Explore the best rated trails in Santa Clara, CA. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Alameda Creek Regional Trail and Alamo Canal Trail. With more than 87 trails covering 689 miles you’re bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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A half mile of the East Bay Greenway is currently open from the Coliseum BART Station (at 75th Avenue) to 85th Avenue in Oakland. The paved trail parallels San Leandro Street with traffic signals and...
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The Alamo Creek Bike Path snakes alongside its namesake stream through residential Dublin, Alameda County. The paved trail has spurs reaching into the nearby subdivisions, drawing residents onto the...
The Stanford Perimeter Trail is a multiuse path ideal for walkers, joggers and cyclists. The construction of the trail was paid for by Stanford University, and it is used by both campus residents and...
The Upper Silver Creek Trail courses through Silver Creek Linear Park, offering a nice play area and picnicking at the southern end and tennis courts and a basketball court at the northern end....
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This 4.5-mile paved trail encircles Lake Merced in southwestern San Francisco. The western leg of the loop is also referred to as the Lake Merced Measured Mile and is part of a larger, regional effort...
The Guadalupe River Trail is the spine of San Jose's growing trail network, running north-south through much of the city. Portions of the trail run along both banks of the Guadalupe River, with signs...
The San Lorenzo River Parkway Trestle Trail is the first completed segment of the Coastal Rail Trail, which will eventually run 32 miles from Davenport to Watsonville. The segment from Santa Cruz to...
Saratoga Creek Trail follows the winding course of the creek between just south of I-280 (Junipero Serra Freeway) and Saratoga Creek Park. The trail parallels the Lawrence Expressway/County Route G2...
The Aquatic Park Trail travels along a hairpin-shaped route through Aquatic Park and around a small lake narrowly separated from the San Francisco Bay. The trail runs parallel to, and across...
Silver Creek Valley Trail follows its namesake creek and paralleling Silver Creek Valley Road. The passes through a country club neighborhood and through open space over a steep hill. The trail offers...
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The Centennial Trail is located in the Tri-Valley city of Pleasanton, about 25 miles east of Oakland. This urban trail offers a 7.8 roundtrip on a combination of paved and unpaved track. The trail...
The area surrounding the Iron Horse Regional Trail has an important history as part of the San Ramon Valley's agricultural and ranching past. Today, the Iron Horse Trail connects two counties and...
The Calero Creek Trail runs between Singer Park and Santa Teresa County Park. The trail is paved between Los Alamitos Creek and Harry Road (0.7 mile) and has a gravel surface between Harry Road and...
If you're looking for a gentle rail-trail in Marin County that offers stunning views of both San Francisco Bay and Mt. Tamalpais, the Tiburon Historical Trail is for you. Known alternately as the...
The Great Highway Bike Path parallels its namesake road on the western edge of San Francisco, offering stunning views of the Pacific Ocean throughout. The trail provides direct access to the San...
The Mokelumne Trail begins at a shopping center near the intersection of Buchanan Rd. and Somersville Rd in Antioch, California. A section of the Delta de Anza Regional Trail starts on the other side...
The Matadero Creek Trail, also known as the Page Mill-Arastradero Connector, offers beautiful views of the San Francisco Bay and Santa Cruz Mountains as it winds its way through gently rolling hills...
The Crystal Springs Regional Trail is a developing network made up of three distinct portions: the San Andreas segment, Sawyer Camp segment and Crystal Springs segment. The two northern segments are...
The Bol Park Path is a charmer that threads through a peaceful Palo Alto neighborhood in the hills south of San Francisco. At its heart is Bol Park, a strip of playground and lawn laid alongside...
The Yerba Buena Creek Trail follows its namesake creek through Evergreen Park behind the community center, paralleling Yerba Buena Road and Park Estates Way.
The Embarcadero Bike Path is an important connector between the local commuter rail, schools, and a commercial area on Palo Alto's west side and the outskirts of Stanford University. The paved...
