Walking and Cycling Trails in White Rock and South Surrey

The White Rock promenade and Marine Drive

The promenade runs about two kilometres along the water from the west end of Marine Drive past the pier to East Beach. Flat, paved, busy on sunny weekends and lovely on a grey weekday morning. Marine Drive itself is the local flat ride and run, with the hills up to the Town Centre for anyone who wants them. Living on the hillside means the promenade is a downhill walk and an uphill walk home. Most people make peace with that.

The Semiahmoo Trail

A historic route that runs north to south through central South Surrey, from near the Nicomekl River down through Sunnyside and Elgin toward 20 Avenue and beyond. Much of it is a shaded gravel path behind backyards and between neighbourhoods, and it links into the City's greenways so that you can walk from Sunnyside to Semiahmoo Centre without a main road. Homes that back onto it, in Sunnyside and Elgin, are quietly sought after.

Crescent Beach, Blackie Spit and the dykes

From Crescent Beach you can walk the beach itself, loop Blackie Spit for the birds, or follow the dyke trails along the Nicomekl and the edge of Mud Bay. Flat, open, with mountain views across the water. On a bike the dykes connect east toward the Serpentine Fen and Elgin Heritage Park. Crescent Beach and Crescent Park are the neighbourhoods on the doorstep.

Sunnyside Acres and the forest trails

Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest, between 24 Avenue and 148 Street, has a network of soft trails under tall second-growth firs. It is where the neighbourhood walks its dogs and where runners go when the promenade is too crowded. Smaller forest pockets such as Crescent Park and Kwomais Point in Ocean Park, with the 1001 Steps down to the beach, round out the list. If a daily forest walk is part of your life, Sunnyside, Elgin and Ocean Park are the neighbourhoods to search.

Road cycling and longer rides

The classic local ride is out 8 Avenue or 16 Avenue east into the farmland around Hazelmere and on to Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley, with quiet roads and a few honest climbs. 0 Avenue along the border is flat and scenic. Toward Delta, the Boundary Bay dyke is reachable from Mud Bay Park and gives you kilometres of flat, car-free riding. Surrey has been adding protected bike lanes on 152 Street and other arterials, but the Peninsula is still a place where the best riding leaves the city quickly.

What this means when you are choosing a home

Being on a trail is priced in, being near one is not. A home backing onto Sunnyside Acres or the Semiahmoo Trail carries a premium. A home six blocks away does not, and six blocks is a four-minute walk. When clients tell me the outdoors is why they are moving here, I ask which of these routes they would actually use every week, and we search within a ten-minute walk of that one. It is a better filter than a price range.

The short version

• Promenade and Marine Drive: the flat waterfront walk. Neighbourhoods: anywhere on the hillside, East and West Beach.
• Semiahmoo Trail and greenways: car-free connections through central South Surrey. Neighbourhoods: Sunnyside, Elgin.
• Crescent Beach and the dykes: open water and mountain views. Neighbourhoods: Crescent Beach, Crescent Park.
• Sunnyside Acres and Kwomais: forest. Neighbourhoods: Sunnyside, Ocean Park.
• Road rides: east to Campbell Valley, west to the Boundary Bay dyke.

Tell me which route sounds like your Saturday and I will tell you which streets to look at. I have probably walked most of them.