Coastal Bicycle Beach Ride from Redondo Beach to Santa Monica

The Place

The backbone of this outing is the Marvin Braude Bike Trail, the paved coastal bike path that Los Angeles County describes as a 22-mile route running along the coastline between Will Rogers State Beach and Torrance Beach. Most people simply call it the beach bike path, the Strand, or the coastal bike trail, depending on where they are standing.

For this ride, the idea is to experience the stretch between Redondo Beach and Santa Monica. It is long enough to feel like a real adventure, but accessible enough that you can shape the day around your group, your bike, your energy, and your appetite.

In my opinion, the route can be divided into three beach cultures.

The first is the South Bay Beach Cities culture. South of Los Angeles International Airport, you move through Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach. These three communities have some of the best sand beaches in California. The beaches are wide, clean, and well-groomed, which is one reason they are so closely tied to surfing, beach volleyball, body surfing, paddleball, family beach days, and that easy South Bay rhythm.

Each city has a pier, and each pier has its own small world of restaurants, shops, bars, walkers, cyclists, beachgoers, and locals. Redondo has the harbor and pier energy. Hermosa has the laid-back beach-town feeling and Pier Avenue. Manhattan Beach has the polished, upscale version of the South Bay, with beautiful homes, boutiques, restaurants, volleyball courts, and one of the prettiest pier approaches in Los Angeles.

This part of the ride tends to feel less touristy than Venice and Santa Monica. It feels more local. People are out for a morning walk, a volleyball game, a surf session, a coffee run, or a ride they have probably done a hundred times before. That is part of the charm.

The South Bay lives for a sunny day at the beach.

The second culture is Marina del Rey. North of LAX, the ride shifts. Marina del Rey is not really a beach neighborhood in the same way Hermosa or Manhattan Beach is a beach neighborhood. It is a marina culture.

The coastline gives way to boats, slips, channels, bridges, yacht views, apartment and condo buildings, restaurant patios, and the feeling of a working recreational harbor. This is where the ride becomes less about sand and more about water access, boating, and waterfront dining.

Marina del Rey has its own personality. You feel more of the business, corporate, boating, and residential side of coastal Los Angeles here. There are tall residential buildings, yacht clubs, boat basins, and restaurants where the patio view is part of the reason to go.

Places such as Tony P's, The Warehouse, SALT Restaurant & Bar, Cheesecake Factory, and Venice Whaler are the kinds of stops people often think about around this stretch or nearby waterfront areas. Restaurant hours, ownership, menus, and parking details can change, so check before planning around a specific stop. But the general idea remains the same: Marina del Rey is a great place to pause the ride and let the day become lunch, drinks, or a view of the boats.

It is a different kind of LA beach culture. Less volleyball net. More marina slip. Less towel in the sand. More patio with a harbor view.

The third culture is Venice Beach and Santa Monica. Farther north, Venice Beach and Santa Monica bring a totally different energy.

Venice is eclectic, crowded, visual, unpredictable, and alive with human variety. The boardwalk, skatepark, basketball courts, murals, vendors, street performers, bodybuilders, tourists, locals, and beach cruisers all create a kind of sensory overload. It is not quiet. It is not polished in the South Bay way. It is its own thing.

This is where every facet of American and international human spice seems to exist in one long, moving parade. If the South Bay is laid-back beach culture and Marina del Rey is boating culture, Venice is pure people-watching culture.

Then Santa Monica changes the tone again.

Santa Monica has the pier, hotels, restaurants, shopping, tourists, beach rentals, tech workers, startup culture, fitness culture, and a more urban coastal feel. In some ways, Santa Monica has borrowed a little of San Francisco's energy: creative professionals, tech and startup influence, walkable districts, transit access, and a steady stream of visitors who want the classic Southern California beach experience with city amenities close by.

By the time you reach Santa Monica, you have seen a remarkable slice of Los Angeles without ever needing a car.

The Story

I love this ride because it turns the Los Angeles coastline into a living tour.

When people visit LA, it can be hard to explain the city. Los Angeles is not one thing. It is a collection of neighborhoods, cultures, moods, and little worlds that sit next to each other without always blending. The beach ride makes that easier to understand.

You start in one kind of beach life and, mile by mile, you feel it change.

In the South Bay, the ride feels clean, sunny, athletic, and local. You pass volleyball courts, piers, surfers, sand, beach homes, and people who look like they are just living their normal Saturday. You can stop in Redondo, Hermosa, or Manhattan Beach and make a whole day out of any one of them.

Then the route carries you toward Marina del Rey, and suddenly the scenery becomes more about boats, water channels, bridges, restaurants, and marina life. It feels like a different city, even though you are still in the same coastal rhythm.

Then Venice hits.

Venice always feels like someone turned the volume up. The people, the colors, the movement, the music, the performers, the vendors, the bikes, the skaters, the basketball courts, and the general weirdness all become part of the ride. You may love it. You may feel overwhelmed by it. Either way, you will remember it.

And then Santa Monica gives you the big finish: the pier, the beach, the tourism, the restaurants, the hotels, the city energy, and that sense that you have reached one of the most recognizable coastal destinations in Southern California.

That is why I recommend this ride so often.

It is active, but it is not only exercise. It is scenic, but it is not only about the ocean view. It is social, but it is not dependent on a big group. You can do it alone, with a spouse, with friends, with visiting family, or with guests who want to understand Los Angeles beyond Hollywood signs and freeway traffic.

You do not even need to commit to the full 40-mile round trip. There are bike rental options in multiple beach communities, so you can drive to one area, rent bikes, ride a section, stop for food, and call that the day. Each beach culture can easily consume a full day on its own. But if you only have one day to experience Los Angeles beach culture, this ride lets you sample several versions of it in a single outing.

That is the magic.

You are not just passing through places. You are feeling the difference between them.

The Reflection

The best Southern California experiences often have movement in them.

A walk on a pier. A drive along the coast. A paddle through a bay. A hike up a bluff. A bike ride beside the beach.

Movement changes how you remember a place because it lets the day unfold. You are not standing still waiting to be impressed. You are participating. You are moving through the scene, noticing small changes, choosing when to stop, deciding when to keep going, and letting the route create the story.

That is what this coastal ride does.

It reminds you that Los Angeles is not only traffic, studios, restaurants, and neighborhoods separated by freeways. It is also a coastline full of different personalities. Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan Beach, Marina del Rey, Venice, and Santa Monica are all connected by the ocean, but they do not feel the same. Each one contributes a different flavor.

The South Bay gives you pristine sand and local beach life.

Marina del Rey gives you boats, patios, and harbor views.

Venice gives you diversity, chaos, creativity, and people-watching.

Santa Monica gives you the classic visitor-friendly beach-city finish.

On a bike, you feel those transitions in your body. The distance becomes part of the memory. The wind becomes part of the story. The stop for lunch tastes better because you earned it. The pier looks different when you arrive under your own power. Even the ride back has its own rhythm.

If you want the relaxed version, rent an electric bike and let the motor take the edge off the miles.

If you want the classic version, take a beach cruiser and enjoy the workout.

If you want the easiest version, choose one section and make that enough.

The point is not to prove anything. The point is to give yourself a day where Los Angeles becomes more than a place you drive through.

It becomes something you feel mile by mile.

Whether you go alone, with your spouse, your kids, your family, your friends, or someone you simply want more time with, be present and make it a "Where Moments Matter" day.

You come for the coastal bike ride.

You leave with a moment that lasts.

That is the whole point.

Where moments matter.