Rides for beginners

This reserve park (with playground!) in Pukekohe is a great place to take the kids – with or without the bikes!

A beatiful landmark path connecting East Street with Nelson Street, looping under Karangahape Road and providing some stunning views! A nice place to ride with kids, or as a beginner looking for some easy practice.

Right by the Birkenhead Pool & Leisure Centre, this is a great spot to take the kids for a ride! Works for pre-schoolers on their balance bikes during school times, and older kids who want to go hard the rest of the time!

A gorgeous coastal track, with farm animals and wild birds alike to see. This is a pretty safe place to slowly potter about on a bike – though do take care around the gravel, mud, and strong waters!

An 8km track connecting Henderson and Henderson Valley, suitable for beginners and older kids as a longer bike ride. A couple of road crossings make this not quite suitable for young kids.

Tāmaki Drive is rightly famous, but if you want stunning water views without the crowds, look a little further afield and discover the Tāmaki Path for your next family bike adventure.

Perfect for when you want an urban bike adventure soaked in nature — a magical green gem in the midst of a neighbourhood.

A cruisy bike ride around the park, with a great playground (with flying fox!) and near to a kid-friendly beach, with views of the inner harbour, and a handy cafe nearby.

This is a great place for a relaxed outing, whether you’re all about the biking, or if you want to incorporate some time at a playground, climbing trees, or a picnic!

So many places to explore here by bike! The full shared path is extensive, running through multiple parks, reserves, and domains!

This park has a teensy-tiny ride track for really small riders and scooters. There is also a playground, and a wee free library for parents to browse.

A great place for an easy, flat ride for little riders and beginners alike, with plenty of places to park a car, many toilets, and a selection of cafés as well!

This ride has lots of track you can explore, but you can also just do a short ride as well. The history of the area adds an exciting element to the ride for young and old, and provides lots of interesting spots to stop at.

A faded painted bike track on the concrete top of the reservoir! Flat and safe for kids to pedal around – just watch out for that edge!

Paremoremo’s Sanders Reserve is a mountain biking park that has a dedicated track for kids within view of the carpark (specifically for kids under 10), as well as 20km of […]

We tried out the new Waterview Shared Path and the verdict is – highly recommended. If you’re driving there, and especially if you have younger children, a good place to […]

  Taumanu Reserve, Onehunga is the result of a massive foreshore reclamation project that finished in 2015, designed to restore the foreshore amenities that existed before the motorway was built […]

Little Rangitoto Reserve on Upland Road in Remuera has got nice bikeable tracks for kids and a great playground. There’s also a very long flying fox!    There is a […]

Normanton Reserve in Glenfield is less well known than other spots, but well worth checking out. It has a nice big playground that the ride track loops around; a smaller loop inside a larger […]

  Northcote’s Onepoto Reserve (just off the SH1 Onewa Road exit) is a favourite for families, with plenty of great facilities. The park is huge and grassy, and has two playgrounds within view of its learn-to-ride track, […]

The Avantidrome in Cambridge, south of Hamilton on SH1, is the home of sport cycling with all sorts of options for family fun. There’s a fantastic bike skills park with working traffic lights, plus a […]

Cornwall Park is huge. Head for the Cornwall Park Café, which has great natural loops around the garden (which kids love) and coffee & tea (which parents love). The most […]

Avondale’s learn-to-ride track is tucked in behind the Great North Road shops next to the racecourse. The best access is from Great North Road, more or less opposite Crayford Street West – just […]

The Grey Lynn Pump Track is in Grey Lynn Park, which is vast. The pump track is just off Dryden Street, which has some angle parking there, plus plenty of on-street […]