America’s coastline views vary from sparkling white beaches to bluffs battered by dramatic, crashing waves, with quiet coves, limestone cliffs and ancient forests along the way. Some of the best coastal walks take in long stretches of varied scenery, while others follow trails in seaside parks or simply take a pleasant meander by the sand. According to the NOAA, the US has a total of 95,471 miles (153,652km) of shoreline. We’ve made narrowing it down a little easier by rounding up some of the best parts to explore on foot.
One of Big Sur’s most scenic hikes is actually among the shortest. The Overlook Trail to McWay Falls is only around half a mile (0.8km) each way, meandering through a portion of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and following an elevated walkway high above the waves. The views, though, deserve a much more arduous journey: there’s the grey-blue waves of the Pacific, a sweep of creamy sand, and McWay Falls itself, spilling right over the beach below (pictured).
Georgia’s largest barrier island, just off the southern coast, is a mossy, salt-sprayed paradise, grazed by around 150 wild horses. The Southend Loop, covering 4.5 miles (7.2km) is perfect for day-trippers or overnight hikers, covering some of the most beautiful parts of the islands. It weaves through maritime forest, skirts the marshland (pictured) and takes walkers along the beach and past sand dunes, traversing dirt paths, quiet roads and boardwalks. It also cuts through the Dungeness Historic District, home to the ruins of a 19th-century mansion owned by the Carnegie family.
Clayhead Trail is actually a series of interconnecting paths that criss-cross a pretty, birdlife-rich, 190-acre swathe of land in the north of Block Island, which lies in the Atlantic to the south of Rhode Island. The parking area is reached via a dirt road and, a short distance into the walk, hikers have two choices: turn right to reach a sandy beach, or left to get lost in what’s known as “The Maze”, a tangle of unmarked paths made for getting blissfully lost down.
This dramatically diverse national park has a number of coastal trails and they’re all worth exploring. The Oil City Trail, around a mile (1.6km) each way on the south coast, packs in some impressive scenery. There’s something to gawp at every few steps, in fact. The relatively easy hike tracks through coastal forest, follows the Hoh River and hits the beach for wide-open views of the ocean, where sea stacks peek above the tide and bald eagles soar overhead. Follow the trail a little further south and you reach Ruby Beach, pictured.
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Car-free Fire Island, reached via ferry from Long Island, is a short distance from New York City yet could hardly feel more different. This is life slowed right down, with only beaches, swamp and maritime holly forest to explore. A 1.6-mile (2.6km) nature trail, mostly along an elevated boardwalk, zig-zags around the rare ecosystem. The forest isn’t technically sunken, though – it’s named for the dunes that tower around it, forming a sand barrier.
California’s famous Pacific Coast Highway (which follows a route that can be walked on an epic hiking expedition) officially ends in Mendocino County, when it merges with the 101 freeway. But, for hikers, this is where the adventure really begins. The nearly 25-mile (40km) Lost Coast Trail, from Mattole to Black Sands Beach, cuts through a wilderness that couldn’t be tamed by the highway. Driftwood-strewn beaches, salt-sprayed forests, paths winding through wildflower meadows – and with Pacific views along the way. Hikers can camp on the route with a backcountry permit.
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This state park, on the barrier island of the same name, has more than five miles (8km) of coastline to explore. It isn’t a hiking trail, as such, but walkers can follow the sandy spit and pass huge, grass-topped dunes while scouring the sand and skies for any of the more than 400 species of birds found here. Particularly rare is the aplomado falcon, which disappeared in the wild before a breeding programme reintroduced them to the area in 2012. Dolphins and turtles can often be spied in the channel, too.
Wildwoods on the Jersey Shore is pure Americana, and so is a stroll along its 2.5-mile (4km) boardwalk. It’s grown quite a bit from its initial 150-yard length in the late 19th century, and even moved closer to the ocean twice as the shoreline shifted. Promenade past three piers with amusement park rides, plus rows of colourful shops, restaurants and arcades, stop at the sandy beaches or just gaze out at the ocean. The area is also home to a strip of mid-century modern inns known as “Doo Wop” motels.
If the alabaster sands of Alabama’s Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are a surprise, the marshy, wildlife-rich Gulf State Park might just knock you over with a feather. Or a mild sea breeze. The park, with several lakes and incorporating parts of the Intracoastal Waterway, popular for birdwatching and kayaking, has several easy-to-follow trails. The deliciously named Rosemary Dunes is the best for views of the Gulf of Mexico, running for 2.1 miles (3.4km) each way with paved paths cutting through undulated marshland and dunes.
