Venice Canals

It’s a nice narrow walk around this residential area. LOOK FOR PARKING anywhere outside of the canal streets because you won’t be able to park within the area. Other than that, this is quite a scenic place, even when you can’t rent a boat :(. Smell the fresh air of bbq smoke from the residents, but just smell it because they won’t let you join them. Enjoy this area around sunset and hit the beaches right after — especially Santa Monica Pier (view my review there)

The Venice Canals in LA are my favorite oasis in the city. This is an LA must!
Yes, this is a residential area and unfortunately the kayaks & canoes you find along the canals are for private use only. BUT, you can cruise the canals with your personal or rented kayak/​canoe. There is a boat ramp for public use.
This is a great place to stroll. It’s beautiful & romantic. There is also a small Childrens park & a small duck pond (memorial to duck & geese) children can enjoy.
A great place to spend with loved ones. Be respectful of the residence. We have friends that live here & some the horror stories of tourist coming into their homes & invading their personal space is disturbing. Don’t be those people.
It really is a wonderful oasis in LA. Enjoy!

Put on your walking shoes and wander the canals and streets of Venice. Of course you can also check out Abbott Kinney to grab a hipster coffee but don’t miss the people, house and garden watching available along the canals.
Cue up your favorite GPS program, perhaps an online walking tour or take a walking tour to learn more about local history and lore.
It’s time to step away from the Venice Beach boardwalk to give your senses a visual break.
Great fun for a solo walk, with friends or with the whole family.

The Venice canals is a beautiful area to spend some time on a nice day.
We started our day at the Venice beach boardwalk and walked to the canals from there. Its a few miles of beautiful homes over the water with smalll bridges to walk over that connect the homes.
I thought it was lovely to look at the different home designs and landscaping. We took a few pictures and enjoyed our time.
It’s conveniently located too. We ended up walkiing to Lemonade for lunch from there.

The Venice Canals are a must if you’re looking for an unconventional tourist spot. I was surprised at how quiet and uncrowded it was. A perfect after-​meal stroll through a beautiful neighborhood with equally beautiful homes.

If you love to watch HGTV, house hunters, or just enjoy a nice quiet stroll in a beautiful neighborhood, this is the place for you! The homes here are huge, but also very unique. They ranged from large industrial homes to small cottages. When I went here on a weekday, I had a very quiet, relaxing stroll, even though a few minutes walk away there is venice beach, which is full of eclectic people and shops.
There was some construction being done to the bridges, but I don’t think this took away from my experience. It is a very clean area with spectacular views.

Im an unconventional tourist and top of my tourist list is a leisure stroll at the venice canals, the europe in america as I call it, «hey» I love Disneyland and hollywood tours juts like any tom, dick and harry, but sometimes its worth it to research and explore the great depths of places like the venice canals and experience the real LA and the real beauty it has to offer. I usually aim for the unique and different, and the venice canals is definitely a tourist attraction that’s often overlooked by tourist and residents. Its mind boggling that thousands of tourist forget to visits this charming historical canal, because its beauty is beyond words and description.
Along these canals are sidewalks and bridges and you can easily browse and take in the views of this unique area. The venice canals is FREE to tour to all, and there are plenty of street parking located everywhere, I would just avoid Mondays, because street cleaning is in order and that means less street parking available. Its a splendid place to take a a stroll especially after a heavy breakfast or dinner to burn some of those morning fatty treats. Here you begin to feel real canal life, the lovely landscaped gardens, rich with the scent of lavender, rosemary and, because it’s Venice, incense… fronting a variety of architectural styles.
The absolute fascination of the venice canals is of course its similarity to the Italian venice, the houses there is absolutely gorgeous just not on the outside, but the interior as well, while the narrow canals filled with water is just breathtaking and picturesque. I would suggest beginning this walk near the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Pacific Avenue, at the corner of Washington and Strongs Drive. There, under a small sign that says «Venice Canals Walkway,» turn in and begin exploring.
As anyone would expect, most of the houses have been extensively kept up, with all of the plants never coming onto the walking path. Through the time I was there, I only saw one house that was under renovation and for sale, everything else looked like it had exceptional attention to detail in keeping the house in tip top shape.
The distance to cover can be up to 2 miles, which translates to 1 hour of walking, however for lazy walkers, this is not necessary, even a 5 – 15 minutes walk is enough to experience its beauty and capture the immense beauty, I personally walked for over 1 hour in a leisurely stroll. Dogs on leash are OK. No bikes, boards or blades allowed on canal walkway. And close by is the world famous venice beach, I would highly suggest you add the Venice Canals to your list and go experience them for yourself.

