Active Things To Do in Los Angeles

Los Angeles is immediately next to the Santa Monica, Santa Gabriel, & Verdugo Mountains. Accordingly, there are great walks & great hikes everywhere: near Pasadena and farther east, in the large hilly city parks, and also near the Pacific Ocean.

Inside the city, Griffith Park is a great place to take a hike or a hilly bike ride. The walk via park access roads to a viewpoint above the Hollywood sign is a local favorite; the trick is negotiating the twisty roads to find a suitable parking spot in the hillside neighborhoods above Beachwood Canyon. (If you have all day you can hoof it up here from a lower Griffith Park entrance, like Bronson Canyon).

Another popular Hollywood hike is Runyon Canyon. The walks here tend to be short and steep ones; half the fun here is people watching as this place is a real workout hot-spot.

There are a number of large gardens in the Los Angeles Basin that make great walking destinations. The Los Angeles County Arboretum is one; Huntington Gardens and the Descanso Gardens are also notable. Others as well are listed on this L.A. garden guide.

The bike path by the ocean is a classic active destination where you will find many bikers, joggers and rollerbladers. The crowds do make for slower going at the Venice Beach Ocean Front Walk; the bike path goes south from Santa Monica all the way to Palos Verdes.

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