How to get your 10 thousand steps on Venice Beach

02.06.2024 - 14:39 / lonelyplanet.com

In our 10K steps series, we've asked writers for the best places to get in your steps while enjoying city sights, favorite routes and some secret detours. In this one James March takes us around the colorful and chaotic streets and boulevards of Venice Beach.

Los Angeles’ coast stretches 75 miles, but little of that sun-kissed shore is as iconic, colorful or strange as Venice Beach.

Flanked by Santa Monica to the north and Marina Del Ray to the south, Venice’s waterfront is one of the most eclectic and iconoclastic public spaces in California and has been officially part of LA since 1926. But there’s far more to Venice than just its chaotic boardwalk. From languid canals to sleek skateparks, a wander around this bizarre corner of LA is an assault on the senses like no other and all are welcome in Venice’s potpourri of hippies, misfits, performers, artists and beatniks.

The best way to soak it all in is via a looped walk, so here’s how to follow my favorite route.

You’ll see the famous Venice Sign again later this evening (in a much brighter fashion), but it’s also a good starting point for our walk. Industrial-chic breakfast spot Eggslut is around the corner if you need a bit of pre-walk fuel with one of their (unsurprisingly) egg-heavy sandwiches. Otherwise, head east on Pacific Avenue before turning north on S Venice Blvd and joining the Venice Canals towpath.

Comfortably the most peaceful corner of Venice, these saltbush-fringed canals look nothing like the rest of the neighborhood. Or LA, for that matter. With arcing white bridges, a soft color palette, swaying palms and handsome water reflections, the canals are wonderfully photogenic and don’t be surprised if you feel a pang of jealousy toward those living here.

Each waterside house is different, with the big-windowed Scandi-style modernist apartments the most seductive (in this writer’s opinion). There’s little wind here too, compared to the beach, which only adds to the joyous serenity. Watch for cormorants, herons and other birdlife splashing down as you stroll.

Exit the canals and stroll north on S Venice Blvd. Walk for around 10 minutes, past the Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library and turn left on Abbot Kinney Blvd. Abbot Kinney himself was the 19th-century founder of the canals (he successfully changed the name of this area from Ocean Park to Venice in 1911, due to his fascination with the Italian lagoon city) and now this popular street is named after him.

Affluent Abbot Kinney Blvd perhaps more closely resembles other LA neighborhoods du jour like Silverlake or Brentwood, though there are some nods to its coastal location, like the pseudo wooden beach shack hosting a Ray-Ban outlet (check out turquoise Goodr cabin further down the street for