This place is definitely worth a visit! It’s a neighborhood with houses and canals in people’s backyards, and the houses are all slightly different. It’s also much cleaner than the actual Venice canals. There are bridges between the canals and people have kayaks and small boats in the water! So awesome, I would totally live here if I could! The water is quite clear too, and there are ducks in the canals. Highly recommend, especially if you’re already around the area (Santa Monica is quite close). Parking isn’t too difficult either, as there is plenty of street parking near the canals. Cool place!

The Venice Canals are Los Angeles best kept secret. Tucked away in Venice, most locals don’t even know it exists! Free from LA’s noise and never crowds, this is a peaceful and serene neighborhood where you can walk over sidewalks and bridges finding a mixture of funky modern homes, and canals calmly flowing in all of the front yards. Don’t have too high of expectations… this is a neighborhood, not a tourist attraction. The authenticity is what makes everything more charming.
I’d recommend this beautiful place for a brisk walk, picnic, or if you’re feeling adventurous you may even bring your own kayak for a gentle ride. The neighborhood is small making this destination a quick stop. Afterwards I highly recommend checking out the nearby Venice Boardwalk, cute shops on Main Street, and restaurants on Abbott Kinney.
Free neighborhood parking is very competitive. Unless you want to pay approximately $ 10-​$ 15 in a public lot, I would recommend looking for a meter on a main street nearby.

We were here with a house guest, upon recommendation from a travel guide.
It was a peaceful tour, such a quaint and charming little section of town. However, we’ve gone twice and each time we remarked at how loud the local construction was. Quite an eye sore.
We loved that each resident’s home and yard had its own personal flare and personality. Many yards were ignored as far as upkeep, but what else do you expect, these are private residents that aren’t paid to keep things nice for the public.
I’m sure it would have been a cooler trip during a festival or special event at the canals. It is what it is, don’t expect a magnificent thrill. Definitely worth the visit though, for what it is.
Its a good idea to plan your visit here on a day that you will already be in the area. I should be so lucky to retire here.

OMG this was on my bucket list for the longest time. I’ve grown up in LA my whole life and have never visited venice beach. I was more of a Santa Monica, Malibu, etc. kinda gal.
I was definitely worth dealing with street parking and walking over in the heat.
Venice Canals are a slice of heave wedged in the middle of busy busy venice.
I loved that it was so quiet and quaint. I would recommend avoiding it during the weekends.

Came here over the weekend to kayak on the canals. I didn’t know what to expect because I had never been to this area before. I was pleasantly surprised that it was a very easy kayaking spot and not at all crowded. In fact, we were the only kayak on the water! We had a handful of passerby’s take a photo of us on the water. I wish I knew people were going to be so interested in taking a picture of us kayaking ahead of time. I would have made myself appear a little more presentable! Hah.
The parking around Venice Canals is atrocious. There was a parking lot nearby but we had no idea how to access the entrance. We thankfully found street parking just a few blocks away from the boat launch of the canals.
Side note: A person tried to steal our parking spot. He was so rude. Our blinker was on and we were already reversing into the spot when he decided to drive his car up to ours to «block» us from backing into the spot. Sucks for him that we didn’t give up and waited until he felt pressure from the cars behind him to GO AROUND. People who try to steal parking spots are some of the worst kinds of scums.
While we were getting our kayak ready, at least 4 – 5 cars tried to wait for us to leave («Sorry, we just got here!») and some straight up rolled down their windows from the opposite side of the street to ask us if we were leaving («Sorry, we just got here!»). So be warned that finding parking is awful around here.
Once we finally got on the water, we had a great time. It was peaceful and paddling was easy because the waters were calm. I got to sit back and relax several times when my boyfriend told me he could do it by himself. I wonder if people photographed that to show their friends a lazy girl in the front and an overworked boyfriend paddling in the back. Oh dear.
The water looked very dirty in some areas but for the most part it was okay. Just don’t drink it.
You can probably paddle the whole canal area in 1 – 1.5 hours depending on how vigorously you paddle.
Note: There are no kayak rentals in the area. BYOK. Bring your own kayak!

Charming area! We were looking for something different to do on Friday afternoon and I suggested a walking tour of sorts through the Venice Canals since I’ve lived in CA all my life and had never experienced them. A lovely area for a nice stroll with some great places to eat nearby on Abbott Kinney. Perfect place for a walk with friends or a special time with a date. Plenty of interesting things to admire as you walk around and over the bridges. Free neighborhood street parking.

I am so glad I came here. This is a perfect spot to bring a romantic date. It doesn’t matter what season it is, you will still find it very beautiful here. Of course, spring and summer seasons are better because you get to see the greens and flowers.
You can just walk around slowly and enjoy the view. It makes you temporarily forget that you’re still in Southern California. You rarely get to find a place like this in West LA.
Yes, parking is a bit tough, but once you do find parking, you can enjoy as much time as you want here. Sometimes, you will get to see ducks as well!

