What are Germany's most bikeable cities?

The German city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, has been named the seventh-most bike-friendly city in the world in the 2025 Copenhagenize Index. 

Copenhagenize Index 2025 

Every year, the Copenhagenize Index ranks several global cities to determine which have made cycling the safest, most convenient, and most mainstream. The study is considered the “most comprehensive and holistic ranking of bicycle-friendly cities in the world”.

The 2025 edition of the ranking looks at 100 cities across 44 different countries, assessing them based on 13 indicators in three main categories:

• Safe and connected infrastructure: bicycle infrastructures, bicycle parking areas, traffic calming and safety.
• Usage and reach: bicycle modal share, modal share growth, women’s share of bicycle trips, bike share systems and cargo bikes
• Policy and support: political commitment, advocacy, image of the bicycle and urban planning.

In this year’s ranking, Utrecht took the number one spot as the most bicycle-friendly city in the world, with Copenhagen and Ghent rounding out the top three. 

Four Dutch cities named among world’s best for cyclists

With more than 24 million bicycles in the Netherlands for around 18 million residents, it comes as no surprise that several Dutch cities have made it into top spots in a ranking on bike-friendliness. Utrecht was at the top of the list though, considered “the heart of Dutch cycling excellence”.

A third of all trips in Utrecht are made using a bicycle, a fact that the index attributes to “a connected cycling network, safe and calm streets, and a growing number of bicycle-priority corridors”. Other Dutch cities mentioned in the ranking’s top 30 include Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam.

Münster is the seventh-most bikeable city

While the Copenhagenize index said its "infrastructure still needs some upgrades to catch up with the top performers", Münster was named the national "capital of bicycles" in Germany. According to the index, two-thirds of Münster’s streets enforce 30 kilometres per hour (km/h) speed limits and roughly 40 percent have protected cycle tracks.

Just missing a spot in the top 10, Bonn also came in 11th place. Copenhagenize said that Bonn's cycling paths were slowly transitioning from "fragmented, paint-only lanes to a more coherent, protected network". Currently, more than half of Bonn's streets have a 30 km/h speed limit and 20 percent of streets have a protected cycle track.

10 most bike-friendly cities in the world

In all, here are the world’s best cities for cyclists:

1. Utrecht
2. Copenhagen
3. Ghent
4. Amsterdam
5. Paris
6. Helsinki
7. Münster
8. Antwerp
9. Bordeaux
10. Nantes

For more information about the study or to see the full ranking, visit the Copenhagenize Index website.