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Running trails in Long Beach, CA
Long Beach has 12 trails in the directory — 3 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 2 loops that return to the trailhead, and 4 open 24 hours. 10 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 12,545 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.
El Dorado East Regional Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 5,724 reviews
Expansive outdoor area with fishing lakes, bike trails, camping, an archery range & a nature center.
Bluff Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 2,571 reviews
13.2-acre city park offering ocean views, footpaths, benches, telescopes & the Lone Sailor Memorial.
Colorado Lagoon
4.6 ★★★★★ 1,960 reviews
Wetland area with a sandy beach, playground, picnic tables & seasonal model-boat activities.
Heartwell Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 1,088 reviews
A 122.5-acre community park with lit sports fields & courts, a fishing pond & fitness course.
Dominguez Gap Wetlands
4.4 ★★★★☆ 359 reviews
Urban escape along the LA River with trails for hiking, biking, bird-watching & horseback riding.
Willow Springs Park - Long Beach
4.4 ★★★★☆ 338 reviews
Park featuring a lookout point offering city views and trails.
Bluff Park Walk
4.7 ★★★★★ 153 reviews
Popular park offering ocean views as well as a beach overlook.
Wrigley Greenbelt
4.1 ★★★★☆ 121 reviews
Long, thin, 9.8-acre green space featuring grass, trees & trails for walking.
Molino Beach Stairs
4.7 ★★★★★ 90 reviews
Public area featuring a hiking trail, playground, and basketball court, plus a grassy field.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Long Beach
- Match the surface to your legs. Long Beach gives you a choice: 3 paved and 1 natural surface. 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? 2 trails here are loops, so you finish back at the car with no backtracking — the easiest way to run a set distance without thinking about it. On an out-and-back you turn round at half your target distance, which makes any trail fit any run.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 4 trails in Long Beach are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 10 of the 12 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 2 are lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 11 have trailhead parking, 5 have restrooms, and 2 have a water fountain in Long Beach. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 1 with mile markers, 5 that runners describe as quiet, 7 dog-friendly, and 5 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 Long Beach trails by type
Running trails near Long Beach
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.