While there's a three-mile stretch of sandy beach, that's rarely why Venice Beach draws its crowd: this stretch of sand and boardwalk is best known for its eclectic mix of funky people, street performers and Californian "beach boys." .

Venice Beach is the approximately 4.5 km long, sandy beach on the Pacific coast of the Venice district, which was incorporated into Los Angeles in 1925. The beach section connects to the south of Santa Monica Beach.

In addition to volleyball, basketball and surfing, like other LA beaches, bodybuilding and skating are famous here. The most famous place is probably Muscle Beach, which used to be in Santa Monica. Arnold Schwarzenegger trained here.

Venice Beach owes its enormous popularity to Muscle Beach in particular: Here, bodybuilders lift their weights in an open-air gym and show off their hardened physiques. Muscle Beach was completely renovated in the summer of 2019 and has been shining in a new light ever since. However, bodybuilders are not the only “attraction” on a walk along the nice beach promenade: in a skate park, young people perform their tricks - if they are not letting off steam on the basketball court next door -, shops offer "medicinal herbs" and "psychic readings" and numerous up-and-coming artists try to sell tourists their CDs or USB sticks.

I particularly like Venice Beach with the graffiti-decorated boardwalk and huge stretch of beach. Here, for example, for “L.A. Story” or series like “Navy CIS”, “Beverly Hills 90210” and “The A-Team”.

Venice "enjoys" the reputation of being one of the unsafe parts of Los Angeles, and although the crime rate has fallen in recent years, this assessment cannot be completely dismissed: It's not as bad as a little further southeast, but one or the other corner can definitely be described as unpleasant. Nevertheless - or precisely because of this - a realistic view of the situation is necessary: ​​during the day you do not take an increased risk with a visit to the beach promenade or the canals - especially not in the afternoons and at weekends when the number of visitors is high. Things get a bit more critical after dark, but then there are few good reasons to visit the area.