Running Venice Beach: A Travel Guide
Photos by Marques Jackson/Filles Garcons Photography.
By Marnie Kunz
Photos by Marques Jackson
Video by TN4K
If you’re traveling to Los Angeles, you will love running there, as the weather is perfect, the scenery is beautiful. Plus there are amazing murals throughout LA. With all the fitness enthusiasm in LA on top of that, you have the perfect trip for runners. Recently, some of the Runstreet NYC crew traveled to LA for our first Runstreet LA Art Run, launching our Runstreet West chapter.
During our LA trip, we stayed in Venice Beach, which is where we held our LA Art Run with Athleta. During the trip, we ran all over Venice, ate all the great food (especially tacos!), and stayed in an awesome Venice Beach hotel. Here is our rundown of the best places to stay, eat, run and see on your trip to LA, with a focus on Venice Beach:
Best Venice Beach Hotel: Hotel Erwin
If you’re looking for a beautiful Venice Beach hotel, check out the picturesque, artsy Hotel Erwin. The spacious hotel is just steps from the Venice Beach Boardwalk, in a very convenient location. At Hotel Erwin, you are within walking distance to great food, beach running and all the shopping, fun and activities of the Venice Beach Boardwalk. It’s a prime, central location for getting around Venice Beach.
The hotel itself has a beautiful mural of a woman at the front entrance, painted by renowned California street artist Levi Ponce. Art spills over into the rooms at Hotel Erwin as well, with creative hand art in the bedrooms and colorful geometric art in the living area. Yeah I said it - living room! The rooms are so spacious at Hotel Erwin, it is actually more like an apartment (bigger than my NYC apartment haha), with a suite including a spacious living room area, dining room, bathroom and bedroom. The light-drenched rooms are perfect for your beach getaway trip, with beautiful oceanfront views.
Hotel Erwin offers a clean, bright, convenient place to stay in Venice Beach.
Hotel Erwin features stunning beach views from some of the rooms’ balconies, a mini fridge fully stocked with drinks and snacks, free gym passes for nearby Gold’s Gym, is within a short walk to Muscle Beach, and offers a beautiful rooftop which turns into High Lounge at night.
Hotel Erwin serves up plenty of food options, with a tasty menu of seasonal food and drinks on the rooftop, including weekend brunch, which attracts people from near and far for the tasty, fresh food and incredible rooftop views. Erwin’s Kitchen and Cocktails, located adjacent to the lobby of the hotel, also serves up seasonal, fresh, local food, including fresh pressed juices. If you’re on the go you can grab artisanal pizza at the newly opened Venice Way Pizza, which has a convenient takeout window located right near Hotel Erwin’s entrance.
Speaking of food, that brings us to our next topic, a favorite for runners…
Best Venice Beach Eats
Venice Beach, California serves up more than surfing, eclectic people watching and the boardwalk - with lots of fresh, local food, there are amazing restaurant and cafe options. During our Runstreet LA trip, we were on the go a lot, and we are a casual crew, so we stuck to casual, informal restaurants and cafes, feelin’ that laid back, SoCal vibe. With that in mind, here are some of our favorite Venice Beach eats, in addition to Hotel Erwin’s fare:
Eggslut. A common problem New Yorkers have when traveling is trying to find tasty, filling egg sandwiches outside of NYC. Look no further than Eggslut, the popular Venice Beach eatery specializing in breakfast fare, specifically eggs and egg sandwiches (per the name;). And wow, these egg sandwiches are incredibly juicy, fresh and addictive! Our whole team loved Eggslut so much we kept going back for breakfast. I had the Fairfax, which is a meat-free, juicy, spicy egg sandwich with a delicious sriracha mayo and fresh, warm brioche bun. For meat eaters, Marques, our photographer, highly recommends the Sausage, Egg and Cheese, while T, our videographer, has high praise for the biscuits (coming from a Southerner, that praise is a feat!). Eggslut, located just around the corner from Hotel Erwin, can get crowded during weekend brunch hours so we recommend going right when they open at 8 am, the perfect end to your morning beach run. Also, Eggslut has other locations in LA and one in Vegas, here’s a list of where to get yours.
Teddy’s Red Tacos serves up delicious, handmade tacos in Venice Beach (with other locations in LA as well), with their signature handmade red tortillas. If you want authentic, delicious and very reasonably priced Mexican food, check out this neighborhood gem. As a hot sauce lover, I really enjoyed their freshly made hot sauce, and Marq was so in love with the pulled beef tacos (their specialty), he went a few times in a row. The quesadillas are amazing also.
Where to Run in Venice Beach
Venice Beach is a perfect place to run, as the weather is almost always beautiful, and there is a running path right along the scenic waterfront, with palm trees lining your view and mountains in the background. Add in the colorful art and people on the Venice Beach Boardwalk, and you will never be bored on your run. For a great run, start from Hotel Erwin and hop onto the Venice Beach Boardwalk heading north, and you will hit the scenic Santa Monica Pier in about 2 miles. From there you can run around the pier or turn around and head back down Venice Beach. The best time to run for peacefulness, and less crowds on the boardwalk is early morning. Coming from the East Coast, we naturally woke up at 5 or 6 am daily and enjoyed many beachfront runs and all the peaceful vibes to start the day. The Venice Boardwalk path is also popular for skating, rollerblading, skateboarding, walking and people watching and is a community hangout place for all kinds of activities, from beach volleyball to dining.
For another great Venice Beach run, check out the historic Venice Canals, which offer a scenic European flavor. The city of Venice, built by Abbot Kinney, was constructed using Venice, Italy as a model, and there canals were originally built throughout the city. With time and traffic, many of the canals were turned into roads but you can still see the remaining historic Venice Canals for a scenic run.
Check out our LA Art Run post for more tips and background on where to see beautiful Venice Beach street art, murals, canals and more on your run.
Best LA Running Store
Athleta Santa Monica is conveniently located a short drive (or a few miles run from Hotel Erwin) from Venice Beach and is fully stocked with running gear to suit your needs. Whether you need to grab some running socks or need a new sports bra, Athleta LA has you covered to stay running cool, in SoCal style.
Where are your favorite places to run in Venice Beach? And eat? Drop us a line with your ideas and suggestions.
Did you go on the LA Art Run? Leave us a review on Google and TripAdvisor, we’d love your feedback!
Related Posts: LA Art Run Recap, Kobe Bryant Mural Pays Tribute to a Legend
Resources: Hotel Erwin, Athleta Santa Monica, Venice Paparazzi, Kobe Bryant Murals Pay Tribute to a Legend
Marnie Kunz is a NASM-certified trainer and USATF- and RRCA-certified running coach, a dog lover, an Akita mom, and the founder of Runstreet. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.
