Portugese Bend Reserve is a great neighborhood park in Los Angeles to break a sweat without driving too far. An easy and relaxed hike, it’s a great way to start your weekend.
Trail Distance: 2-3 miles
Elevation Gain: ~500 ft.
Terrain Rating: Easy
Hike Time: 1-2 hours
Dog Friendly: Yes
Recommended Seasons: All
Trailhead: Crenshaw Blvd in Palos Verdes. Parking fills up EARLY on weekends.
I really like coming to Portugese Bend Reserve for a relaxing morning with my pup. PV is a lot quieter than Santa Monica, which makes for a welcome change of pace. The best part about Portugese Bend Reserve is that you can choose a bunch of different trails to adjust your hike length. I would definitely recommend this hike for LA locals looking to explore new trails.
On this Sunday morning, we decided to start at Burma Road Trail and hook around down towards Eagle’s Nest Trail. The trail is not maintained past this point so you might brush into some branches, but I didn’t find it very annoying. We went all the way down to Garden Trail and then looped back around towards the West of Crenshaw Blvd. It took around 1.5 hours at a leisurely pace!