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The Lunken Airport Trail offers a 4.9-mile loop around Cincinnati's municipal Lunken Airport.
About the Route
Most of the trail sits atop the levee that protects the airport from flooding of the Little Miami River. The paved path is wide and affords many nice views of the airport for plane spotters. Trail users also get nice views of the river in places.
Notable places along the route include Land of Make Believe Park and Reeves Golf Course, a short section of the route that follows along the western banks of the Little Miami River and at the south end of the loop, CRC Kellogg Avenue Park, which offers soccer fields and picnic shelters.
Connections
The pathway connects to the Ohio River Trail at Wilmer Avenue, which follows the Ohio River into downtown Cincinnati.
A portion of the Lunken Airport Trail is part of the Ohio to Erie Trail, a trail network that stretches all way across the state from Cincinnati, through Columbus, to Cleveland, a distance of 320 miles.
North of the airport, you can use the Armleder-Lunken Connector to connect to the Armleder Park Trail, which loops through its namesake park.
The Lunken Airport Trail runs in a loop around the Cincinnati Municipal Airport just south of OH-125.
Parking is available at:
See TrailLink Map for all parking options and detailed directions.
Nice paved surface. I’m a fairly new rider and enjoyed it very much!
The Lunken Airport Bike Path is a 5 mile loop that essentially runs the perimeter of the airport. The path is flat except for two short climbs onto the levees that protect the airport from floods of both the Ohio and Little Miami Rivers. For those of you that are thinking about riding the Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET), I have found that connecting to Otto Armleder Park through the Airport Connnector Trail is a much safer way to go than the on-road route suggested for the OTET to get from Lunken Airport to the Village of Marimont as it will help you avoid what I found to be a very troublesome Beechmont Circle interchange. This may add a few extra miles to your trip, but I have found that I do not enjoy negotiating this traffic circle with its driver blind spots.
If you are travelling southbound on the OTET I would say to use the Airport Connector Trail out of Armleder Park and connect to The Lunken Airport Bike Path that parallels the Little Miami River. This will parallel the airport's longest runway and take you the Ohio River Trail. Turn right and cycle to the Lunken Airport Terminal in order to pick up the Ohio River Trail.
For northbound OTET riders, I suggest following the Lunken Airport Bike Path along Wilmer Avenue toward Lunken Playfield, then take the part of the Lunken Airport Bike Path that crosses through the Reeves Golf Course at the end of the runway. Once through the golf course, climb the short steep hill onto the flood levee, and turn left onto the Lunken Airport Connector Trail in order to reach Otto Armleder Park and avoid Beechmont Circle.
Currently, there are plans for the OTET to connect directly to Little Miami River Trail by a bike and pedestrian bridge connected to OH-125 (Beechmont Ave.) so that OTET riders will be able to avoid riding along the very busy Columbia Parkway (US Rte. 50) in Mariemont. This bridge's construction is supposed to start in 2020 and be completed by 2021. If you are going to ride the OTET sooner than this I suggest that this is definitely an area you want to look at in Google Maps.
Perfect trail for the family. We have two teens and a 9 year old. Great trail for their ages. Playground, UDF Ice cream at the trailhead, Galley restaurant, bathrooms, flat paved surface, safe...all around great.
Very nice first time bike ride for the person who is just getting into riding and trying out a bike
I have ridden the trail several times both as a part of a link in the Ohio to Erie Trail and as a destination trail itself. The last time I rode this trail was on May 24, 2017.
The Lunken Airport Bike Path is a 5 mile loop that essentially follows the perimeter of the airfield. It is flat path except for two short climbs onto the levees that protect the airport from floods of the Ohio and Little Miami Rivers. For those of you that have or will bike the Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET) I have found that the part of the Lunken Airport Bike Path that crosses through the Reeves Golf Course at the end of the runway, is a much safer way to go than the on road route suggested for the OTET to get from Lunken Airport to the Village of Marimont as it will help you avoid what I found to be a very troublesome and dangerous Beechmont traffic circle. It may add a few extra miles to your trip, but I have found that I do not enjoy negotiating this traffic circle with it's driver blind spots. Someday, according to a sign at the corner of the Lunken Playfield at the end of the Lunken property along Wilber Avenue, the OTET will be connected directly to Little Miami River Trail so that OTET riders will be able to avoid riding along very busy Columbia Parkway (US Rte. 50). If you are going to ride the OTET this is definitely an area you want to look at in Google Maps.
Took the family here and pulling my two young children in a caddy. It was a very beautiful ride and had the chance to see some plans take off and land at the airport.
Just getting into biking and wanted a nice trail to start on. This turned out to be a great ride. Very smooth and good views. I will definitely be spending some time on this trail.
Good ride and flat. Pretty isolated. Good to tie the in with a downtown loop
Nice bike path, pretty smooth except for the part next to the road, as they are currently replacing the concrete sidewalk and there is a little bit of dirt/gravel here and there. What I really like about this trail (besides the closeness to my home) is that there are always planes flying in and out which is cool to watch. There is even a bench on the back side of the trail where you can relax for a min and oversee the entire airport. Plenty of geocaches hidden along this trail which is fun if you have kids. Lastly, the connectors to the other trails around (ohio to erie trail and otto park trail) is convenient. Watch out for deer!
Have biked the park in the past. It's 5 miles around and bit more if you go to Armleder park. It's flat and you can do that in about a quarter hour depending on how much foot traffic there is. Walking is boring for the most part. The trees are high and thick on a lot of the trail now. You can't see the airport which made it an interesting walk in the past. It doesn't seem like it wants to end. People don't make a lot of eye contact. I'm glad it is here if you need to put some time in, but it is not the most interesting.
I recently had the opportunity to skate the Lunken Bike Path (September, 2012). After reading the TrailLink info and reviewing several maps (Google Earth, etc.) I was planning to just skate the loop around the airport. The connection to the Armleder Park, mentioned in the TrailLink description, was too tempting to pass up. [More later] The loop around the airport can be broken down into 3 basic sections; (1) the trail on the levee on the south and east sides (smooth, not perfect asphalt), (2) the trail which separates the airport from the Reeves Golf course (smooth asphalt) and (3)the sidewalk along the Wilmer Road side of the airport (decent asphalt with multiple rough driveway crossings, the least pleasant portion of the loop). The 2 hills which must be traversed to get onto and down from the levee section are steep. The hill at the trail head near Wilmer Road also has a 90 degree to 120 degree turn. Anecdotally, a skater recently faceplanted descending this hill and had to be transported to an emergency room. The second hill, which descends from the levee to the golf course section, actually has a posted warning that bicyclists should dismount and walk down. I used a convenient metal railing as support while I inched down this section until I felt more comfortable. The trail now splits at the aforementioned levee hill and continues to Armleder Park. The asphalt is fresh and very smooth and on the day I was there not particularly littered with vegetation. Soon after the split is another imposing downhill which eventually passes under Beechmont Avenue and then northbound into Armleder Park. I had to brake (T-stop) almost halfway down this hill before my comfort level was reached but the reward was another few miles of flat, wide asphalt. I did not explore much of this park but the roads are smooth and wide. Bicyclists and joggers/runners/walkers should enjoy this trail with few trepidations; skaters should be confident of their ability on hills.
Mostly flat, but there are two large hills as you go up and down on the levee that bounds the airport to the east and south. Nice views of the airport around the trail.
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