@PamelaSchure

A7. I haven't traveled to new places much in the last few years 😔

I like the idea of tourist maps with a nice predefined route for sightseeing.

Otherwise I think I'd do some searching to see if a local coalition/person has made some maps showing good routes.

I use Google Maps can't trust them entirely. Usually some street view is needed to make sure the route isn't bonkers crazy.

If I am putting more effort into route planning, I'll make use of heatmaps from Strava, etc, to see which routes are commonly taken.

#BikeNite

@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite A7. In the US I think the best bet is to check in advance to see if the area has a cycle coalition. It used to be that many cycle coalitions published or carried paper maps. I just donated a bunch of my old ones to the LA Public Library's Map Room (they welcome cycle map donations as it's a gap in their collection).

https://bikesonom.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/bikesonom/product.jsp?product=1&

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@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite #BikeNite A7. This is great! Local knowledge is great.

I currently look for tourist routes by painstakingly plotting out routes and then checking out Google Street View for bike lanes or clearance, look at how busy those streets are on traffic maps, etc. etc. What I do *NOT* do is use Google Maps because it really chooses bad bicycle routes. I will put routes into OSM and look at the various alternative routes, as well, though.

@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite A7: Seattle being a pretty big tourist town, we have a lot of tourists. Exactly half the Greater Northshore bike shops do rental as a major part of their business, mostly to tourists.

They are the most enthusiastic people so far about my bike maps, and tell me they use them to help direct their tourist customers.

@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite

A7. My best thought about tourist biking routes is to study the Strava heat maps and figure out where people actually go (or really, where they don't ever go). I think I have pretty good instincts to just ride around, but knowing the "avoid this route because it kills cyclists" traps is key.

Riding from park to park can be a lot of fun especially when there are connecting trails.

#BikeTooter #bikenite

@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite

A7. I stop at the local Public Library. If they don't have the information, they can point me to where it will be, if available. Usually a Visitor Center will have paper maps.

Cities, towns, villages--DO NOT discount paper maps and think "everyone has an application program on their phone, anyway." Those don't always work, service isn't always available, and YOU know your place better than any mapping corporation. Use OpenCycleMap.org as a base.

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@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite

A7b. I also used Adventure Cycling Association maps for bicycle touring. They were great for 2016, they have digital downloads now (so not necessarily reliant on a service) too.

But local information is always best. Especially for "cut-throughs" or "sneak-ways" a motorists can't use. And bicycle parking. And @meganL created the very useful #CycleParkingAudit

#BikeNite

@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite #BikeNite #BikeNite25April2025 #A7 This reminds: We enjoyed meeting Bike Tennessee folks at Sea Otter Classic. Seems they’ve come up with a great tourism initiative for their state, biketn.com.

Here in Monterey County, California helping visitors who bike was one of our first projects, beginning in 2009, hence remains an alternate URL — https://tipsfortourists.com — aka bikemonterey.org. Helping tourists/visitors is mentioned in this 10th anniversary post. https://bikemonterey.org/may-1-10th-anniversary-of-the-bicycling-monterey-site-and-projects.html

In our Bicycle Maps section https://bikemonterey.org/tips-for-tourists/once-you-start, we include links not only to Monterey County’s bilingual (Spanish-English) bike map https://bikemonterey.org/bicycle-map-for-monterey-county.html, but also to some other California bike maps. For more, we encourage checking with other California Bicycle Coalition aka #CalBike Local Partners: https://www.calbike.org/about_us/who_we_are/local_partners/

#BikeTooter #BicycleTouring #EcoTourism #ResponsibleTourism #BikeTouring

@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite

A7c. Where I live now is part of the Root River Trail. They were very forward thinking years ago in making this #RailToTrail that connects several small towns. No only does each town have *paper* maps of the Root River and trail and the connected towns, each town has their *own* paper map. Discovered more with those than I did with looking up stuff online.

Legally they are required to be called cities in Minnesota, but they're town sized.

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@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite A7. Intrigued on answers, don't know of much for the US. Would love for this kind of info to make it back to OpenStreetMap for bicycle friendliness somehow. That's kind of my biggest gripe is that bike "routes" aren't always friendly and require a lot of local knowledge to avoid the "officially it's a bike route, but there's no protection and everyone drives 15mph over the 45 mph speed limit" roads.

#BikeNite

@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite A7. https://cycle.travel or local cycling or tourism groups would be my first places

I won't trust @WillCycle because I commented with extra info/corrections about bike-on-train (he says my local has "severe restrictions" - in practice they allow 36+ non-folding bikes per train off-peak), never saw a reply & the misleading info is still up, discouraging cyclists from trains, so I wonder what else on there is off

#BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes

@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite

(in the UK) I use Komoot primarily for off road routes but usually check the places where trails cross roads on street view to see if they're likely to be overgrown. Also useful are the user photos & comments which describe trail conditions

I also use footpathmap.co.uk to check whether the Komoot routes are footpaths or bridleways, and if I'm plotting routes through London I use the safe cycling Google map overlay to find LTNs

https://goo.gl/maps/gU2Fz358Y9c6bFzN6?g_st=ac

@ascentale @PamelaSchure @bikenite A7. My city's free cycle loan programme, operated by libraries, has downloadable suggested routes in GPX format on the libraries' websites, and the staff encourages the use of Organic Maps.

The routes themselves were put together by various bicycle user groups. Short loops to tourism points of interest, or pretty rides along pleasant routes with plenty of facilities, parks and dining options.

The state government runs a good city-wide cycle route finder. Easily the best router I've used. OSM-based alternatives come second, thanks to a dedicated handful of people making apps route well by fixing the OSM basemap. Google Maps is blah, routing along busy roads for the most part.
https://maps.sa.gov.au/cycleinstead

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