Venice Beach
Venice, CA
Venice Beach is the wide, sandy stage for the boardwalk circus everyone pictures when they hear the name: Muscle Beach's outdoor weight pens, street performers, the skate park, and vendor stalls running the length of it. A fishing pier sits at the south end for anyone who wants to get away from the boardwalk crowd without leaving the beach.
A must-see once for the spectacle, but locals looking to actually swim tend to head somewhere quieter than the busiest boardwalk in LA.
How we score beachesThe actual swimming and sunbathing sand is wide and genuinely nice, it just gets overlooked because everyone's looking at the boardwalk instead.
Fee lots line the boardwalk; they fill fast on weekends and in summer.
The boardwalk itself is flat and paved, with ramps down to the sand at regular intervals.
Dogs are banned from the sand at Venice Beach, though leashed dogs are permitted on the Ocean Front Walk boardwalk during specific hours.
Like the rest of the LA coast, water stays cool into early summer under the marine layer. The boardwalk scene runs year round regardless of water temperature.
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