Sports in Paris

Sport in Paris, for a visitor, mostly means a bike. The city has more than a thousand kilometres of cycle lanes, and the flat run along the Seine from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre is the standard first ride. Farther out, the 13th arrondissement has murals up to forty metres high and Station F, a start-up campus in a former railway depot. Spectator sport has its own addresses: Roland-Garros for the French Open in late May and early June, the Stade de France just north of the city, and the Champs-Élysées, where the Tour de France traditionally finishes.

Here the bike comes in several forms. Guided e-bike rides take about two hours with the briefing, run on bike lanes at up to 25 km per hour, and have a night and sunset version when the monuments are lit. The saddle is fixed, so riders need to be at least 1.55 m tall. A Seine ride on provided bikes takes about an hour and three-quarters and has an optional Louvre ticket; a street-art ride takes three and a half hours. Pedicabs are private rides of an hour or less where the driver pedals, so they are sightseeing rather than sport, as are the guided Eiffel Tower visits in French, German, Italian and Spanish that appear alongside. A private six-hour family day with a guide mixes the metro, a boat and, if you ask, cycling.

Practical. July and August afternoons average about 25C and can pass 35C in a heatwave, so the sunset ride is the comfortable one; the sun sets just before ten at midsummer and before five in December. January afternoons average 7C and wet days are common. E-bike rides supply helmets and require them under 18, while on the Seine ride you bring your own protective gear. The pedicab and street-art rides are free to cancel until the day before; the Seine ride is final sale.