Getty View Trailhead

Nice hiking trail. More like a hiking road. Very wide path.
This is a surprisingly long trail. I would not recommend going when it is hot out or in the early afternoon because there is no shade.
As you hike further up the trail (after about ¼ mile) you can see great ocean views (assuming it is a clear day out).
This is definitely a tiring hike but the good thing is you can turn around at any time.

the «real» Getty View Trail” is not the trailhead shown above, but is CLOSED because of construction (see one of the photos below). That trail is deteriorated and basically not safe. You can still hike from the ROAD (the trailhead shown) and can do the trail that parallels the road for more fun and net altitude. Thanks to Stephanie on Unilocal we found that trailhead, but here are the precise road directions: DIRECTIONS: to get to the fireroad «trailhead», take the Moraga St exit off the 405/​Sepulveda (yes, the 76 station) [it may be an exit off 405 going north only] — note both Waze and Googlemaps would exit you in the middle of the 405 itself. Beware. Take an immediate left (north) behind the 76 station, which is Bellagio rd; as Bellagio rd loops back south, stay on it going south as it becomes Casiano (don’t take Montego Dr) and take Casiano (in all its loopiness it will head back north) to its end at the fireroad, and your «new» trailhead. Ample onstreet parking without any hour restrictions.

You can get to the trailhead by taking the street behind the 76 gas station on Sepulveda and drive all the way to the end. There you’ll see a fire road to the right. We just parked on the street since there were no parking signs to be seen. The trail is easy with not that much of an incline.
We brought our lunch to eat at the tree you can see from the 405. My boyfriend had done this years ago before the 405 construction (but taken a different route right from Sepulveda that was much more difficult — sadly this is no longer accessible). WARNING! DO NOT APPROACH THE TREE! THERE IS A WASP NEST THERE! Not realizing there was a wasp nest when we got there, a few wasps (luckily only a few and not a swarm) started angrily following us as we retreated from the tree. My boyfriend and I both got stung.
Since we both got stung, we went back to our car and don’t know where the fire road goes. Needless to say, we probably won’t be back.

It is a great place to visit in LA. Worth the $ 15 parking. If you like European art this is the place to visit. It also has a great view of the city for photo opts. I highly recommend you bring a picnic, the food there is over rated and over priced.

Short and sweet trail above Sepulveda Pass. Great if you have some time to kill or are trapped by traffic in area. Really nice views of The Getty Museum and ocean beyond on a clear day.
A fantastic place to practice trail running if you are just getting started.
You access street to trailhead behind gas station off of Moraga.

It’s sweet and short– I’ll probably come back later to challenge myself by jogging/​running the trail.
FYI to parking/​finding the trail:
–I looked it up on my google maps and it led me to the parking lot for the temple across the street of the Getty Museum. The valet person directed me to the wrong way (towards the 405 bridge overpass)… so i found a reroute to the beginning of the trail which is on a local street in the bel-​air neighborhood (nice houses btw)
–parking is on the street! No time limit or meter parking.
I would say the trail is about a mile to 1.5 miles long. It took my friend and me about a little less than an hour to walk there and back.
Not too challenging– able to walk and talk with ease.
Really great view of the Getty museum and the 405 freeway!

Good spot to foot race the tram to the top! Has a good incline to really get the blood pumping before a day of Getty wandering. It’s probably a mile walk or so, but not nearly as bad as taking the Red Line to the bottom of Universal City and walking up– now there’s a hill!
Really great view of the 405 mess as well.

I think this trail may be closed due to construction on the 405.
If someone knows how to access it now, please post.
I tried to do this hike yesterday Aug 11^th 2012, and we couldn’t find it. There now seems to be a construction site where the old trailhead parking was, I think. There is a sign the proclaims «Getty Trailhead» by the entrance to the construction site, but upon further investigation, it seemed to be just a contruction site. Kind of neat driving on the dirt road that will eventually be another lane of the 405 North, but no trail. Maybe if we had driven further down the dirt road we would have reached the trail, but we were getting that «we’re probably not supposed to be here» vibe, so we left.
Too bad, sounds like a nice trail.

Really nice view over the nightmare «interstate 405» but from here it fells so peaceful and quite

now closed.

Great little trail for how close it is to the city. Perfect place for a quick trail run or hike when you’re short on time.
The main trailhead is closed, but according to this map:
there is another entrance, I’m going to check it out soon, see if this entrance is still available, and report back.

I tried to go there with my Dad recently and I don’t think there is access to this trail anymore. If anyone knows a way please let me know, but I talked to some staff at a parking lot across from the Getty and they said it was taken away because of freeway expansion or something like that.
At least I got to go a few times.

*Note: This trail is now closed :(*
I’ve driven past the Getty View Trailhead many times on Sepulveda, but didn’t seem to notice it until a few weeks ago.
It’s a ridge line hike for about a mile (this part could be scary if you are afraid of heights), and then the trail forks into a wide fire road. We went right. Both trails dead end, so you must go back the way you came.
For most of the trail you get a view of the 405 and the Getty Museum. Then when you get on the fire road, you can see a lot more greenery, less freeway. Parking is $ 3 cash and the whole hike takes about an hour and a half. We ran the way back down, and it was a fun invigorating afternoon!

If you drive to Getty Center area you will find the Getty View trailhead on Sepulveda right by the 405 overpass. I thought, hey, a nice semi-​easy climb, a great view, and then I will go home feeling good.
Boy was I wrong.
This is a really steep, very narrow, a bit overgrown trail that leads up to a ridge that looks out to the Westside, the Getty Center and Hoag Canyon. I was more than a touch out of breath already when I reached the ridge and saw there was a choice of a fire road or another smaller hill– why am I so stupid? I don’t know that I ever do anything the easy way, this was no different.
I chose the smaller hill thinking I would get a nice view at the top — that small hill lead to three others, some with pretty steep inclines and declines of their own before I finally stumbled onto the fire road for the return. Thing is the fire road itself isn’t flat so my tired legs still had to climb a bit on the way back. I do have to say though, the top of those hills had some views of some sick houses, I mean really, they looked like hotels. And if it wasn’t smoggy I think the view of the city and possibly the Pacific would’ve been very pretty.
There also isn’t a lot of shade — you are out in the sun 98% of the time so make sure you wear sunscreen and bring water. You’ll get a good sense of accomplishment hiking this trail but this gal was not quite ready for the Getty. (Luckily a warm bath is taking care of the legs)
Tip: $ 3.00 parking fee at the lot, its on the honor system with a dropbox.
Details:
Distance — 3.6 miles out and back
Time — 2 hrs.
Elevation — 600 ft.