A bicycle route from Paris to London? From the Seine to the Thames and connecting Notre Dame and the London Eye? That’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull — of course I had to do it.
The Avenue Verte is a 253-mile ride (or a 294-miler, depending on which option in France you choose). While it bills itself as a greenway, or at least a green avenue or route, it really is a mix of bike lanes, old railroad lines that are like a U.S. rail-trail and, yes, roads.
Some of it is not paved, and some of it is rough enough (especially in England) that I’d recommend doing it on a gravel bike, rather than taking my approach and using a road bike with 28 mm tires.
But wow. What a vision! Advocates in both the U.K. and France dreamed it up in the 1990s and with plenty of persistence and governmental partners it was opened in 2012 ahead of the London Olympics. That’s fast!
I’m sure the route has changed over the years, and no doubt it’s still not quite as family-friendly as all would like. On the plus side, it’s generally well-signed, particularly in France.
Getting out of Paris is surprisingly easy, in part because local government officials have been adding bike lanes for many years. We biked on a wide path along the Canal Saint Martin, which brough us to the Seine, where the wide path continued. From there it was a pretty straightforward and flat ride past sights like the Stade de France, the Parc des Inpressionnistes and British School of Paris to the suburban town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.
Plan on 40 miles.
If bicycling in Paris makes you nervous, you can take the RER A train to Chatou-Croissy, Sartrouville or all the way to Conflans.
This portion of the route overlaps with the Seine a Velo route, which we also biked. You can read more about that experience here.
Exploring by bicycle 