I am planning a tour of Belgium by train and cycle in early June, but I won't be able to bring my cycle with me, so I'll need to rent one. Does anyone know of a place that could rent me an appropriate cycle that would be open on Sunday or Monday (unfortunately it seems like many places are closed these days) in Antwerpen, Bruxelles, Brugge, or Gent?
Bike rental for touring Belgium
Fri, 2014-04-25 04:51
#1
WS Member
Bike rental for touring Belgium
Hello, just wondering what you ended up doing. I am planning a trip to Belgium and The Netherlands in October and have similar questions. Please share any tips!
The only place I could find that rents a touring bike with racks and panniers is Mobiel in Kortrijk. The bike was lovely and I thought their rate was very reasonable. Unfortunately I returned the bike before heading to Brussels, since I would be departing from Brussels to the UK and didn't want to worry about returning the bike in Kortrijk on my last day.
I couldn't find any place in Brussels to hire a bike that I would want to take further than 10 miles (mostly heavy cruiser types; the mountain and racing bike shops I found were out of bikes by the time I arrived), which scuttled most of my plans for my last two days in Belgium.
I'd be very surprised if there aren't more options out there, but I've found it difficult to get good search results using English. You might have better looking searching for "fiets verhuur" (I think literally bikes for hire) or if you plan on being in French-speaking Belgium searching for "velos".
Hi Dylan, thanks for the info, this is really helpful! I wonder if a local tourism office might be able to recommend bike shops that rent touring bikes and gear. I like that Mobiel allows rental of panniers, too! Way cool. I'm excited to keep learning more about what's possible...
Hi Dylan,
Thanks for your information on bike rentals. Do you happen to remember the places in Brussels that rented mountain / road bikes? We're trying to plan a trip and am mostly finding city bike rentals.
Thanks so much!
Best,
Lisa
Hi Lisa -- unfortunately I don't really recall much other than I headed south out of the city on public transit to a pretty serious looking shop. I think I maybe took a bus but I can't quite recall. I know I did some hitchhiking too but I can't remember if that was before or after I stopped in at the shop. In any case, I have the impression that it's far from certain that you'll be able to find much unless things have really changed in the last 5 years. I had the impression that whatever shop(s) I asked at had quite limited supply of rentals. In hindsight I wish I'd just hung on to the bike I rented in Kortrijk instead of returning it before going on to Brussels.
I can also vouch for Mobiel, rented a bike there for a trip to Iceland last year!
I know this thread is 5 years old, but it was all I found when looking to rent a touring bike in Belgium and wanted to provide a current update. https://www.mobiel.be/nl rents touring bikes still! I did not call ahead but showed up on August 22nd 2019 and they had a bike that fit me. Probably a good idea to call ahead and check. It was about 60 euros for a 3 day bike rental with a set of 5 panniers/handlebar bags. Bike worked well, it was heavy but fine for a 3 day trip around Belgium.