Home › California › Alameda
Running trails in Alameda, CA
Alameda has 8 trails in the directory — 1 paved and 2 open 24 hours. 6 of them post opening hours, so you can check the gate before an early start. They're ranked here by rating weighted by review volume, across 1,366 Google reviews. Filter by surface, loop, distance, shade or lighting to get to the run you're actually planning — no made-up difficulty score, just the facts you'd check before driving out.
Jean Sweeney Open Space Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 862 reviews
Family-friendly destination for picnics, dog-walking and hiking, plus a playground, swings and slides.
Shoreline Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 300 reviews
Scenic park with picnic tables and public restrooms, popular for walking, biking, and kite flying.
Harbor Bay Trail
4.8 ★★★★★ 81 reviews
Waterfront space with walking trails and benches, offering views of the SF skyline, bridge and bay.
Sea View Pkwy, SF Bay Trail Access
4.8 ★★★★★ 72 reviews
Popular spot for hiking, dog-walking and peaceful picnics, with views of the waters.
Bay Trail Vista Point
5 ★★★★★ 1 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Alameda
- Match the surface to your legs. Most of what's here is paved (1 of 8). Asphalt and concrete are fast, predictable and runnable year-round but the least forgiving; crushed limestone and dirt take the sting out of high mileage; boardwalk is flat and scenic but slick in the wet. If your shins or knees are complaining, the fix that actually works is varying the surface you run on rather than chasing one "best" one. More paved trails →
- Loop or out-and-back? A loop finishes back at the car with no backtracking; on an out-and-back you simply turn round at half your distance.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 2 trails in Alameda are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 6 of the 8 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 1 is lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 2 have trailhead parking, 4 have restrooms, and 1 has a water fountain in Alameda. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 3 that runners describe as quiet and 3 dog-friendly. Busy or quiet isn't a good-or-bad thing here: a busy path is the safer choice for a solo run at dawn, a quiet one is better for intervals.
More on all of this in the trail-running guides.
Browse Alameda trails by type
Running trails near Alameda
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.