Sun. Beaches. Stars. Canyons. Hills. Those words describe running in Los Angeles. L.A. is the second most populated city in the country and it is geographically huge. Our guide to the best places to run in Los Angeles includes some fabulous places, with some of the most variety of any city anywhere. One can run for 20+ miles along a beachfront path from Santa Monica to Redondo Beach. Griffith Park and Runyon Canyon are great urban parks with hills and awesome views. Closer to downtown and the Hollywood areas, running along the wide sidewalks of famous Wilshire Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, and into Beverly Hills are must-dos. To the north, enjoy the rugged beaches around Malibu and the incredible, but challenging running trails of Topanga canyon and the Santa Monica hills. Downtown might not be a runner’s paradise, but there are options.
Los Angeles is very spread out. Runners planning a trip to L.A. should know the principal ‘areas’ of L.A. We’ve attempted to group the runs by ‘theme’ and ‘geographic area’, in our “Los Angeles Running Overview” , See the ‘stay’ section for info about clusters of hotels in proximity to those areas. For more running options in the area, see our guides to North L.A., Long Beach, Orange County, Anaheim, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. We even have a guide for Catalina Island.
L.A. of course is known for its near-perfect weather: almost always sunny, and rarely too hot or too cold. That might be monotonous for those who live there, but visitors rarely complain. Public transportation options in L.A. are famously limited, although the situation has improved with the recent addition of a light rail/subway between Santa Monica and downtown.
