New Orleans Bike Rentals & Tours: Where To Ride

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Tips On Where To Ride And Bike Tours
Many of our guests rent bicycles simply to go cycling through the French Quarter, Warehouse District, Treme & Marigny. Still, there are greater rewards for those willing to explore further.

Here are our guests' most popular rides.

New Orleans Bike Rentals

Self Guided Tour 1
There are 2 great but fairly short trails/paths along the Mississippi River which are about a mile from our bike shop. Both are car free but you do have to ride on the streets of the French Quarter to get to them. On the French Quarter side of the river (the Eastbank), ride the linear parks known as Woldenberg Park and Crescent Park. Departing our bike shop, you'll ride up Dauphine Street to Iberville St. Turn left and ride Iberville until it ends (stop light at Canal St). Turn left and cross the railroad/trolley tracks which run next to the Aquarium. Directly in front of you will be the Mississippi River and the ferry landing for more bike riding along the river's "Westbank."

From the ferry landing, turn left and ride past the Aquarium through Woldenberg Park. You'll pass a variety of sculptures as well as people sitting, watching the river or strolling. Look in front of you for a small band stand; this is an excellent place for taking photos of the Steamboat Natchez at its dock.

Passing the Natchez, you'll notice the Jax Brewery on your left. After the brewery, the park narrows into a busy boardwalk so it's best to continue riding in the adjacent parking lot or on Decatur St (Decatur is more scenic but almost always congested with vehicular traffic). If you continue through the parking lot, it will deposit you at Decatur St. and Esplanade Ave. You are now just 2 short blocks to the elevator entrance (yes, elevator) to Crescent Park. The elevators provide a safe means to cross the active railroad tracks and are large enough to fit several bicycles and riders simultaneously.

Absolutely one of my favorite places to visit in New Orleans, Crescent Park offers beautiful, unobstructed views of the river as it rounds the bend at the French Quarter. Like Woldenberg park, this park was built upon the remnants of riverfront warehouses that outlived their commercial use. The path leads downriver to Bartholomew St in the Bywater neighborhood. This trip is an out and back. For variety, ride back using the bike lane on Chartres St. When you reach Esplanade Avenue, turn right and bike to Dauphine St. Then, turn left and ride Dauphine back to the bike shop.

The other trail/bike path running along the Mississippi River levee is directly across the river from the French Quarter. This paved trail runs both up river and downriver from the Algiers Ferry. If you head downriver, it's a very quiet, suburban type experience cycling above and beside the neighborhoods of Algiers Point and Algiers. Heading upriver, you'll pass quickly through Algiers Point alongside the Algiers dry docks (in continuous operation since the Civil War), past one of the big barns where many Mardi Gras floats are built and stored, beneath the impressive twin spans of the Mississippi River bridges (known locally and collectively as the Crescent City Connection), beside the McDonoghville neighborhood, through a commercial section of the river (with barges on one side and large bulk storage tanks on the other) and into Old Gretna (where there are numerous restaurants serving the local government offices, courthouses and prison weekdays). Again, this bike trail is adjacent Algiers ferry landing so you cannot get lost as long as you stay on the trail. Please note that there is a $2 toll each way to use the ferry and that the ferry is the only realistic way to get to these Westbank trails from the bike shop (please ask the ferry attendant regarding the last ferry crossing so you don't have to call a cab company for a SUV type cab to get back to the bike shop with the bike).

New Orleans Bike Rentals

Self Guided Tour 2
To better sample the layers of the city's creole past as well as how the city developed over time, bicycle down Basin Street to the paved Lafitte Corridor Trail and return via Esplanade Avenue (the Lafitte Corridor is a car-free, fresh asphalt bikeway through a linear park that begins just outside the French Quarter and ends currently at Carrollton Avenue. When the Lafitte Corridor Trail intersects with the Jefferson Davis Bikeway at Jefferson Davis Parkway, turn right and ride along Bayou Saint John. For great photos of Pitot House as well as other notable landmarks on the bayou, ride the bikeway alongside the bayou and then on Moss St. After no more than 5 minutes of riding, you'll arrive at City Park. Here, either turn left to explore City Park or turn right to ride the Esplanade Avenue bike lane past beautiful French, Creole and 19th Century mansions back to the French Quarter. Depending how far you decide to ride, this route will take you through the neighborhoods of the French Quarter, Treme, Mid City, Lakeview, Lakeshore and Esplanade Ridge and more.

The Lafitte Corridor Trail (LCT) begins just across Basin Street from Armstrong Park. Thus, before riding the LCT, we suggest a meander through Armstrong Park. With tree-shaded Congo Square, various sculptures, water fountains, lakes and bike paths, Armstrong is a short but highly enjoyable diversion.

City Park
Here you can ride beneath lush canopies of moss covered oaks, along former golf cart paths for golf courses that were left fallow after Hurricane Katrina & on the new Wisner bike path along the bayou. Besides its natural beauty, highlights of the park include the Bestoff Sculpture Garden, the Botanical Gardens and the New Orleans Museum of Art. You can also visit Scout Island (where swamp scenes for movies like Interview With A Vampire have been filmed) or ride the bike path along Robert E Lee Blvd (named after the famous confederate general). This path ends at Marconi Blvd.

Lake Vista & Lake Pontchartrain
On the northern side of Robert E Lee Blvd is Lake Vista, a park like neighborhood built in the 1930's & 40's. All the homes in Lake Vista are built with the fronts facing walking lanes or parks. Like spokes on a wheel, these lanes and linear parks draw into a central point where there are 2 churches, a school & a small shopping center with strong, Art Deco styling. Behind the shopping center, one of the main linear parks leads north to Lake Pontchartrain and Lakeshore Drive (a 4 lane parkway with 2 lanes set aside for cyclists). Lake Vista is a bird sanctuary and it's typical to see all sorts of migrating song birds there.

New Orleans Bike Rentals

Self Guided Tour 3
Last but certainly not least is the ride through the Central Business and Warehouse Districts to the Lower Garden, Garden District, Uptown, Audubon Park and the universities of Tulane & Loyola. This ride can be quite satisfying; however, without good instructions, you could wind up on a street with an uncomfortable amount of motor vehicle traffic, lots of potholes or in a less desirable neighborhood. Since clear directions require more details than suited for this page, let us go over this route with you on a map at the bike shop.

If you ride as far as Audubon Park, take a victory lap on the short bicycle/jogging loop around the park and look for the migratory bird rookery (you can't miss it). When you reach the big fountain on the St. Charles Avenue side of the park, it's a matter of crossing the street to pedal along the paths on the university campuses of Tulane and Loyola.

Are you a distance cyclist?

If so, take the side street running along the western side of Audubon Zoo (West Dr.) Right after you cross the railroad tracks, look for an asphalt path on the right. That's the Bill Keller section of the Mississippi River Trail (see 2nd photo from the top at right). Combine an out and back on this smooth asphalt bike trail along with your ride from the French Quarter and you can cover 100 miles.

Escorted Bike Rides & Guided Bike Tours
While the French Quarter is laid out in a grid, the streets of New Orleans radiate off the Mississippi River in a variety of directions, making it quite easy to get turned around. If you prefer to ride without worry whether you'll become lost or get back to our shop in time, we suggest taking a bike tour. We offer several bike tours to select from for just $45, giving you up to 3 hours of riding with one of our fun and interesting tour guides.

This website is a service of RideTHISbike. To book a tour or bike rental, call 504-324-2492.