Something of a local favourite, the Bob Jones Trail is known as “City to the Sea” because it makes its way to Avila Beach, on the Central Coast, via three miles (4.9km) of paved paths. The destination is a highlight, of course, but the journey is endlessly picturesque, too. The route begins near a car park off Ontario Road and ducks down tree-lined paths, passing peach-coloured houses, following San Luis Obispo Creek and skirting around a golf course before dropping hikers by the sand and Avila Pier (pictured).
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Just one, easy trail weaves through this stunning state park just outside Key West on the southern tip of the Florida Keys. And it’s a beauty, climbing up to the top of the Old Bahia Honda Bridge, once part of the route US1. It’s more of a stroll than a hike and certainly isn’t strenuous: the main thing here is the view, which stretches across the park’s shortbread-hued Calusa Beach (pictured) and beyond. Those who dare to look down might see fish and even sea turtles beneath the limpid, turquoise-tinted water below, too.
Part of the Great Texas Birding Trail, which highlights birdwatching locations across the state, Aransas is known as the winter home of the whooping crane, pictured, though a variety of resident and migratory birds can be spotted along the 1.4-mile (2.3km) Heron Flats trail in the park. It skims the edge of an ancient oyster shell ridge bordering a salt marsh, plunges through a copse of oak trees and potters down to San Antonio Bay. Wood storks, waterfowl and, in spring and summer, wildflowers prettify the route, and hikers may spot the odd alligator, too.
The Umpqua Dunes roll wildly and majestically along 10 miles (16km) of coastline in Siuslaw National Forest towards the south of the state. Hikers can pick a portion to explore or hike along the whole distance, though most of the walk is on the sand so it can be hard going. At the northern edge of the dunes is Umpqua River Lighthouse, pictured, which has bagged itself a pretty lovely ocean view.
Miami Beach Boardwalk stretches along the oceanfront for around four miles (6.4km), from 5th Street in South Beach to 46th Street at Indian Beach Park. And it’s the best way to take in a sweep of the neighbourhood on foot. Pass pastel-hued Art Deco buildings on Ocean Drive before the elevated walkway continues along the beachfront for views of the ocean, palm trees, pale sand and more than 30 lifeguard huts, painted in bold colours and vivid stripes.
Hikers won’t see a car or motorbike along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, named for a former governor of Alaska. They will see other hikers and cyclists, though – and most likely a mousse or two. The paved, two-way path wriggles along 11 miles (17.7km) of Anchorage coastline, with contrasting views of city skyscrapers and natural jaw-droppers like the Chugach Mountains. It also includes views of some of the world’s fastest tides at Knik Arm and passes the sobering Earthquake Park, where 75 homes washed into the sea during a deadly earthquake in 1964.
Tracing a stretch of Maine’s beautiful Bold Coast, this out and back trail – a four-mile (6.4km) round trip – takes in sweeping ocean views and passes rocky coves, bluffs, ledges and sea stacks. It can be challenging underfoot in parts simply because it skims so close to the edge, with steep and craggy sections offering some of the most dramatic views. Trails start and end by candy-striped West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, pictured.
Mapped out by Texas A&M University as a way of exploring its Corpus Christi campus, which occupies the historical Ward Island, this is a glorious trail for anyone who loves nature, coastal views and just being in the great outdoors. It loops around the area for around 7.5 miles (12km) with views of Corpus Christi Bay and Oso Bay, pictured, with room for hikers, cyclists and joggers.
This 2.2-mile (3.5km) path links Sand Beach and Otter Cliffs, rewarding with glorious views of the rocky, craggy coastline that edges Acadia National Park. It’s a there and back hike, so 4.4 miles (7km) in total, but the scenery is so beguiling that it’s hardly a drag to revisit it. On one side is the ocean, laced with rock pools, coves and sculptural granite rock formations, while on the other are forested mountains. Boulder Beach, scattered with smooth rocks the size of grapefruits, is among many highlights (pictured here, at sunrise).
Alaska has the longest coastline and it’s also among the most spectacular. This easy, relatively short trail is a 1.2-mile (1.9km) loop tracing the edges of the salt marsh of Beluga Slough with views of Beluga Lake and Kachemak Bay from Bishop’s Beach. At high tide, the freshwater and ocean bay’s water merge together. In spring, look out for one of three pairs of sandhill cranes that regularly migrate here from California.
The dune grasses of this barrier island and national park, which also crosses into Maryland, are famously grazed by two herds of wild ponies, and a series of hiking trails make it easy to explore. For a longer hike, and a lovely overview of the island, take the Service Road on the Virginia side, home to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. The first mile is open to bikes but then the unpaved route is for hikers only, passing sugar-sand beaches, rugged dunes, ponds, salt marshes (pictured) and maritime forests over 7.5 miles (12km).
