According to the ADFC 2025 Cycling Travel Analysis, about half of the people in Germany ride a bike on vacation or in their free time. Nearly 13 million people hop on a bike during longer vacations, the majority of them to get to know the country and its people and to stay active. Bikes are therefore an integral part of our vacations, and e-bikes have significantly increased both the comfort and the range of exploration.
However, anyone who doesn’t bring their own bike to their vacation destination will quickly find themselves wondering: How much does it cost to rent an e-bike here? The answer varies widely, as our price analysis of e-bike rentals in vacation regions has shown. The difference in weekly rental rates between the cheapest and most expensive regions is over 220 euros.
We've compiled prices for you in 31 popular vacation destinations and show you where you can get away on a budget, where it gets expensive, and when it makes more sense to bring your own bike.
How much does it cost to rent an e-bike on vacation?
Across all 31 regions, you’ll pay an average of about 37 euros per day for a standard e-trekking bike and about 220 euros for a full week. An e-mountain bike is significantly more expensive, averaging about 48 euros per day and 285 euros per week. However, how much you actually end up paying depends heavily on your destination. In affordable regions along the North Sea and Baltic Sea, you can rent an e-trekking bike for a week for less than 150 euros, while in the Alpine regions of Switzerland, you’ll need to budget well over twice that amount for the same bike. But there are also significant differences within Germany itself. You can find the individual prices by region and bike type in the following overviews.
E-Bike Rentals: Prices for Trekking Bikes by the Day and Week
The e-trekking bike is the classic choice for a cycling vacation. It’s comfortable, suitable for everyday use, and handles both asphalt and paved dirt roads well. No wonder it’s the standard model at most rental shops. For the purpose of this comparison, we specifically wanted to examine these bikes; however, when they weren’t available, we always selected the most affordable e-bike from the rental shop. The cheapest place to rent one is along the German coast: In East Frisia, you’ll pay an average of just around 148 euros for a full week, while on the Baltic Sea coast in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it’s about 153 euros. You’ll have to dig significantly deeper into your pockets in the Bernese Oberland, where the average is 352 euros per week, closely followed by Graubünden at 336 euros and the Harz Mountains at around 315 euros. The table below provides an overview of prices for all regions.
So if you're flexible about where you spend your vacation, it's definitely worth taking a look at the table. For the price of a single week in the Alps, you can spend almost two weeks at the North Sea.
E-Mountain Bike Rentals: Daily and Weekly Rates
If you're looking for adventure even on vacation and are drawn off the beaten path to trails, forest paths, or the mountains, an e-mountain bike is the right choice. However, the more powerful equipment comes at a price. On average, you’ll pay about 11 euros more per day for an e-MTB than for a trekking bike. Riding in the Spreewald is particularly affordable at about 174 euros per week, while prices rise significantly in the Alps. In Graubünden, you should budget an average of about 454 euros for a week’s rental; in the Bernese Oberland and the Harz Mountains, the cost is only slightly lower.
The extra cost is especially worth it if you really want to go off-road. For leisurely rides on paved paths, a trekking bike is usually more than enough—and it’s easier on your vacation budget.
How much does the helmet cost when renting an e-bike?
You should never go on a tour without a helmet. It’s good to know that rental companies often include one at a low cost or even for free. For a weekly rental, you’ll pay an average of only about 2.50 euros per day, and roughly one in four rental companies even provides the helmet for free. The upper limit of the price range remains reasonable: Even where there’s an extra charge, the surcharge is usually in the low single digits per day. It’s still worth checking the price list, though, because a rental helmet can only partially replace your own well-fitting one. In some places, however, helmet rentals only become truly affordable for rentals of a week or longer, since the price for a one-day rental can occasionally run as high as 15 euros per helmet.
Cheap in the North, Expensive in the South: Prices by Region and Country
Where you’re traveling in Germany makes a big difference in rental prices. The north remains the most affordable: along the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts, you can often rent an e-trekking bike for less than 155 euros per week. The further south you go and the closer you get to the low mountain ranges, the more expensive it becomes. In the Harz Mountains, the weekly rental rate is around 315 euros—more than twice as high. Across all German regions, you’ll pay an average of around 204 euros per week.
By European standards, Germany is therefore an affordable place to rent a bike. Only in the Netherlands is renting slightly cheaper on average (about 186 euros), while in Austria and Italy it costs more, at about 244 euros each. You’ll have to dig deepest into your pockets in Switzerland: there, the average weekly rental costs about 356 euros—almost twice as much as here.
Conclusion: When It's Worth Renting an E-Bike and When to Use Your Own Bike
The cost of renting an e-bike on vacation varies widely depending on the region: from less than 150 euros per week on the German coast to well over 370 euros in the Swiss Alps. So if you’re flexible about where you go, you can save money.
For an occasional cycling vacation, renting remains the hassle-free choice: no transportation, no maintenance, cleaning included, , and the right bike is waiting for you when you arrive. But if you realize that an e-bike is meant to be more than just a vacation fling, it’s actually cheaper to ride your own bike—through bike leasing starting starting at around 50 euros a month. That way, renting a bike on vacation becomes the first step toward year-round cycling.
Methodology
For this analysis, we systematically compared e-bike rental prices in 31 popular vacation destinations in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and France. For each region, we collected publicly available prices from up to ten bike rental companies and calculated the average prices. In total, prices from over 280 rental companies were included in the comparison.
We researched rental companies using Google, with search combinations of “e-bike rental” and the respective city or region. From the results, we selected those providers whose current prices were available online via their own website, a booking portal, or a published price list.
For each rental company, we collected the daily and weekly rates for two types of bikes: the e-trekking bike, as a classic vacation e-bike, and the e-mountain bike (e-MTB). If an e-trekking bike was not available, we used the rental company’s cheapest e-bike instead. For e-mountain bikes, we selected the most expensive model in each rental company’s lineup; these were mostly full-suspension models (fullys), but in some cases they were also hardtails or bikes without further specifications.
Where possible online, we calculated the weekly rate specifically for seven days, which generally results in a discount on the daily rate. If no separate discount was listed for a seven-day rental, we multiplied the daily rate by seven. If only discounts for, say, 3 days were listed, we combined them in such a way as to arrive at the most affordable 7-day rental rate shown online (in this case, 2 times the 3-day package plus a one-day rental).
Where a specific date was required for the reservation, we used the rental periods August 31–September 6 or September 15–21, 2026. All prices are gross prices, including value-added tax and excluding surcharges for accessories. Swiss prices were converted from CHF to euros at the exchange rate on September 8, 2026 (1 CHF = 1.062 euros). Any discounts available through guest cards are not included.
Data was collected between August and September 2026. Prices and availability for e-bike rentals are subject to change at any time; the figures provided are averages as of the time of the survey and are intended for informational purposes only. We therefore cannot guarantee that the information is up-to-date, complete, or accurate.
