Doylestown Bike Tour

Doylestown is a great place to take the family out on a bike ride. There are a lot of options and the Doylestown Bike/Hike System, which connects the community with a series of paths and street routes, continues to make the town more and more biker-friendly. There are a few things I like to keep in mind before I chose a route to cruise around town with my kids:

1. Safety - I don't want to be on roads that have too much traffic or bumpy sidewalks.

2. Scenery - One of the most attractive things about Doylestown is the town itself. So when we're going on a leisurely ride, I like to coast down the tree lined streets of the borough more than the paths that lead away from town.

3. Destinations - Don't get me wrong. Meandering through town on a bike is a lot of fun. But it's a good idea to be able to have a few destinations on your route when riding with kids. The destinations break up the tour and give everyone manageable short distance goals to make it to.

4. Loops - Kids seem to love to ride in circles ad nauseum. They find a circular route and just hammer away at it. So I like to include places on a bike ride where our oldest son can motor around without being in any danger.

5. Parking - If you are driving into town you'll want to have an easy place to unload the kids and the bikes. So a parking lot is probably a good starting point as opposed to street side parking.

6. Hills - For the most part, you'll probably want to avoid big hills on the bike ride and stay on level ground. But a bike ride that has a "big" hill to go down is always a thrill for kids. Finding a hill that is safe and manageable for everyone is a big plus.

The bike tour posted here hits on each one of the points listed above. It's a beatiful ride through town that avoids heavy traffic. There are two destinations: Font Hill and Fanny Chapman, there are two loops: Belmont Square and Fanny Chapman Park Path, and there is a nice downhill: Linden Avenue. The bike tour starts and ends at the Doylestown Public Library so there is plenty of free parking and ample space to load and unload. Enjoy the ride!




View Doylestown Bike Tour in a larger map

Start at Doylestown Library Parking Lot

• Park at Doylestown Library
• Leave parking lot and go up Pine Street
• Right into Garden Alley
• Right on Church Street and quick left onto Belmont Avenue
• Follow Belmont to Cottage Street
• Left onto Cottage Street
• Right onto Court Street
• Cross East Street
• Continue on Court Street, Left at entrance to Font Hill
• Check out the Pond behind the Castle and explore the grounds and wooded trails within Font Hill

Leaving Font Hill

• Exit Font Hill onto Court Street
• Left on Court Street
• Right onto Belmont Court
• Ride a loop (or more) around Belmont Square
• Leave Belmont Square on Rohr Drive
• Cross Maple Street
• Left at Linden Avenue (Big hill!)
• Right at bottom of the hill onto Creek Drive
• Right onto Forest Drive
• Left onto Hickory Drive
• Right onto Orchard Lane
• Right onto Bike/Hike Path on East State Street
• Cross at traffic light to Fanny Chapman Park
• Do a loop (or more) around Fanny Chapman Park, explore area

Leaving Fanny Chapman Park

• Walk bikes up Boro Mill (it’s steep)
• Left onto East State Street
• Slight left onto Ashland Street
• Cross Church Street
• Left onto Pine Street
• Arrive back at Library, get out some books, go home and read