Los Angeles

Travelers' Takes

Rates and Deals

Venice City Beach

More Photos
dglawless
dglawless
First Reviewer
5 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
13
Reviews
41
Photos
Sort by: Most Recent|Positive|Negative|Most Useful
1-5 of 13

Abbot Kinney Blvd: The Heart of Venice

  • February 15, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by caitliwinx from Los Angeles, California
Abbot Kinney Blvd is definitely where the culture and life is in Venice Beach. Great shops, great food, everything is a must see down this quaint little street.
Editor Pick

Part 2 Venice and Santa Monica Beach

  • February 11, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by melissabowman from Stephenville, Texas
Part 2 Venice and Santa Monica Beach

Well I kinda ran out of room on my last review and I had some more pictures I really wanted to share on Venice Beach.

Venice Beach really was a neat place and you can be there all day and not even realize it. Times flies so fast when you are out here and you don't even realize it.

After walking around for a few hours we deiced to head out to the beach and play in the sand. We found a place that sold sand toys and we used them to build a sand castle. Once we got away from the stand things seems so much quieter and there were less people around. It was just what we needed after several hours of walking.

Santa Monica Beach- The we were only there for 1 hour beach.

Also, I mentioned in the other review that the end of Venice Beach runs into Santa Monica Beach. If you get done or bored with Venice, you walk or ride right on over to Santa Monica Beach and enjoy the activities it has to offer.

We got to spend a little time on Santa Monica Beach before we found out we had to head to the airport several hours earlier. Mostly we just played in the sand and searched for sand crabs one last time but they had a fun play ground and some work out equipment as well. There is a nice bike path that leads you back towards Venice Beach and the Pier with interrupt your ride the other way. The pier is also quite fun and adds a bit of excitement to the Santa Monica Beach area.

The Santa Monica beach is a very family friendly beach and is a great place to spend the day, I know I said we were only there for an hour but we were there several times to eat and play on the pier and there were tons of families and tourist in the area. There is so much to do with the beach, the pier, restaurants and close by shopping it is no wonder so many people pack this place out.

Well I hope that I did not overwhelm you with too much information, its just that Venice Beach has so much to offer and I could not tell you about with out hitting on the things that I did.

Have a great time and enjoy and variety of experience and entertainment.

I think this beach is a true example of what Southern California is all about.

From journal L.A. Beaches and Fun

Editor Pick

Venic Beach- The Anything Goes Beach

  • February 11, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by melissabowman from Stephenville, Texas
Venic Beach- The Anything Goes Beach

Venice Beach is one of the most popular beaches in Southern California, known for its liberality, muscles, and beauty. This beach strand is the most eclectic and unique, with its own style.

The amount of time you can spend here is endless, for hours we walked around looking at all the unique styles and flavors of the beach. Make sure you cover yourself with sun screen though, because time will fly when hanging out at Venice Beach.

Venice Beach is similar to many beaches in that it had a boardwalk and then the beach was on the other side, what makes this beach just a bit different is its style. It is very liberal and you can expect to see many things. There are people walking around with mattresses and clothes and all their belongings, living right there on the beach, several starving artists, whether musical, drawing, or painting. So many of then have stands or just there work laying on the ground that you can buy, of course the musicians just play and have a case opened for you to drop money in.

There are many shops, mostly souvenir and gift shops with stuff that has Venice Beach on it (which I could not help but to buy), but there are also your typical swim and surf shops and other just casual shopping. Pretty much anything you could imagine, they had. There are also many places to eat, from the nice and fancy to just a hot dog and fries on a dirty table. But once again, there is so much to choose from. They have Mexican, seafood, pizza, burgers, and many other things I have never even heard of.

Venice Beach is also well know for its muscles and working out: with two major gyms right on the the beach. It's the home of the first Gold's Gym, and also home of the famous Muscle Beach. You can see many tanned men and women working out right before your eyes.

Venice beach has a huge skate park decorated with graffiti and lots of skaters. Being from a small conservative town in Texas this was very unique and interesting to see. Of course there are other things to do like volleyball, swim, and stroll the beach, the beach almost looks vacant when you see the people walking up and down the strand, but there are people out there, and they do have life guards.

