I have just moved to Melbourne, Australia and having a fantastic time riding the off-road shared bike/walking trails here.

They are mainly designed as routes for communters and connect parks, rivers, streams etc. People are pretty tolerant of cyclists, you are supposed to ring a bell and the walkers all move to one side. The paths are great to take your kids riding on and most are concreted.

Yes, I have been able to see the Yarra River in all it's glory, the rowing teams, kayakers and beautiful houses. One path suspends itself underneath a freeway over which is a whole river is hidden beneath.

I would say it's been great to see wildeness areas and parks- lots of free flying cocktoos, parrots and magpies and more. But as a way to see tourist places.... hmmm it really doesn't do that so well. It's either retrofitted into an area or designed from the start and most historic areas would be hard to link by off-road bike paths. Leaving on-road ones and tourists are not so keen on that.

However from the biking culture here (bike shop cafes, mobile wash your bike trailers outside cafes, everyone riding for fun and communting) the cycling setup here is part of the reason that Melbourne is the most livable city in the world.