Home › California › Del Mar
Running trails in Del Mar, CA
Del Mar has 4 trails in the directory — 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 boardwalk, 2 with a stated distance, 1 shaded, and 1 open 24 hours. 2 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 1,141 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.
San Dieguito County Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 920 reviews
This scenic park offers play & picnic areas, plus trails, baseball & basketball facilities.
Sea Cliff Coastal Bluff Trail in Del Mar
4.7 ★★★★★ 132 reviews
Half-mile bluff-top promenade, popular for its ocean views as well as sunset watching.
San Dieguito River Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 80 reviews
Open space park in the San Dieguito River Valley with a network of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Del Mar
- Match the surface to your legs. Del Mar gives you a choice: 1 natural surface, 1 boardwalk, and 1 mixed. 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 natural surface 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. The longest stated distance in Del Mar is San Dieguito River Park at 65 mi. 2 trails are long enough for a 5-mile-plus run without repeating yourself.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 1 trail in Del Mar is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 2 of the 4 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 4 have trailhead parking and 2 have restrooms in Del Mar. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 1 shaded, 2 that runners describe as quiet, 2 dog-friendly, and 1 smooth and wide enough for a stroller or a wheelchair. 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 Del Mar trails by type
Running trails near Del Mar
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.