Best Hikes in San Diego

The best moderate summit hike in the county, with a proper payoff and good trail maintenance.

Iron Mountain climbs about 1,100 feet over three miles of exposed chaparral to a summit with views across Poway and inland North County. It is the trail to graduate to after Cowles Mountain gets easy, and the surface is good enough for trail running.

Local tip: No shade past the first mile — start before 8 AM from May through October.

The highest point in the City of San Diego and the default local training hike.

Cowles Mountain is 1,593 feet and reachable from most of the city in twenty minutes, which is why it is always busy. The trail is wide and well-maintained, the climb is steady, and the summit gives a 360-degree view from the ocean to the mountains on clear days.

Local tip: Sunrise hikes are a local tradition; bring a headlamp and expect company.

A narrow sandstone slot canyon in a coastal lagoon — nothing else in San Diego looks like it.

Annie's Canyon squeezes through a sandstone slot barely wider than your shoulders before opening onto an overlook of San Elijo Lagoon. It is short, strange, and unlike any other trail in the county. Weekday mornings are far quieter.

Local tip: The slot is one-way and tight; skip it if you're claustrophobic or carrying a large pack.

The best sunset walk in San Diego, along crumbling cliffs above sea caves and surf.

Sunset Cliffs is less a hike than a cliff-edge walk, and it is the single best place in the city to watch the sun go down. The trail is informal and eroding in places, so keep back from the edge and bring a light for the walk back.

Local tip: Stay behind the fencing — the sandstone edges collapse without warning.

A flat, shaded canyon walk to a small volcanic-rock waterfall — the best easy long hike.

Los Peñasquitos Canyon is mostly level, partly shaded, and open to bikes and horses, which makes it the easiest way to get a long walk in without climbing. The waterfall is modest but the oak-lined creek section is the prettiest inland scenery close to the city.

Local tip: Best in late winter and spring, when the creek is actually running.

San Diego's most photographed rock formation, earned with a genuinely hard climb.

Mount Woodson via Lake Poway is a steep, rocky 7.5-mile round trip that ends at a thin granite slab jutting over a drop. The hike itself is strong; the crowds and the queue at the rock are the drawback. Start at dawn and carry more water than you think you need.

Local tip: The photo line at the rock can run an hour on weekends — go on a weekday morning.

A real waterfall and swimming hole, gated behind a permit and a punishing uphill return.

Cedar Creek Falls ends at the Devils Punchbowl, a swimming hole beneath an 80-foot waterfall. The catch is the return: 1,000 feet of climbing on fully exposed trail. It is genuinely dangerous in summer, and rangers enforce the permit system for that reason.

Local tip: Permits are required and limited; book online well ahead and never hike this in summer heat.