The Black Diamond Railroad Trail is within the Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve, a splendid place to visit with a fascinating and unique history. From the 1850s to the early 1900s, the region was...
The Calero Creek Trail runs between Singer Park and Santa Teresa County Park. The trail is paved between Los Alamitos Creek and Harry Road (0.7 mile) and has a gravel surface between Harry Road and...
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The Three Creeks Trail will one day span 3 miles through San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood. In 2018, the western leg of the trail opened, stretching nearly a mile from Coe Avenue to just south of...
The Highway 237 Bikeway parallels State Route 237 between McCarthy Boulevard in Milpitas and Calabazas Creek in Sunnyvale. The trail consists of two main segments: the first is between McCarthy...
The Bol Park Path is a charmer that threads through a peaceful Palo Alto neighborhood in the hills south of San Francisco. At its heart is Bol Park, a strip of playground and lawn laid alongside...
The Visitacion Valley Greenway is a recreational gem tucked into a residential neighborhood in southern San Francisco. The paved pathway connects a series of small parks that offer a plethora of fun...
This extremely scenic rail-trail is located in the majestic Forest of Nisene Marks State Park near Aptos, California. The park was the site of major logging operations by the Loma Prieta Lumber...
Beginning in 1904, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) carried freight through the city of Richmond, reaching its height during World War II when Richmond became a national leader of...
Silver Creek Valley Trail follows its namesake creek and paralleling Silver Creek Valley Road. The passes through a country club neighborhood and through open space over a steep hill. The trail offers...
This innovative road-to-trail project opened for public use in March 2014. The trail, which features stunning Pacific Ocean views, makes use of a former portion of California's State Route 1, which...
The Delta de Anza Regional Trail is 15 miles long, running between Willow Pass Road at Route 4 near Concord and Main Street (Rt. 4) at E. Cypress Road in Oakley. The eastern end in Oakley intersects...
Riding high on the cliffs at North America's western edge, this San Francisco-area trail offers unbeatable views of Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco Bay. Add to that a chance...
The San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail offers a paved route running approximately 5 miles through Santa Clara along its namesake waterway. In the north, the trail connects to the Highway 237 Bikeway (a...
The Santa Cruz Riverwalk Trail follows both sides of the river through downtown Santa Cruz, a California beach town on the shores of Monterey Bay. Multiple pedestrian bridges allow easy access to the...
The Alamo Creek Bike Path snakes alongside its namesake stream through residential Dublin, Alameda County. The paved trail has spurs reaching into the nearby subdivisions, drawing residents onto the...
The Ygnacio Canal Trail begins at a junction with the Contra Costa Canal Trail. Most of the trail runs along the Ygnacio Canal, a narrow irrigation channel where ducks live. The trail is paved, except...
The Cross Alameda Trail is a four-mile developing trail that will someday stretch from one end of Alameda island to the other, from the Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal in the west to Fruitvale Bridge...
The Guadalupe River Trail is the spine of San Jose's growing trail network, running north-south through much of the city. Portions of the trail run along both banks of the Guadalupe River, with signs...
The Sweeney Ridge Trail is one trail of many in beautiful Sweeney Ridge, a prime bicycling and hiking area in San Mateo County. Inaccessible by automobile, the trail must be reached by any of its...
The Centennial Way Trail follows the path of the BART line between San Bruno station and South San Francisco station. The BART, of course, runs underground while the trail doesn't. The 10-foot-wide...
If you're looking for a gentle rail-trail in Marin County that offers stunning views of both San Francisco Bay and Mt. Tamalpais, the Tiburon Historical Trail is for you. Known alternately as the...
The Highway 87 Bikeway follows State Route 87 between Willow Street in the north and Santa Teresa Boulevard at W. Valley Freeway (SR 85) in the south. Basically, the trail forms the missing link...
The Three Creeks Trail will one day span 3 miles through San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood. In 2018, the western leg of the trail opened, stretching nearly a mile from Coe Avenue to just south of...
