5 Coastal Running Routes to Run Before You Die

Carmel, United States

1Big Sur International Marathon (USA): 42 Kilometers Along the Pacific Cliffs on Highway 1

The Big Sur International Marathon holds its 40th running on Sunday, April 25, 2027. The race starts at 6:45 a.m.

at Big Sur Station (elevation 109 meters), in a redwood forest, and finishes to the north at the Rio Road intersection in Carmel (elevation 3 meters). All 42.195 kilometers in between are on California's Highway 1. With 665 meters of total climbing and 771 meters of total descent, the numbers say the course runs downhill, but organizers tell runners to expect strong headwinds from the moment they leave the forest around mile 6 (9.7 kilometers) and see the coast for the first time.

Announcing the sellout in September 2025, the race director said, "After all these years, the idea of running along the Pacific Ocean and Highway 1 draws an excitement and desire that remains at an all-time high." The 2026 race sold out, too. On April 26, 2026, Big Sur was wet and cold.

The runner behind the YouTube channel Tanner Nelsen woke at 3 a.m. to the sound of pouring rain and said at the start line, "Everywhere's wet.

We're like trying to stay warm. It's cold." The runner behind the Austin Castro channel, who finished in 5:30 that year, described the climb: "Miles 10 through 12, it is all uphill with nearly 600 ft of elevation gain."

Then, at the bridge at halfway, the runner stopped: "We are at the halfway point, 13 more miles to go, but I have to stop here at the Bixby Bridge taking this beautiful view." The general lottery for 2027 (entry fee $325) ran from August 19 to September 2, with results out September 8. What's left now is Boston 2 Big Sur, open only to runners entered in the 2027 Boston Marathon (opens October 14 at 8 a.

m. Pacific time; $649), plus guaranteed entries such as charity and VIP spots. Runners must take the race shuttle to the start.

At Big Sur, you pay with the clock. The time limit is 6 hours, and under the Highway 1 permit, the road reopens to two-way traffic at 1 p.m.

There are two cutoffs, and the one at 34.1K (21.2 miles) closes at 11:50 a.m. Bixby Bridge sits at 21.1K.

Every minute you spend standing in front of it comes out of the 13 kilometers that follow.

Big Sur International MarathonSun, April 25, 2027 · D-191 · Carmel, United StatesSee race details

Cape Town, South Africa

2Two Oceans Ultra Marathon (South Africa): You Have to Run 56K to See Both Oceans

The Two Oceans Ultra Marathon is 56 kilometers. The 2027 race starts in waves at 6 a.m.

on Sunday, April 4, on Main Road in Newlands, a southern suburb of Cape Town, and finishes at the University of Cape Town rugby fields. Organizers have raised the 2027 ultra field from 14,000 to 21,000 runners and the half marathon field from 17,000 to 21,000. The half, held the day before on Saturday, April 3, runs inland past Constantia and Kirstenbosch and never passes the ocean.

To see both oceans in the race's name, you have to sign up for the 56K. The first ocean comes after 15 kilometers. Having run south along Main Road in the dark, runners get their first look at False Bay at Muizenberg.

The race calls this side the Atlantic touched by the Indian Ocean, but geographers count False Bay as part of the Atlantic, too. So the "two oceans" are less a strict map than a contrast between a warm eastern sea and a cold western one. From Fish Hoek (19K), the course crosses the peninsula, passes Noordhoek (25K to 28K), and from about 28K climbs Chapman's Peak Drive, cut into the Atlantic cliffs.

Climbing that hill in 2026, the runner behind the YouTube channel Just Be Brandon said, "Can you even get a better view in the world? This is the second ocean of the two oceans route." What he said at 15K is the whole race plan: "The real race starts when I get to the marathon mark.

… That's why you have to start easy." Down from Chapman's Peak and through Hout Bay (39K to 44K), the climb up Constantia Nek begins right away, and the 42.195K mark sits on that climb. The time limit is 7 hours from the gun for the last wave.

In 2026, Gerda Steyn won the women's race in 3:27:43 for her seventh straight title. The lottery for South African runners closed in August. International runners skip the lottery and can enter only through the race's exclusive travel agency, which hasn't said whether any international spots remain.

The international entry fee is £140. In 2026, there was an intermediate cutoff at that marathon mark. The two runners on the YouTube channel Chaeli Mycroft had to end their race right there: "Just got cut off at the 42K mark.

We were about, what, 200 m away."

Totalsports Two Oceans MarathonSun, April 4, 2027 · D-170 · Cape Town, South AfricaSee race details

Nice, France

3Nice–Cannes Marathon (France): 42K Along the Mediterranean From Nice to Cannes, Plus the Hills of Antibes

The 18th Nice–Cannes Marathon starts at 8 a.m. on Sunday, November 8, 2026, on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

Runners go off in four waves, at 8, 8:25, 8:50, and 9:15 a.m., and finish on the Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes, in front of the Palais des Festivals.

The official guide says the whole course follows the sea. It passes the Nice airport, runs through Saint-Laurent-du-Var, Cagnes-sur-Mer, and Marina Baie des Anges in Villeneuve-Loubet to reach Antibes, loops around the Cap d'Antibes headland, then passes Juan-les-Pins and Golfe-Juan on the way into Cannes. For the British runner behind the YouTube channel rach speirs, who ran the 2025 race, "every single part you were constantly by the water.

And if you weren't by the water, then you were in some like nice little town or like a marina." The French runner on the LaughLips channel, running her first marathon, couldn't forget the moment she looked down on Cannes from the descent at 38K: "I could see Cannes, the sea was incredible, the weather was crazy, the atmosphere was insane." The official elevation gain is just 100 meters.

