Cycling in London has never been so accessible — miles and miles of bike lanes, convenient bicycle hire schemes and e-bikes all meaning that the number of people choosing to get around town or back and forth from the office by two wheels is reaching unprecedented levels.
The network of cycle lanes now means you can make plenty of journeys entirely, or at least mostly, in some of the dedicated cycling infrastructure that has popped up around the city.
It means you won’t have to mix it with other traffic and leaves you free to very smugly roll past queue after queue of backed-up congestion. But what’s available to you on the routes you use and which cycle lanes should you be looking out for?
London cycling routes (credit: TfL)
As you can see from the not-so-straightforward map above on Transport for London’s website, there are no shortage of options, so forgive us if we don’t mention every single cycle lane inside the M25.
The interactive map on TfL’s website is a good place to start and you’ll be able to get a fairly good idea of which routes will be most useful to you. After that you could plot a route via Strava, Komoot, Google or any other route-planning app or website.
Nowadays, all routes are referred to as ‘Cycleways’ by TfL, although you might still see signage or references online to ‘Superhighways’ or ‘Quietways’, as some routes have been branded previously.
Cycleway 1 (C1): The City – Enfield
Starting with a long one, C1 can almost take you all the way from the City to the M25 in a dead-straight line north. Handy if you want to watch a certain North London football club that plays in white too, it passes through the boroughs of Enfield, Haringey, Hackney and Islington, getting to the City via Shoreditch, Hoxton, Dalston, Stoke Newington, Seven Sisters and Tottenham.
Cycleway 1 (left shows southern section, right shows part of the northern section) (credit: Transport for London)
It also links up with numerous local routes around Enfield and Edmonton, with plenty more connections east and west once you’re further into London.
Cycleway 2 (C2): The City – Stratford
Cycleway 2 (credit: Transport for London)
We’ve had a long, old cycle route north, now let’s head east on Cycleway 2. This isn’t a football ground guide, I promise, although it’s a bike lane the entire way from the City to Stratford and the Olympic Park and West Ham’s London Stadium, if you’re that way inclined. There’s always Westfield if football’s not your thing.
If you usually head in or out of the east end on the Central or District lines this one might be for you. Without the cycle lane it would be an unattractive, quite intimidating slog along a couple of busy A-roads, out of the City and through Mile End and Bow to Stratford.
Cycleway 3 (C3): Lancaster Gate – Barking
Cable Street C3 (credit: Jack Thurston/wikimedia commons/ CC BY 2.0)
As cycling infrastructure that sees the sights goes, you’ll struggle to beat CS3. Yep, this is one of those that you might still see referred to as Cycle Superhighway 3 (even if it was officially renamed Cycleway 3 a couple of years ago) but we think it’s quite deserving of its super title.
It’s got major segregation throughout and heads as far east as Barking, rolling back into town along the north side of the Thames. The Shard, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, The Mall, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, it’s got it all. It ends on its western end up near Paddington, a handy option if you’ve just hopped off a train and need to head somewhere central.
Cycleway 3 Buckingham Palace (credit: Google Maps)
Cycleway 4 (C4): London Bridge – Greenwich
London cycle lane Cycleway 4 (image via Transport for London) (credit: road.cc)
Talking of a rather large London station, C4 goes from London Bridge to Greenwich, heading east parallel to the overground line through Bermondsey, Canada Water, Surrey Quays and Deptford to Greenwich. It could replace your Jubilee line journey up to Canada Water
Cycleway 4 (credit: Transport for London)
Cycleway 5 (C5): Waterloo – Clapham Common
This one heads south from Waterloo via Lambeth and Vauxhall, past The Oval which is worth remembering if you’re in London to watch cricket next summer. From there you’re on through Stockwell and up Clapham High Street to Clapham Common.
Cycleway 6 (C6): Belsize Park – Elephant & Castle
London cyclists use Superhighway 6 at Blackfriars (credit: Tilia44/wikimedia commons/CC BY-SA 4.0)
Cycleway 6 works nicely for anyone travelling to or from Euston, King’s Cross, St Pancras or Waterloo, drawing a line up from Elephant & Castle south of the river up to near the posh streets of Hampstead in the north west, where you might spot Ricky Gervais or Liam or Noel Gallagher. Some might say you’ve just got to roll with it on C6.
Camden cycle network (credit: Transport for London)
Cycle Superhighway 7 (CS7): City – Colliers Wood
TfL Image -The previously completed upgrade of the CS7 route in Balham (credit: road.cc)
This one continues to be known as Cycle Superhighway 7, maybe because it’s another big one. Something of a Northern line tribute act, CS7 goes as far south as any of the routes we’ve included here, heading all the way down to Colliers Wood, the third most southernly stop on the Tube map.
From there it plots nine miles up through south London, through Tooting, Balham, Clapham, Stockwell, Elephant & Castle, up to Southwark Bridge and The City. There are some sections that could probably still be better segregated (even if some improvements were made during Covid), especially around Clapham and Stockwell but still, it beats 13 stops on the Northern line.
Cycle Superhighway 8 (CS8/C8): Wandsworth – Lambeth Bridge
Cycleway 8 (credit: Transport for London)
This west-east route hugs the Thames after crossing at Chelsea Bridge, making it another sightseeing special. The rest isn’t quite so nice, with fairly sporadic segregation. The underpass at the giant roundabout by Wandsworth Bridge is worth making use of, or plotting a route that switches to some of the quiet streets that run parallel to the railway line from Clapham Junction to Wandsworth Town. Even if they don’t have cycle lanes, it can be a nicer option.
Cycleway 9 (C9): Syon Park – Hammersmith
Cycleway 9 on Chiswick High Road (picture credit TfL) (credit: road.cc)
Play it cool if you spot Jeremy Vine over here. C9 links Hammersmith to Syon Park near Brentford via Chiswick and Kew Bridge, taming some major A-roads and Chiswick High Road with segregated cycling infrastructure. It mirrors the District line west of Hammersmith if you’ve been left stranded by this week’s strikes.
Cycleway 9 (picture credit Simon MacMichael) (credit: road.cc)
We’ve barely even scratched the surface there, you’ll finds numerous other cycling routes on TfL’s map, from local connections to quietways and more city-crossing options. Plans and construction on new routes are always popping up too so you might be pleasantly surprised by what comes next.
Anyway, you get the idea, there are miles upon miles of cycle lanes to join up, ride end-to-end or dip in and out of. Of course, you aren’t required to use cycle lanes and can plot a route however suits your needs and journeys, but these major London routes are a decent starting point.
Central London Cycleways (credit: Transport for London)
Take a closer look at TfL’s cycling infrastructure map and you can also check out resources such as the London Cycling Campaign’s website or the very handy ‘London cycle routes’ YouTube channel which prioritises traffic-free, accessible routes too.
> OPINION: If you can commute by bike, savour it
Cycling’s a great way to see a city (we’d argue the best way, in fact) so once you’ve got the hang of things don’t be afraid to switch up your route and try new roads. Sometimes you’ll be able to find lovely, quiet roads away from these main cycle routes (which by their very nature require the space and directness) of being built on some of London’s major roads, but as a starting point you can’t go too far wrong with finding one of these local to you and giving it a go. You might ditch the Tube for good…
It’s Commuting Week here on road.cc so if you fancy reading more about how to get to work by bike, click here for all our features and handy guides. If you’re one of our regulars, get in the comments with your top routing and cycle lane tips for anyone thinking of giving London cycle commuting a go.