The beach also has places along it where you can rent bikes, roller blades, surf boards, boogie boards, and many other things.

At the end of Venice beach is the beginning of Santa Monica Beach, which is the home of a theme park right on the beach. (You have probably see this on many movies and shows.)

Next time you are in Los Angles come to Venice Beach. You are sure to find something that fits your taste, and be prepared for a long day.

From journal L.A. Beaches and Fun

Editor Pick

Venice City Beach

Venice City Beach

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my time thn going to Venice Beach. Named after the canals of Venice, Italy, Venice Beach boasts their own canals. A few blocks from the beach is a small neighborhood that has canals instead of roads going past their houses. Sidewalks are built alongside of the canals so that anyone can stroll down this beautiful area.

Venice Beach is set up to encourage activity. Bike paths are built running down the shore for bikers, joggers, or anyone on wheels. Other side walks are built closer to the houses so that anyone walking can enjoy the unusual architecture of the houses built here. It seems that homeowners try to out-do each other by not only building their dream house, but the more unusual the better. Several are all glass but my two favorites were done in a Buddhist/Asian style and the other was a tree house.

If you continue to walk south on the path, you’ll end up in Marina Del Ray (our beaches are on top of one another), but if you head north, towards Santa Monica, you’ll hit the shops. Past the houses is a series of shops that sell the usual souvenirs including sarongs, sunglasses, and incense. Bring cash because most of these shops don’t take credit cards. Street acts are also abundant here. Around this area, the famous Muscle Beach can be found. Stop for a few moments to watch oversized men bench press your body weight several times over.

On a section of the beach is a skate park that is covered in graffiti. Usually the graffiti in LA detracts from the area, but some how it adds to the natural beauty of the area. Walls, trash cans, rock, and even palm trees are covered in color.

Near the skate park there is a breaker. During low tide you can walk out to it and take beautiful picture of the ocean and the water breaking on the rocks without getting wet.

The ocean itself is wonderful. Lifeguard stands are everywhere. The coast guard is also patrolling the water and security driving up and down the beach.

From journal Beach Bums

Editor Pick

Venice Beach

  • August 6, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by cr008k from San Francisco, California
Venice Beach

Venice Beach is way more than just a beach. Sure you can go there and sit in the sun or frolic in the ocean. The water was reasonably warm when we went there in March—not too warm, but comfortable enough that you could stick toes in without it being freezing and you have to run away. The beach itself and the sand is nice and not rocky or anything and you can sit and watch the waves and the people and enjoy the surf.

But Venice Beach is so much more than just a beach. You can walk the length of the beach and see great shopping and art galleries and entertainment and restaurants. The restaurants all seemed fairly reasonably priced, and we ate at a cute little place with delicious french fries that wasn't expensive at all and was right off the boardwalk. There are a lot of unique shops with stuff to buy that doesn't look like it came from a department store—more artsy and cool and not that expensive. You can buy boutique type shirts—I bought a green shirt with ties and sequins and it only cost me about $25 which was a very good price I thought. It's nice because it is stuff you won't find everywhere. There are also little art galleries and things that you can go into and browse local art—a great experience and great way to kill an afternoon.

It's fun to people watch there as well—there are lots of artsy young kids on the boardwalk and you can watch the surfers in the water doing their fancy tricks and be impressed.

Overall, I'd highly recommend that you visit—even if you are not a beach person there is so much more to it with the shopping and the art and the people watching and the surfers. It's a true Los Angeles experience and no trip to LA is complete without a visit. Best of all, if you just walk around and don't buy anything, it doesn't cost you any money (although if you want to park close and you get there a little later in the day you might have a hard time finding a parking spot, or you might have to pay to park.)

From journal Los Angeles Vacation

Sort by: Most Recent|Positive|Negative|Most Useful
1-5 of 13

Compare Los Angeles Rates

1. Enter travel information

City

2. Select websites to compare rates

Each selected website will open a new window.

Helpful Los Angeles Links

Los Angeles Travel Deals