Pacific Coast Bike Tour

The "LA to LA" ride: Los Altos to Los Angeles.

Day 8 · Saturday, September 12

Ventura → Santa Monica

Distance
59.1mi95.1km
Elevation gain
1714ft522m
Elevation loss
1689ft515m
Max elevation
224ft68m
Ventura → Santa Monica Switch basemap (elevation / vegetation / plain) top-right; click any point for Google Maps, Apple Maps or Street View.
Download GPX — Day 8 Open in Ride with GPS

Google Maps Apple Maps Neither opens this route — they take only a start and an end over a link, so each draws its own way between Ventura and Santa Monica. Use them for the lie of the land; the GPX and Ride with GPS have the line we ride.

The day at a glance

The first hour crosses the Oxnard Plain, among the most productive vegetable and strawberry ground in the United States and still farmed hard right up to the edge of the city. After Point Mugu the farming stops and the rest of the day is the Malibu coast.

Worth looking up for

  • Final day down the coast through Ventura and Malibu into Santa Monica.
  • One of the two easiest days for climbing, at 1,661 ft.

What to watch for

  • Pacific Coast Highway traffic is heavy and fast, especially through Malibu on a Saturday. Be prepared to ride two-by-two, take the lane, and stay together.
  • Only real climb is mi 38.6–39.3, 185 ft at 5.1%.

Towns along the way

  1. 0 Ventura
  2. 7 Oxnard Shores 0.5 mi off
  3. 11 Oxnard 1.7 mi off
  4. 30 Solromar
  5. 37 Malibu West
  6. 41 Malibu Vista 1.5 mi off
  7. 46 Malibu
  8. 49 Las Flores
  9. 58 Santa Monica 0.6 mi off

Stops along the way

Mapped in OpenStreetMap and carried in the GPX as waypoints, so they show on a head unit too. Distances are miles from the start. Tap a name for Google Maps, or the arrow for Apple Maps. Not verified on the ground — opening hours and whether a tap actually runs are anyone’s guess. Water and restrooms are not listed here, because they are long lists you find on the road rather than plan around — but they are in the GPX, so a head unit still shows them. A marks a stop somebody picked by hand and vouched for, rather than one the OpenStreetMap query happened to return. Everything else here is within a quarter mile of the line; the few that are further say how far.

Shops & markets 6

Food & drink 8

Worth a look 7

Restaurants in Santa Monica

Places to eat at the end of the day, gathered by hand rather than from OpenStreetMap, so these are not the same as the stops above and are not in the GPX. Most are a short walk from the hotel; where one is not, the address says so. Nobody has eaten at them. Opening hours are deliberately not listed — they change, and a stale hour on a page is worse than none — so tap through before you set out. A name with no link had none to hand.