Cycling

The cycleway network in Oulu con­nects all the city districts and reac­hes even the sur­roun­ding region! The cycling rou­tes are often shortcuts, and many places in Oulu can be reac­hed more quickly by bike than dri­ving a car – at best, you will not even have to stop for traf­fic lights during your ride.

The cycling rou­tes in Oulu are main­tai­ned efficient­ly al the year round. The busiest rou­tes are so-cal­led cycling highways: wide rou­tes paved with red asp­halt, taking you to places like the Lin­nan­maa Cam­pus in no time.

In Oulu, cycling is tru­ly a notewort­hy com­mu­ting met­hod, a form of eve­ry­day exerci­se, a hob­by, and an essen­tial part of life. Grab a fat­bi­ke, a gran­ny bike, an e‑bike, or anyt­hing with two wheels and pedals on it, and reach all of Oulu with a hig­her gra­de of ease!

Enjoy the sun and the warmth – go cycling in the Oulu sum­mer

Two people cycling next to some water in the evening dusk. A light reflected from the camera adds to the ambience.

If you are about to hop on a bike in Oulu, check out the three dif­fe­rent rou­tes with water the­mes that the Oulu cycling map has to offer. The Rou­te of Two Lakes, the Oulu River Rou­te and the Sea­si­de Rou­te will take you to their res­pec­ti­ve waterways and sce­nes – inclu­ding some nice recom­men­da­tions about other acti­vi­ties besi­des cycling. See the Oulu Cycling Map in pdf for­mat (opens in a new tab).

The nume­rous forest rou­tes and trails in Oulu are sig­ni­ficant rec­rea­tion areas and shortcuts between places. Many cycling rou­tes have nice and varying sce­ne­ry: feel the sal­ty air on a seas­ho­re trail, smell the fresh woods on both sides of the cycleway, or see the open fields and mea­dows under­neath the big sky in front of you.

You will not get lost whi­le cycling eit­her – Oulu has the most compre­hen­si­ve sys­tem of cycling signs in all of Fin­land. Besi­des the areas in Oulu, the sys­tem covers the near­by munici­pa­li­ties of Lumi­jo­ki, Limin­ka, Kem­pe­le, and Muhos as well.

Glis­te­ning snow and won­der­ful sce­ne­ry – win­ter cycling is pop!

A person riding a bike on the Oulu Dam Bridge in the winter. Vapour is rising from the water and the rising sun is shining behind the cyclist.

Half of the people in Oulu who ride bikes do it in the win­ter, too – cycling all year round, even when the snow is thick! Win­ter cycling in Oulu is no cause for won­der but a poten­tial way of get­ting around, from todd­lers to seniors. The city has been desig­ned for this.

Efficient main­te­nance of cycling rou­tes ensu­res that wal­king and cycling are a rea­so­nable alter­na­ti­ve for most trips around the year. If you want to beco­me a true Oulu resi­dent, hop on a bike in Janua­ry and set out to admi­re the fros­ty city. What is more, the­re is an amazing rou­te with varying ter­rain for moun­tain bike and fat­bi­ke riders in Kaak­ku­ri. The win­ter out­door rou­te in Meri-Top­pi­la has camp­fi­re sites, making it a won­der­ful day trip loca­tion for the who­le fami­ly. Find the rou­te infor­ma­tion on the City of Oulu web­si­te (opens in a new tab).

The myth about win­ter bikers with mas­si­ve special gear and clot­hes is tru­ly just a myth, for regu­lar warm clot­hes and a hel­met are qui­te enough for win­ter biking. Howe­ver, the­re are a few impor­tant things to remem­ber:

Win­ter cycling in Oulu has even caught some atten­tion in the inter­na­tio­nal media which might seem fun­ny to a local per­son: riding a bike to work, school, or hob­bies is busi­ness as usual! Still, the cycling cul­tu­re in Oulu seems inte­res­ting, especial­ly in the win­ter­ti­me. Read an article about it on the Euro­news web­si­te (opens in a new tab).

A cyclist in the wintry evening dusk on a cycleway with a blue pedestrian sign projected on the ground on the right, a blue cycling sign on the left.

An inno­va­tion from Oulu is making win­ter cycling easier and safer: the signs poin­ting the lanes for pede­strians and cyclists are pro­jec­ted direct­ly on the snow with pro­jec­tion ligh­ting. This excel­lent inven­tion has been much prai­sed in Fin­land. An eye-catc­hing impro­ve­ment for traf­fic safe­ty – wow!