Part of the Cape Cod National Seashore, this relatively strenuous, undulating trail is nearly nine miles (14.5km) in total and encompasses a shorter, four-mile (6.4km) loop. The Great Island Trail starts and ends at the corner of Griffin Island and Chequessett Neck Road and skirts past salt marshes and sand dunes, climbs steeply to pine-forested bluffs and plods through the soft sand. It’s the longest trail on the peninsula and views of Wellfleet Harbor and Cape Cod Bay make it well worth the effort.
Rehoboth Beach is very much a summer destination, as people understandably flock to the pale yellow sand and rows of bars and restaurants. It’s a lovely spot for a seaside stroll at any time of year (or day), though, and in the off-season walkers might just get the broad, mile-long (1.6km) boardwalk all to themselves, with plenty of benches and access points to potter down to the beach. When it is busier, the summery, funfair-like atmosphere is pretty lovely, too.
Stretching for around 5.5 miles (8.9km) between Dungeness Spit Wildlife Refuge and the New Dungeness Lighthouse, this trail plunges through the forest before dipping steeply to the beach and following the mostly flat sand spit – one of the world’s longest, curving around Dungeness Bay – for the majority of the hike. The area is a birdwatchers’ heaven, with shorebirds including harlequin ducks, dippers and plovers often spotted along the trail. The lighthouse has a museum and toilets (during opening hours).
Kenai Fjords is one of Alaska’s smallest national parks, though it’s not exactly tiny, covering 1,047 square miles (2,711sq km). And it certainly punches above its weight when it comes to breathtaking natural beauty. This 8.2-mile (13.2km) round-trip trail begins and ends in the Exit Glacier area (pictured), traversing meadows and forests of cottonwood and alder trees. The highlight comes higher up, with a steep climb rewarding hikers with views down over Harding Icefield with snow and ice stretching towards the craggy, bay-laced Atlantic coastline that surrounds the peninsula.
This official state hiking trail stretches for 1,175 miles (1,891km) from Clingmans Dome in the Great Smokies to the Outer Banks. Not one to be tackled in a day, then. A well-mapped series of backroads and marked paths enable people to pick a segment of this beautiful trail or trek across the entire route for an epic adventure. It hits the coast near Wilmington, passing maritime forest, salt marshes, tidal creeks, small fishing communities and, for the final stretch, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, home to this striped lighthouse.
Torrey Pines, a spectacular reserve with beaches and pine-topped cliffs, is one of the loveliest parts of La Jolla, just north of San Diego. The park has several short-ish trails that can be combined for a longer walk, though you’ll probably want to allow some time for just sitting on the beach or up on the bluffs and gazing at the Pacific crashing onto the honeyed sand. The Beach Trail, as the name suggests, weaves down to the beach, with a steep, rocky descent over around 0.8 miles (1.3km) each way.
Hikers can follow a 382-mile (615km) trail that takes in the entire Oregon coastline. For times when that’s a little too much, this 2.6-mile (4.2km) round-trip hike packages up one of the prettiest portions of the Oregon Coast Trail. The walk goes through the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area in Siuslaw National Forest, cutting through the forest to overlook the rugged, rocky shoreline. Devil’s Churn Viewpoint (pictured) is particularly dramatic.
The coast becomes clearer, and quieter, north of San Francisco, and the stretch that makes up Point Reyes National Seashore is particularly wild and beautiful. The five-mile (8km) Laguna-Coast Loop takes hikers through meadows and patches of coastal scrub, with the trees giving way to peeks at the blue-grey Pacific along the route. It reaches a burnished gold beach before the last stretch, which is atop the bluffs for clearer views across the mudflats and salt marshes of Tomales Bay.
The Delmarva Peninsula, which paddles out between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay and spills into Virginia and Maryland, is a shockingly underrated stretch of glorious coastline. This trail in Cape Henlopen State Park, which occupies a former military base, illustrates just how lovely it is. Covering around 6.5 miles (10.5km) as an out and back hike, it skirts the pond then follows a boardwalk skimming over the marshes and honey-hued beach, with views of the Second World War towers beyond.
Hawaii has more than 1,000 miles (1,609km) of shoreline, so one could land pretty much anywhere and set off on gorgeous coastal hike. Kauai’s coastline is particularly pretty, though. One of the best walks on the “Garden Isle” is the Kalalau Trail, an 11-mile (17.7km) trek along the northern Nāpali Coast, a designated wilderness area and part of the Hawaii State Parks system. It’s the only way to explore the area, in fact, running from Ke’e to Kalalau Beach via dramatic sea cliffs and verdant valleys.