The Santa Cruz Riverwalk Trail follows both sides of the river through downtown Santa Cruz, a California beach town on the shores of Monterey Bay. Multiple pedestrian bridges allow easy access to the...
The Permanente Creek Trail offers a linear route through the suburban city of Mountain View, beginning at Shoreline At Mountain View and heading south to Rock Street. The paved pathway includes safe...
The Montgomery Hill Trail is a short dirt trail traversing Montgomery Hill Park, an undeveloped green space in San Jose. The trail offers nice views of the surrounding area and links Yerba Buena Creek...
Naomi Patridge Trail is a 2 mile coastal trail paralleling Highway 1 in Half Moon Bay, California. The trail was named for a longtime San Mateo Councilwoman, prominent volunteer and lifelong Half Moon...
The Alamo Creek Bike Path snakes alongside its namesake stream through residential Dublin, Alameda County. The paved trail has spurs reaching into the nearby subdivisions, drawing residents onto the...
The Ohlone Loop Trail offers a birder's paradise in a wetland area of Watsonville on California's central coast. Its location, bordering a residential area, provides easy access for residents to...
The San Lorenzo River Parkway Trestle Trail is the first completed segment of the Coastal Rail Trail, which will eventually run 32 miles from Davenport to Watsonville. The segment from Santa Cruz to...
The Evergreen Creek Trail follows its namesake creek between San Felipe Road and Yerba Buena Road. To the north of the gravel trail is suburbia (with a row of trees separating the trail from the...
Joe's Trail at Saratoga de Anza parallels the south side of the active Union Pacific Railroad tracks that travel through a residential area of Saratoga, a California community just south of the San...
The Penitencia Creek Trail follows its namesake creek through a suburban greenbelt in northeast San José. On the northeastern end, the trail passes by a series of percolation ponds, and you can take a...
About 35 miles south of San Francisco, the Cowell-Purisima Trail offers a beautiful escape into nature which can be enjoyed by both walkers and bicyclists. Travelers in wheelchairs can also access the...
The Mori Ridge Trail is one trail of many in beautiful Sweeney Ridge, a prime bicycling and hiking area in San Mateo County. The natural surface path runs from a junction with both the Sweeney Ridge...
This innovative road-to-trail project opened for public use in March 2014. The trail, which features stunning Pacific Ocean views, makes use of a former portion of California's State Route 1, which...
A half mile of the East Bay Greenway is currently open from the Coliseum BART Station (at 75th Avenue) to 85th Avenue in Oakland. The paved trail parallels San Leandro Street with traffic signals and...
The Great Highway Bike Path parallels its namesake road on the western edge of San Francisco, offering stunning views of the Pacific Ocean throughout. The trail provides direct access to the San...
The Great Meadow Bike Path provides an important 1.5-mile transportation route from the main entrance of the University of California at Santa Cruz to the busy campus core. The trail is surrounded by...
There is a very short section of bike path from Castroville going to the first highway at which point one is on country roads with heavy trucks and speeding vehicles until one gets to the edge of the city of Marina. From there one crosses multiple intersections until out of the city.
Lots of pedestrians and small children loosely supervised if at all so need to be cautious where sight distances are reduced. Worst once on gets into the city of Monterey. It is not difficult to continue to Pebble Beach and with all the ultra rich having multiple home in this community, road traffic is largely non existant if not on the marked 17-mile drive section.
Getting to Castroville safely requires the use of a personal car. Caltrans periodically sets up construction on Highway 1 from north of Moss Landing and through to Castroville. Often there is only a single lane for bicyclists and cars and heavy trucks with trailers to use and the odds of being hit and killed is very very high as this is the busiest two lane highway in the United States. The section of Hwy 1 through Moss Landing has been very dangerous thanks to the state road work for the past 45 years and nothing has changed and it is as dangerous now as ever.
Gravel to start at the south trailhead, then asphalt. Pretty exposed to a major street in the beginning, then a sound barrier goes up. North end is closed off. Couple of bridges over where the creek would be.
