regional Bicycle-Friendly City Rankings

The global top 30 is heavily represented by European cities, but the Copenhagenize Index also includes cities from North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

North America

The highest-ranked North American cities are:

Latin America

The highest-ranked Latin American cities are:

Africa

The leading African cities in the 2025 ranking are:

Asia and Oceania

The regional leaders are:

Bicycle-Friendly Cities in Europe

Europe dominates the upper portion of the 2025 Copenhagenize Index.

The top European cities include Utrecht, Copenhagen, Ghent, Amsterdam, Paris, Helsinki, Münster, Antwerp, Bordeaux, and Nantes.

The concentration of European cities does not mean that bicycle-friendly planning is limited to Europe. The index includes strong examples in North America, Latin America, Asia, Oceania, and Africa as well. However, the highest positions in the 2025 global ranking are predominantly European.

Bicycle-Friendly Cities in North America

Montréal is the highest-ranked North American city, placing 15th globally.

Other North American cities in the top 30 include Québec at 29th and Vancouver at 30th. Portland and Minneapolis also appear within the broader top 100, at 35th and 44th respectively.

This gives North America several cities with internationally recognized cycling systems, although their overall rankings remain below the leading European group.

Bicycle-Friendly Cities in Latin America

Latin American cities are represented by Niterói, Bogotá, Fortaleza, Guadalajara, and Buenos Aires among the regional leaders.

Niterói ranks 43rd globally and is the highest-ranked Latin American city in the 2025 index.

Bicycle-Friendly Cities in Asia

The highest-ranked city from the Asia & Oceania regional grouping is Christchurch, followed by Taipei, Wellington, Fukuoka, and Seoul.

The ranking demonstrates that bicycle-friendly urban environments can emerge in different cultural and geographical settings.

Bicycle-Friendly Cities in Africa

African cities are also represented in the global ranking.

Quelimane ranks 83rd, followed by Kisumu at 94th, Addis Ababa at 98th, Nairobi at 99th, and Ouagadougou at 100th.

The inclusion of these cities is significant because the Copenhagenize Index’s methodology emphasizes that cycling development is not determined solely by climate or geography.

Why Utrecht Ranks Ahead of Copenhagen

The difference between the first two cities is small.

Utrecht receives a composite score of 71.1, while Copenhagen receives 70.8, a difference of only 0.3 points.

The ranking therefore should not be interpreted as a measurement that one city’s cycling environment is dramatically different from the other’s. Both cities are part of the leading group identified by the index.

The Copenhagenize methodology evaluates many dimensions simultaneously, meaning the final positions reflect the combined performance across infrastructure, usage, policy, perception, and planning.

Why Amsterdam Is Not Number One

Amsterdam is often internationally associated with bicycle transportation, but it ranks fourth in the 2025 Copenhagenize Index.

Its score of 66.6 places it behind Utrecht, Copenhagen, and Ghent.

This illustrates why reputation alone does not determine the Copenhagenize ranking. The index uses 13 indicators and quantitative and qualitative evidence rather than simply measuring the city’s international reputation as a cycling destination.

Bicycle-Friendly Cities Are More Than Bike Lanes

A city can build bicycle lanes without creating a complete cycling environment.

A successful bicycle transportation system also needs connections between routes, safe intersections, secure parking, appropriate traffic speeds, integration with public transit, bicycle-sharing options, supportive policies, and urban planning.

The Copenhagenize Index explicitly describes cycling as a wider mobility system rather than simply an infrastructure project.

Benefits of Bicycle-Friendly Cities

Bicycle-oriented transportation can affect several aspects of urban life.

Transportation

Bicycles provide an alternative for short and medium-distance trips, reducing dependence on private automobiles.

Public health

Regular cycling can contribute to physical activity when it is integrated into daily transportation.

Urban space

Bicycles require substantially less space for movement and parking than private automobiles, allowing cities to reconsider how streets and public areas are allocated.

Environment

Replacing some motor-vehicle trips with bicycle trips can reduce transport-related emissions and energy use.

Accessibility

Cycling can provide relatively affordable mobility, particularly when supported by safe infrastructure and accessible bicycle-sharing systems.

Challenges Facing Bicycle-Friendly Cities

Even cities with strong cycling systems face challenges.

Traffic safety

Interactions between bicycles, pedestrians, buses, cars, and trucks can create safety risks if streets and intersections are poorly designed.

