Hiking Los Angeles: Best Trails with City & Ocean Views

Los Angeles is a hiker's city hiding behind its freeway reputation — 75 miles of trails wind through Griffith Park alone, while the Santa Monica Mountains offer 500+ miles of paths accessible from nearly every neighbourhood in the city. Runyon Canyon Park above Hollywood is the most social trail in America — a 160-acre park where celebrities, dogs, and fitness-obsessed locals converge on paths with sweeping views of the Hollywood Sign and Downtown skyline. The Hollywood Sign trail via Brush Canyon is the 3.5-mile classic that delivers the closest legal approach to the letters. Temescal Canyon in Pacific Palisades descends to a waterfall in the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains. Griffith Observatory via the west observatory trail rewards with the best panoramic views of both the city and the Hollywood Sign simultaneously. Trail Running is serious business here — every trail on weekday mornings is populated by impossibly fit Angelenos. Download AllTrails before visiting; parking is the real challenge.