Los Angeles · Self-guided audio walk

Three Venices: Boardwalk, Canals & Abbot Kinney

Muscle Beach, hidden canals, and LA's best shopping street, all on foot in under two hours.

5Stops
3 kmDistance
45+ minTime

Photo by Américo Toledano on Wikimedia Commons

Venice is three places wearing one name. The boardwalk is a two-mile carnival of street performers, skateboarders, and the clang of outdoor weightlifting at Muscle Beach. A few blocks inland, the Venice Canals, six quiet waterways crossed by arched footbridges, are what remains of Abbot Kinney's 1905 dream of a miniature Venice of America. And a short walk north, Abbot Kinney Boulevard packs independent boutiques, some of the city's best restaurants, and serious coffee into a half mile. This loop connects all three. You will walk roughly two and a half miles, mostly flat, with plenty of places to stop, watch, and eat along the way.

Hear it on the street

Get the turn-by-turn audio guide in the app. The narration plays itself as you reach each stop, hands-free and offline.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Stop by stop

The route

Interactive map of the route. The full stop list below works without it.

Must see

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Venice Sign

0:00

The neon gateway to Venice, strung across Windward Avenue where Abbot Kinney's grand resort once opened its doors.

You are standing under the Venice Sign, the white-and-neon arch that spans Windward Avenue at the edge of the Pacific. It marks the spot where, on July 4th, 1905, developer Abbot Kinney opened his Venice of America resort to forty thousand people. They arrived by electric trolley from downtown Los Angeles, the men in suits and the women in long dresses, to ride gondolas down freshly dug canals and stroll a pier that jutted into the surf. The sign you see now was hung in the 1950s and restored more than once, but the letters (white by day, red and green neon by night) have been photographed more than almost anything else on the Westside. Look west past the sign and you will catch the glitter of the ocean between the buildings. That is where you are headed next.

Open in Google Maps

≈5 min walk to the next stop

Local pick

Photo by Alexander Migl on Wikimedia Commons

Venice Beach Skatepark

0:00

A sunken concrete arena where skateboarding history is still being written, framed by tall palms and ocean air.

You are standing at the edge of the Venice Beach Skatepark, sixteen thousand square feet of sunken concrete that opened in 2009 on the exact patch of sand where skaters have been riding since the 1970s. Below you, the park snakes through deep bowls, a relentless street course, and a long snake run that weaves between the palms. On any given afternoon you will see kids on their first board wobbling next to visiting pros pulling tricks that the crowd applauds like a jazz solo. Late in the day, when the sun drops behind the palms, the skaters turn into silhouettes and the whole scene looks like the cover of a record you would want to own. The skatepark is free and open to the public, and the rail along the top makes a good place to lean and watch. When you are ready, turn and follow the boardwalk south.

Open in Google Maps

≈11 min walk to the next stop

Must see

Photo by Clyde Charles Brown on Wikimedia Commons

Venice Beach Boardwalk

0:00

The southern stretch of the legendary promenade, where Muscle Beach iron meets ocean breeze and the city peels away behind you.

You are standing on the southern end of the Venice Beach Boardwalk, where the crowd thins and the Pacific opens wide. Look back north and you can see the line of palm trees and vendor stalls you just walked through. Somewhere behind you is Muscle Beach Venice, the outdoor weightlifting pen where Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, and Franco Columbu trained during bodybuilding's golden age in the 1970s. The original Muscle Beach opened in Santa Monica in the 1930s, but when that city shut it down in the late fifties, the lifters migrated down here to what was then just a patch of sand called the Pen.

The city made it official in 1987, and today you can still walk up and watch someone bench-press twice their body weight while a boom box plays something from before they were born. The courts behind the gym ring with the sound of paddle tennis, a sport that has quietly taken over this stretch of sand. From here, you are going to leave the beach behind and walk into a different Venice entirely.

Open in Google Maps

≈8 min walk to the next stop

Free preview ends here · stops 4 to 5 continue in the app

Venice Canal Historic District

Six quiet waterways and nine arched footbridges, all that survives of Abbot Kinney's 1905 miniature Venice of America.

in app

Abbot Kinney Boulevard

A half mile of independent boutiques, world-class restaurants, and third-wave coffee, the street that bears the name of the man who built all of this.

in app

Good to know

Before you go

Is the Venice Beach Boardwalk safe?

The boardwalk is busy and generally safe during daylight hours. It is one of the most heavily trafficked pedestrian stretches in Los Angeles. Like any crowded public place, keep your belongings secure and stay aware. The atmosphere changes after dark; most visitors wrap up their walk by sunset.

Are the Venice Canals open to the public?

Yes. The Venice Canal Historic District is a public residential neighborhood. You can walk the footpaths and cross the arched bridges. The canals are quiet and mostly shaded. Respect that people live here: keep noise down and do not enter private property.

Is this route flat?

Yes, the entire loop is flat. The boardwalk, the canal paths, and Abbot Kinney Boulevard are all at street level with no significant elevation change. The whole route is paved or on wooden boardwalk planks.

Keep exploring