Running trails in Panama City, FL
Panama City has 9 trails in the directory — 1 paved, 2 boardwalk, 3 shaded, and 1 open 24 hours. 7 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 15,992 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.
St. Andrews State Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 12,338 reviews
Outdoor sanctuary with beaches, nature trails & camping plus seasonal Shell Island boat tours.
Oaks by the Bay Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 1,640 reviews
Scenic park area featuring a waterfront boardwalk & an unusual 4-headed palm tree.
Under The Oaks Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 1,269 reviews
Picturesque bayside park featuring a unique wooden playground, nature trails & a canoe launch.
Veterans Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 338 reviews
Clean outdoor space featuring a playground as well as a walking trail, picnic areas and a fighter jet.
Joe Moody Harris Park
3.6 ★★★★☆ 205 reviews
Wooded park with a 9-hole disc-golf course, play equipment & a boardwalk over a wetlands area.
Spring Ave Walking Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 93 reviews
Park with a pond and benches, featuring a paved walking path, birds and an asphalt track.
Parker Sports Complex
4.2 ★★★★☆ 60 reviews
Local space offering tennis courts, basketball courts and dog parks.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Panama City
- Match the surface to your legs. Panama City gives you a choice: 2 boardwalk, 1 paved, 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 boardwalk 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. 1 trail in Panama City is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 7 of the 9 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. 4 have trailhead parking, 5 have restrooms, and 2 have a water fountain in Panama City. 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, 1 with mile markers, 5 that runners describe as quiet, 3 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 Panama City trails by type
Running trails near Panama City
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.