Venice Beach Boardwalk
Promenade · Venice, California
Venice Beach Boardwalk, officially Ocean Front Walk, is a paved promenade of roughly two and a half miles beside the sand in Venice, a Los Angeles neighborhood between Santa Monica and Marina del Rey. It is loud, crowded and free: street performers, skaters, chess players, artists, vendors and the Muscle Beach outdoor gym share the walk with beach-goers, with a skate park, painted walls and a bike path along the sand. It suits first-time visitors who want a spectacle, photographers and people-watchers more than anyone after a quiet beach. Be realistic about the rough edges: aggressive sales pitches, pickpockets in crowds and homeless encampments in places nearby, which are part of the scene here. Parking is costly and fills early on weekends. Allow two to three hours, keep your bag in front of you and look at the quieter Venice Canals a few blocks inland, where the pace is slower and calmer.
Ocean Front Walk, Venice, California, 90291, United States
The promenade is a public walkway and is open day and night, but it is not equally welcome at all hours. Vendors and performers usually set up in late morning and stay through the afternoon, with the busiest stretch in the afternoon on weekends, and many stalls pack up around sunset. The skate park, the beach and the bike path have posted hours, and the city has closed the beach and parts of the area overnight - confirm the current curfew. Muscle Beach keeps its own gym hours and charges a fee. Shops and restaurants along the strip keep their own times, so check them if you plan a meal.
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