Commuting by bike with kids in a bicycle trailer

Hi! I was just noticing that lots of posts mention "biking time" from place to place. Is it practical to commute from, say, Neuhausen to Schwabing while pulling two small children in a bicycle trailer? Are cars bicycle-friendly, and are there bike routes most places (as well as a good place to lock them up)?

Or is this mostly leisure biking...

Alternatively, how stroller-friendly are the sidewalks and train/tram/bus systems? I've noticed that European strollers look very different from American ones -- higher, with larger wheels. Is this a style difference or a terrain-related necessity? Are sidewalks as narrow as they are in, for example, Italy?

Thanks! (I apologize if these seem like naive questions...)

You must be new and therefore entitled to such a naive question. I think you need to get out and see things for yourself. Munich is very bicycle friendly and I have an "anhanger" for my son. We go all over and I used to take him to preschool on my way to work. They even snowplow the bicycle paths for this in the winter. Welcome to the land of where your tax dollars actually benefit you on a daily basis. Be careful though, you won't want to go back. At least not right away.

getting from neuhausen to schwabing is fairly easy and safe. i always cycle along the heart centre (can't remember the street), cross dachauerstr (cycle path) and turn into schellingstr. schellingstr. has no cycle path but is relatively wide and i have seen people using those trailers there before.

Having one of the biggest strollers and anhangers around I would say it's generally ok except for very few cases.
although my stroller/anhanger is 83cm wide, I could pass through:
- U, and S-bahn stairs, and lifts
- U, and S-bahn doors and having a place to stand without stopping the traffic inside
- most of the multi-story shops has adequate stairs or lifts
- the front door of the tram

The cycling paths in general are adequate for the anhanger, although you might not always find a suitable palce to park it especially in the city center. the only problem you might have trailing a couple of heavy kids is the slopes around munich, some areas are really slopy such that you will get tired soon if you did a long distance with the trailer.

However, I find some difficulties in:
- lifts of normal buildings (like my flat's)
- small doors of some shops
- in IE/IRE/ICE trains I have to go to the bycicle carriage
- old trams

In general, I find it much more easy to use the stroller+public transportation if going to city center than using a car.

Thanks so much -- this is very encouraging! I can't wait to see when we arrive in June. I live in Baltimore, Maryland, where cars will stop and yell at you for endangering your children...

By any chance do you know any place where we could rent a bicycle+anhanger for just one month, or perhaps purchase a second hand set cheaply?

Munich is terrific for biking. I bike everywhere and often it is faster than driving - especially if you count the time drivers have to spend searching for parking.

My son is slowly but surely outgrowing his. I may have one to lend you. Before moving here, my wife and I lived in Germantown, Md. You will love it here although we don't have all the free tennis courts which is a bummer. Munich is full of things like Rock Creek Park except that they are safer 24 hours a day. A female alone can actually walk around at night and feel safe here. My wife used to go walking alone in the woods in the evening with our dog. It took me a while to get used to how safe it was after having coming here from the DC burbs.

Expensive, but then it's a bike & a stroller & a combination thereof:
http://www.triobike.com/
Haven't seen any in Germany yet, & don't know if they fit in U-bahns etc.

My neighbour has one of these or similar. it takes up just as much space as a normal stroller. Pretty neat idea.

I understand from Sying's posts that her family will be staying in Munich for only a month. For such a short time I personally wouldn't go to the trouble of getting all the equipment (bike, trailer, etc.) but rather use a double stroller and public transport.

Even when biking alone you have to concentrate on doing just that so you can't look around and enjoy the sights; with kids you have to be doubly careful, obviously, plus you have to make sure that you're doing things right and not breaking any Munich bicycle laws.

Thanks so much, Kay. That's good advice. Do you know of a particularly city-friendly double stroller? I'm debating whether or not to just ask my older child (she's 4) to walk, but sometimes it's just more efficient to pile them in a stroller and go.

Also, the "Munich bicycle laws" thread was a delightful read! It brought back memories of biking in LA, where cars reign supreme and cyclists could hear epithets in a different language every day. I'll have to say -- Munich seems much friendlier...

The Trio bike combo looks very cool! It looks perfect for leisure/trail riding -- I would just worry about city maneuverability...

You could get one of those strollers with the little wheelie thing for the older kid to sand on at the back...the 4 year old would totally agree to that, I'm sure. ( I know I would!)

I don't live in Munich but visit Bavaria often - and I happen to have two kids (a 4yo and a 1yo). As LauKatOD mentioned, you'll find that once you get to Munich, you'll see a bunch of strollers running around with a little one in the seat and a toddler on a mini wheeled platform between the parent and the stroller - call it a stroller trailer. Our stroller wasn't compatible with the stroller trailers that we found in the kids stores but ours was a jogger so it was relatively specialized to begin with. However, we improvised by moving a few things around on the handles and had the toddler stand on the cross bar in the back. It wasn't stable enough to leave her alone on it but if we were moving, we'd have the hands on the stroller anyway.

Depending on your personal tastes/needs, I find the strollers available in Germany to be better engineered, more compact and adaptable than most of the ones we find in the states. You might consider bringing a cheapo stroller for the travel portion and buying a nice one (with trailer) when you get here. Then you'll have a useful souvenir when you go home! BTW - I live in DC area too (NoVA to be more specific)

In true german fashoin, those little boards are called KiddyBoards

now we know who fills up all the standing space on the tram with a ridiculously supersized pushchair! There's always a gang of rug rats in oversized buggies that take up most of the space on my tram to work - is your child also 83cm wide?!

I'm as family-friendly as the next chap but these buggies are getting ridiculous...*

* I will withdraw this comment without demur if you have twins...

I commute from north Schwabing to Neuhausen every day, it's a nice ride. You'll have no trouble with the kiddies in the back, it's quite flat in Munich.

I'm afraid I can't recommend any (my kids are past that stage and I never had a double stroller, anyway), but you should be able to find some useful suggestions in Strollers / pushchairs.

I think a double stroller is a good idea if you want to really get around and enjoy Munich during your stay. That way your 4-year old can walk as much as she wants to but still have a seat ready and waiting when she's had enough. It's also safer to have both children in a stroller when you're using public transport (I'm thinking especially of U-Bahn platforms). Sorry, I guess I'm stating the obvious...

As a mother of 3 year old twins I have a lot of experience with double buggies - that's English for stroller - (we've been through 3!).

My advice would be to get a good, sturdy single buggy with big wheels that will bump up and down curbs and 'glide' over cobbled roads (there are quite a few cobbled roads and drive ways in Munich that a cheap buggy with small wheels would have difficulty with). Then get a buggy board (or kiddy board or whatever they're called) for your 4 year old. I suggest this because as my twins are getting older they are less inclined to want to sit in the buggy, but at only 3 they do get tired when we go out all day and need to sit down for a while. I went out with a friend and her buggy board and my twins loved it (and fought over it of course!!).

I also find a sturdy buggy essential for carrying all the crap you need to carry when you have a child in tow - and double that crap when you have more than one kid! there is nothing more annoying than a buggy falling over because you've got one shopping bag slung over the handle!

Anyway, I'm sure with all the thought you are putting into it you will make the right choice for you. And welcome to Munich!

Fidelio - the place to go in MUC for trailers.

That's right - kiddieboards! And I thought those brain cells were dead...

Yes, you're right to point out that English uses several different terms - stroller, buggy, pushchair - it can come in very useful when googling for different brands and models.