Santa Monica, California, I would argue is probably the best city in Southern California to ride a bike. It's not just recreational riding. You can actually use your bike to run errands, go out to eat and even grocery shop. The number of protected bike lanes is growing, and in addition, the number of bike lanes that connect to each other has also improved over the years. This is great for locals and visitors coming to Santa Monica for vacation.
Santa Monica is still no Copenhagen or Amsterdam. You still have to be brave to ride in many of the bike lanes since they are not protected from drivers. I would say for those wanting to travel to Santa Monica and get around by bike, the safest areas are still the blocks closes to the beach. However, unlike its neighboring city Los Angeles, Santa Monica is making huge strides in upgrading its unprotected bike lanes to protected ones with concrete or parking protected bike lanes. And most importantly, making these lanes connect to each other. Below are photos of the under construction 17th St protected bike lanes using concrete, the parking protected bike lane on Broadway and the very first concrete protected bike lane built on Colorado Blvd. For 17th St, you can see the word "green" with the photo on the right.
Whether you are staying in Santa Monica or coming from another part of town, traveling around and into Santa Monica car-free is becoming easier.
From Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
If you are arriving on a weekday, you can take the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus Rapid 3 (R3) into Santa Monica. It cost $1.10 but you'll need exact change if you're paying by cash. You can also download the TAP app onto your phone and pay. I wrote an article about paying by TAP regarding visiting Hollywood Blvd here. If you arrive on the weekends, unfortunately, you will need to ride the "regular" 3 bus, which takes longer because it makes a lot more stops.
Another option if you are arriving from LAX is to take the Culver City Bus Rapid 6. The R6 bus will take you near UCLA. It's just $1.00 to ride, but you will need exact change if you're paying cash. Just like the Big Blue Bus, you can use your phone's TAP app to pay, and it only operates weekdays. On weekend, you will need to take the "regular" Culver City Bus 6.
The only thing is, until the Automated People Mover (APM) is complete, you will need to first hop on a free LAX Shuttle to get to either the Santa Monica or Culver City buses. You should take shuttle C or even E. Shuttle C should drop you off closer to where the buses will be parked. Shuttle E will take you to the parking garage, which still isn't very far from the buses.
3rd Street Promenade and the Beach
This is probably the most well-known part of Santa Monica. 3rd Street Promenade is anchored by Santa Monica Place. The promenade is a 3 block car-free street with restaurants, bars and stores lining both sides. 3rd Street Promenade and the surrounding downtown Santa Monica area cater to both visitors and locals. I think it is rare to have that combination in one area, but Santa Monica pulls it off well. Farmer's Market is also next the Promenade on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Although you can't bike on the Promenade, you can ride along Ocean Avenue, which has a two-way protected bike lane and then cut across two short blocks to the Promenade.
Just a couple of blocks away is Santa Monica beach. The beach also has the Santa Monica Pier, which includes Pacific Park. A small amusement park on the pier with rides, a Ferris wheel and lots of games where you can win prizes. Walking around the Promenade, the beach and the pier is very easy.
The entrance to the pier at one point allowed car traffic, but then a few years ago, given the amount of pedestrians walking to the pier, cars were no longer allowed and the entrance to the pier has been given over to people walking and biking. Now, the city unfortunately has allowed car traffic back in again.
The photo above shows what happens when you allow car traffic back onto the pier. Cars take up too much space and if there were other drivers behind this red Audi, then it would have created gridlock.
Getting Around by Bike
As I mentioned at the beginning, Santa Monica is becoming well connected with bike lanes, and they continue to make improvements with protected bike lanes as you move away from the beach. Want to grab coffee or brunch on Main St? You can either take the beach bike path or the bike lane on Main St itself. If you take the beach bike path and want to get onto Main St, one of the better marked bike lane is Ocean Park Blvd. You can also take Bicknell, but parts of Bicknell is not marked with a bike lane and it has a steeper hill to climb than Ocean Park. Might be more challenging if you're on a beach cruiser.
Are you staying at an Airbnb near the beach and want a quiet night in? You can bike to Santa Monica Seafood and buy some amazing seafood to cook for dinner. Take Arizona or California and go down 11th, which will put you a block away from the store. Or if you're looking for less expensive options, there's a Trader Joe's on 5th and Broadway. This is next to the protected bike lane on Colorado. You can ride on Colorado (away from the beach) and turn in left an alleyway before 5th. Then make a right on Broadway.
Want to go a bit further? The Expo bike path which runs mostly along the E line is a separated bike path that can take you to the Bergamot Art Center and into neighboring Los Angeles for more food and beer options. In Los Angeles, there are some sketchier intersections where you'll have to pay attention more to driver (such as where Exposition, Gateway and Pico all intersect. It's confusing if it's your first time riding).
Montana Avenue is another area in Santa Monica with restaurants, cafes and several boutique shops. Even though Montana Ave has the green painted bike lanes, if riding is not something you normally do, I would take Idaho Ave, a street one block south of Montana without a bike lane. Idaho Ave is residential street, so drivers hopefully are less likely to be distracted trying to find parking closes to the shop they need to go.
The beach bike path in Santa Monica will also take you down to Venice where you can check out Los Angeles' version of the Venice Canals and all the way to Marina del Rey. The bike path ends at Washington Blvd in Venice Beach, so you'll have to take the unprotected bike lane on Washington Blvd about 0.8mi before reaching the Marvin Braude bike path for Marina del Rey on your right. Some of those drivers go rather fast on Washington, so you'll have to be a bit brave, but plenty of people do it because it's the shortest way to get to Marina del Rey.
Road Rides
Now if you're a roadie, and you're visiting the area and want some great rides, you'll want to take San Vicente going east to 26th St. Turn left on 26th St which eventually becomes Allenford. When Allenford hits Sunset Blvd, you can take the small sidewalk for about 0.4mi to Mandeville Canyon Rd. Or if you're brave enough, hop onto Sunset with the speeding drivers, but instead of moving into the left turn lane to get onto Mandeville, make a right into the Paul Revere Middle School driveway and then head up Mandeville Canyon Rd when the light turns green. It's much MUCH safer! Mandeville Canyon Rd, or known locally just as Mandeville is approximately a 5mi uphill ride which dead ends to a private residence. If you happen to have a gravel bike, you can take Mandeville, but make a left on the first street called Westridge Rd. There's a "wall" at the top of Westridge, which will take you onto the fire roads. Take it all the way to the top and go left onto dirt Mullholland. The old Nike missile silo is also up there as well.
If you'd like to join a group ride while you are visiting, Rapha has Saturday rides that meet at 8am and roll at 8:30am. Scroll down to where it says RIDES and click on the link to see their schedule. They should be able to rent you a bike as well.
Hope this gives you a glimpse of the activities you can do car-free in Santa Monica And hopefully, you'll take a bike exploring Santa Monica car-free too.
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