Avoid the southern end of the trail from West Virginia street to Park Ave. the trail has significant trash, broken glass and smells of human waste. This is not a pleasant ride.
So, I'm glad this trail exists, and I really wish it was a bit better maintained, but in comparison with other trails in the area, it has some significant street riding. I did the entire trail, and it was nice, but there's more possibility of car interaction than I care for.
That said, if I needed to get up from one end of the trail to the other on a bike, this is a great way to go. I just prefer having no interactions where a car has a chance to cause me a bad day. Could get to a caltrain station, if that were necessary, and that's a positive.
Starts at golf course, and parallel's the ocean (which is not visible much) and passes the old Asilomar train station, which has an explanatory plaque. Dirt trail with some bits of concrete trail (by the golf course) and has a great public restroom near the top of the trail (again at the golf course.
You cross a few roads, but the traffic is very light, but the cars are not expecting anyone to come out so take care at these points. We were the only riders, and saw probably 4 other people total as we went from one end to the other and back again. Very enjoyable experience.
My husband and I stumbled up on this on YouTube. After watching a few rides we decided to go up and take a look, so thankful we did! Our ebikes would love this trip....even though it was supposed to be 99° that day. Once we were on the trail we were happily surprised we started at the Lexington reservoir. It was a bit of gravel but it was just fine then it turned to the pavement and there was a few wooden bridges it was quite delightful shady and beautiful along the creek in the water we couldn’t say enough things nice things about this right. We used our electric bikes. We went on a Thursday morning
I have a place in Point Richmond so I am basically lucky enough to be right on the trail.
I started getting into road biking so I'm taking the trail to new distances and exploring as I get more fit (and as my butt gets accustomed to the saddle...LOL).
This past weekend I went from Point Richmond to the Berkeley pier, a 25 mile round trip which was my personal best. It was a windy day and a small craft advisory out but I made it! (barely).
I absolutely love this trail. It's got spectacular views and is super interesting. You will never see the same thing twice. There are some sections that are more crowded than others and the pavement isn't super consistent (what do you want for free) so just be courteous to those that are moving slower (not that I'm all that fast yet).
Definitely a huge asset to the Bay Area. My goal is to do all 300+ miles of the trail which should take a while.
I've ridden the bridge a couple of times now. You can start at the cute little town of Point Richmond and get there easily. The bridge is 5.5 miles long so a round trip is a respectable 11 mile ride. If you want to extend your mileage the East Bay Trail system is right there so you can go as far as you want to.
The bike trail is on the top deck of the bridge (both directions) well marked, safe from traffic due to concrete barricades, clean, not too steep, not too crowed and you get your share of elevation but not too much. Amazing views from the top deck!
You absolutely have to do this!
I enjoy the trail and I want to bring to your attention that the distance marker along the trail are no longer visible. Part of the fun walking and riding the trail is keeping track of the distance traveled. Please restore the painted distance markers.
If it’s not the homeless, it’s the Garbage as well as the glass . It is a terrible thing for Richmond to allow this to happen the quality of life that they try to promote they don’t keep the trails clean. They force bike riders to ride on the streets by not taking care. They have a bathroom on the trail that the homeless live in.
We are a couple in our late 50s with road bikes. Scenic ride on paved bike trail separated from traffic. Variety of hills and level areas, windy cool weather, glad to have several layers, full gloves and headband to cover ears. We parked at Fort Ord Dunes State Park, Marina, CA. It has free parking and port-a-potty. Start on the Beach Range Road toward Monterey (a no vehicle road that runs next to bike trail). It ends and turns into the bike trail. Good trail signage, just know to make a Right hairpin turn under the freeway interchange. Good public restroom stop on right near London Bridge Pub, just past Monterey Kayaks. Beaches and picnic spots along the route. Continue to Lovers Point. The return trip is hilly towards the end, but great cardio training. Out and back was 20.5 miles and took about 3 hours of riding (Note: I averaged 7 mph with loaded panniers, my ultra fit husband could ride it much faster). We took a total of 4 hours with stops for snacks.
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