Weather

Cold winters, extreme heat, heavy rain, and other weather conditions can influence cycling behavior.

Urban growth

Rapid population growth can put pressure on existing bicycle networks.

Infrastructure maintenance

Protected lanes and bicycle routes require ongoing maintenance, resurfacing, cleaning, lighting, and improvements.

Political continuity

Cycling investments often require long-term planning. Changes in political priorities can affect whether projects continue.

Bicycle-Friendly City vs Bicycle-Friendly Country

A country’s cycling reputation does not necessarily mean every city within that country has the same conditions.

For example, the Netherlands has Utrecht, Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam among the top 30, but the Copenhagenize Index ranks individual cities rather than assigning one national score.

Urban design, population density, infrastructure, local government policies, street layouts, and transportation patterns can differ considerably within the same country.

Key Takeaways

• Utrecht, Netherlands, ranks first in the 2025 Copenhagenize Index with a score of 71.1.

• Copenhagen, Denmark, ranks second with 70.8.

• Ghent, Belgium, ranks third with 67.6.

• Amsterdam, Netherlands, ranks fourth with 66.6.

• Paris, France, ranks fifth with 65.0.

• The 2025 index evaluates 100 cities in 44 countries.

• The methodology uses 13 indicators across three pillars.

• The three pillars are Safe & Connected Infrastructure, Usage & Reach, and Policy & Support.

• Montréal is the highest-ranked North American city at 15th.

• Niterói is the highest-ranked Latin American city at 43rd.

• Christchurch is the highest-ranked city in the Asia & Oceania regional grouping at 38th.

• Quelimane is the highest-ranked African city at 83rd.

• The index considers much more than bicycle lanes, including parking, traffic calming, safety, cycling use, bike sharing, cargo bikes, political commitment, advocacy, bicycle perception, and urban planning.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most bicycle-friendly city in the world?

In the 2025 Copenhagenize Index, Utrecht in the Netherlands ranks first with a composite score of 71.1.

What are the top 5 bicycle-friendly cities?

The top five are Utrecht, Copenhagen, Ghent, Amsterdam, and Paris.

Is Copenhagen still one of the most bicycle-friendly cities?

Yes. Copenhagen ranks second in the 2025 Copenhagenize Index with a score of 70.8.

Is Amsterdam the number one cycling city?

Amsterdam ranks fourth in the 2025 Copenhagenize Index. Utrecht ranks first in the 2025 edition.

Which country has the most cities in the top 30?

The Netherlands has four cities in the top 30: Utrecht, Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam. France also has four: Paris, Bordeaux, Nantes, and Strasbourg. Germany has three, while Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, and Canada each have two or fewer within the top 30.

Which is the most bicycle-friendly city in North America?

Montréal is the highest-ranked North American city, at 15th globally.

Which is the most bicycle-friendly city in Latin America?

Niterói, Brazil, ranks highest among the Latin American cities listed by the 2025 Copenhagenize Index, at 43rd globally.

Which is the most bicycle-friendly city in Africa?

Quelimane, Mozambique, ranks highest among the African cities in the 2025 index, at 83rd globally.

Which city is the most bicycle-friendly in Asia and Oceania?

Christchurch, New Zealand, is the highest-ranked city in the Asia & Oceania regional grouping, at 38th globally.

How are bicycle-friendly cities ranked?

The Copenhagenize Index uses 13 indicators covering infrastructure, usage, governance, perception, and urban planning. Quantitative indicators are normalized to a 0–100 scale, while qualitative indicators use predefined scoring bands. The final score is the average of the 13 indicator scores.

Does having more bicycle lanes automatically make a city bicycle-friendly?

No. The 2025 Copenhagenize methodology considers protected infrastructure alongside parking, traffic calming, safety, bicycle use, modal-share growth, bike sharing, cargo bikes, political commitment, advocacy, bicycle perception, and urban planning.

How many cities are included in the Copenhagenize Index 2025?

The 2025 edition evaluates 100 cities across 44 countries.

Sources

• Copenhagenize Index – Global Ranking of Bicycle-Friendly Cities

• Copenhagenize Index 2025 – EIT Urban Mobility Edition

• Copenhagenize Index – Methodology and About

• EIT Urban Mobility – Copenhagenize Index 2025

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