The Venice Canals are quite awesome! I wouldn’t have known about them if it weren’t for Unilocal.Luckily, my friend knew where to go and drove through them so we saw three different bridges. I got out of the car and took pictures of each one!
I didn’t see any ducks — maybe because it was later in the evening. I did see a little fountain at one of the residences and other amusing yard decorations and beautiful gardens.
So, if you’re in the Venice Beach neighborhood, make sure you take a look at the Venice Canals — it’s pretty cool!

If you happen to like action /​adventure /​thriller films, set them aside for a couple of hours and watch «Valentine’s Day» — the 2010 film that features a star-​studded cast and tells the story about «a day in the life of love.» Forget about Rotten Tomatoes’ 18% rating; play the DVD or BD or queue it up from Netflix, sit next to your loved one, tap into your inner romantic side, and hit the fast-​forward button if need be. I watched it with my wife and, in the process, earned my brownie points plus learned about the Venice Canals.
Four NE-​SW and two NW-​SE canals make up the Venice Canals with eleven arched bridges spanning across the water. For a brief moment, I was trying to identify the exact location where scenes from the film were shot. The idea seemed cool, but I immediately abandoned it because the views were fantastic from my viewpoint and it really didn’t matter where the movie was filmed. I have found the canals and bridges and nothing else mattered.
Truth be told, I did observe that the canals were crummy to a certain extent. Having said that, I don’t think that they were meant to be crystal clear either. I am not the «glass half-​empty» person and it was the reflection of the beautiful houses and bridges that drew me in. A lot of the homes are wondrously landscaped with arrays of flowers and plants right there to greet you. The neighborhood was quite tranquil and the locals were friendly. Give yourself at most an hour to explore, but if you run into this homeowner with the caterpillar-​filled front yard, then add another 15 – 30 minutes.
I would have liked to see the canals after sundown and take a couple of night shots, but we had to head back north that day. Maybe next time, I’ll get that chance. Maybe Garry Marshall has a sequel planned for Reed and Julia? If one of the settings will be the Venice Canals again, then that’s another rom-​com that I’ll be watching with the wife… =)

Tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney had a dream to turn this part of LA into a mini-​Venice, so he had canals built over an area roughly four times what you see now. This was back in 1905 when such flights of fancy were encouraged in light of LA’s burgeoning role as the American dream destination, and his idyllic dream lasted until 1924 when automobiles were taking over and roads were needed as a result. Most of the canals were filled in with concrete except for this small neighborhood where six small canals remain. They were saved simply because the contractor went bankrupt. I was aware of their existence but assumed they were dilapidated and wasn’t all that motivated to see them until I saw them featured on a public TV travel show. It looked quite idyllic (photo:
).
When Jamie W. and I strolled toward the boardwalk, we made our way to the canals quite easily right after crossing Abbot Kinney Blvd (…oh yes, his legacy continues). What’s nice is that a free pathway skirts the canals on both sides, so you can stroll without bothering the residents. There are at least two footbridges per canal, each with a unique look, so it was easy to traverse the neighborhood and be a looky-​loo at some of the pricier-​looking homes. Gondolas of yore have been supplanted by plastic canoes, and 4^th of July barbecue parties were not making me want to sing «O Sole Mio». However, I could see another sequel to «Chinatown» set here, this time focusing on JJ Gittes’ efforts to trap a shady real estate developer for drowning his cheating wife. «Forget it, Jake, it’s Venice.»

One of my favorite places to visit whenever I am nearby. I came to the Venice Canals on Friday and to my surprised saw how low the water level is. The residents canoes barley float.
Yet it is still a very beautiful and peaceful place and nice to have a romantic stroll at. I hope our drought gets better soon because it would break my heart too see or hear that there is no water in the canals.

Beautiful place to check out if you’re in the area. Relax and take a nice stroll around the canals as you people watch and admire the homes that sit right in front of the «Venice» river.
Although it’s no Venice, it still took me back to 2012 when I visited Italy where my heart was stolen by the beautiful scenery. Walking down this Venice canal path definitely brought back good memories and made me reminisce some good times.
Tip: perfect spot to bring a date. Or perfect home to buy so you can enjoy sipping on wine and people watch in your backyard.

What a beautiful oasis!
We parked on Dell off of Washington Blvd and walked to the canals. It was like stepping into another world! Most of the canals were so clean that you could see through the clear water to the gravel on the bottom. Many beautiful views, all homes charming, a diversity of character in color and styles of architecture and landscaping.
Many sightseers, people also walking their dogs, ducks and coots in the canal waters, so many photo opps! Paved paths on both sides of each of the canals, great for walking.
Thanks for the recommendation, John L. It was a destination in itself!