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Running trails in Ventura, CA
Ventura has 19 trails in the directory — 5 paved and 3 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 boardwalk, 1 with a stated distance, 3 shaded, and 1 open 24 hours. 13 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 10,815 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 Buenaventura State Beach
4.6 ★★★★★ 3,246 reviews
Family-friendly state beach with picnic sites, a parking lot, snack bar, bike paths & rental shop.
Surfers Point at Seaside Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 1,739 reviews
Small destination beach for surfers & windsurfers, with picnic tables, showers & restrooms.
Arroyo Verde Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 1,485 reviews
A 132-acre park with miles of hiking trails plus open grass areas, a nature center & playgrounds.
Serra Cross
4.8 ★★★★★ 1,103 reviews
Time-tested wooden cross with a storied past, nearby hiking trails & panoramic hilltop water views.
Foster Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 901 reviews
Green-hilled park with a river flowing through it, multi-use trail & campgrounds.
Arroyo Verde Hiking Trails
4.7 ★★★★★ 662 reviews
Recreational area featuring hiking trails, picnic tables and playground equipment.
Kellogg Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 378 reviews
Neighborhood park with picnic tables, a playground, and exercise equipment, plus a public restroom.
Hobert Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 309 reviews
Clean, leafy park featuring 3 playgrounds, a skate park and dog-friendly areas.
Grant Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 217 reviews
Rugged 107-acre hilltop park offering sweeping coastline views & picnic benches.
Montalvo Hill Park
4.2 ★★★★☆ 207 reviews
Park offering facilities for basketball, soccer, picnicking, and kids' play.
Harmon Canyon Preserve
4.8 ★★★★★ 181 reviews
Hiking area offering multiple trails with varied difficulty levels, plus wildflowers.
Seaside Wilderness Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 134 reviews
Beach, plus a park with trails, as well as camping, surfing and biking.
Ventura Community Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 127 reviews
Open green space offering baseball and soccer fields, plus a swimming pool.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Ventura
- Match the surface to your legs. Ventura gives you a choice: 5 paved, 3 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 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. The longest stated distance in Ventura is Kellogg Park at 4 mi.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 1 trail in Ventura is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 13 of the 19 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 4 are lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 10 have trailhead parking, 10 have restrooms, and 4 have a water fountain in Ventura. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 3 shaded, 3 that runners describe as quiet, 10 dog-friendly, and 3 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 Ventura trails by type
Running trails near Ventura
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.