But mid-race, rach speirs told the camera flatly: "whoever tells you that's a flat marathon. Big fat stinking liar." The rolling terrain starts at Cap d'Antibes around 25K and lasts to about 35K, and there's one more climb around 37K to 38K.

The BEAUFABI RUN runner, who hit his goal of breaking 3:10, pointed to the same spot that evening while admitting to knee pain: "I think it was the hill at 37K that killed me." The weather was a factor, too. In rach speirs's words, "It was like 18 19 which doesn't sound very hot but there was no wind and not much shade at all and so it was pure sun just beaming down on you."

The 2026 race filled early. All 15,500 marathon spots were gone by April 14, and the full field is 25,000 runners from 113 countries. Entry fees climbed from €66 to €96 depending on when you signed up.

Runners without a French Athletics Federation license, international entrants included, must complete an online health screening (PPS, €5). Starting this year, aid stations won't hand out disposable cups, so carry your own cup or bottle. Your bib also works as a train ticket between Nice and Cannes for the day.

That train is the catch. Organizers warn in advance that runners should be ready to wait at Cannes station after the finish. After the 2025 race, rach speirs waited an hour and a half to get from Cannes back to Nice, and when LaughLips's train broke down, a 20-minute trip took her nearly two hours.

If you're staying in Nice, plan on several more hours after you pass under the finish arch on the Croisette.

French Riviera Marathon Nice-CannesSun, November 8, 2026 · D-23 · Nice, FranceSee race details

Apollo Bay, Australia

4Great Ocean Road Marathon (Australia): 44 Kilometers on a Coastal Road Closed to Traffic

The Great Ocean Road Marathon isn't even honest about its distance. It's 44 kilometers, not 42.195, and going by the official aid station chart, the finish line sits at 44.6K. The 2027 race starts at 8 a.

m. on Sunday, May 16, in front of the surf lifesaving club in Lorne, Victoria, and finishes in front of the hotel in Apollo Bay. From 7 a.

m. that morning, the coastal road is fully closed from Lorne to Skenes Creek; at noon it starts reopening toward Lorne as the race moves through, and the whole stretch is open again by 2:30 p.m.

The course winds southwest along the Southern Ocean. Wye River comes at 15.4K, Kennett River at 21.8K, and the Cape Patton lookout at 26.6K. Nearly all of the 488 meters of total climbing is packed into the first 27 kilometers; after 30K, it's close to flat.

The runner behind the YouTube channel Matthew Bell, running the distance for the first time in 2026, summed up those first 27 kilometers while passing Wye River: "We're at Wye River. It's where everybody running marathon ask why they're doing this." On a hill at 26K, the runner added, "The harder hills on marathon.

What a view, eh?" Getting to the start is part of the race. Paid buses leave Apollo Bay for Lorne starting at 5:15 a.

m. and spend 45 minutes backtracking up the coastal road. Matthew Bell remembers the ride this way: "It might have been worse than the actual marathon.

It's like a theme park ride that wouldn't stop." The TAKAGOES runner, who couldn't find lodging in Lorne and stayed in Geelong, kept it short after the finish: "It was nice. Very good scenery.

But uh yeah. Very hilly." In January 2026, more than 180 millimeters of rain fell on Wye River and Lorne in four hours, closing the coastal road, but the May race went ahead as planned.

The 20th edition in 2025 drew more than 11,000 people across the whole festival, a record. Registration for 2027 is open now: the 44K costs A$175, and the time limit is 6 hours, 30 minutes. In 2025, the 44K sold out on January 15.

Here, you pay with extra distance. As Matthew Bell put it around 40K, "when I finish my marathon, I've got another 1.8 km until the finish line."

Great Ocean Road Running FestivalSun, May 16, 2027 · D-212 · Apollo Bay, AustraliaSee race details

Gold Coast, Australia

5Gold Coast Marathon (Australia): A Flat, Fast Course With 29 Kilometers Beside the Beach

Of the five, the Gold Coast charges the least for its ocean views. Official total climbing is 62 meters, and 29 of the 42.195 kilometers run beside the beach. The 47th edition takes place on Sunday, July 4, 2027.

In 2026, the course started at Broadwater Parklands in Southport, passed Main Beach, Surfers Paradise, and Broadbeach, and turned at Miami at 17.35K, then headed north along the Broadwater to turn again at Runaway Bay at 36.65K before returning to Southport. Runners started in four groups between 6:15 and 6:45 a.m.

The 2026 results show how flat it is. On July 5, 2026, Haftu Strintzos of Australia ran 2:06:20 to lower the course record by 73 seconds, setting Australian and Oceania records. Japanese runners took seven of the top 10 places in the men's race.

July is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and average temperatures on the Gold Coast run from a low of 12.0°C to a high of 21.2°C. That doesn't mean 42 kilometers without incident. The 60-year-old runner behind the YouTube channel Run With Woody, running the race for the eighth time in 2026, marveled on the early beachfront stretch ("How good does that beach look?")

, then grabbed water around 20K: "It's not as cool as I thought it was going to be." After the finish, he described the rough patch over the last 12 kilometers: "every time I went up over those little canal bridges. It just … wanted to cramp," he said of his calf.

Those bridges are the only climbs on the course worth the name. And as the runner behind MIGHTY MARK RUNNER found when he yelled "OH, THAT HEADWIND" heading south, the sea breeze can push you along or hold you back depending on which way you're going. The time limit is 7 hours from the first start.

In 2026, 43,000 people took part across all events, and the marathon entry fee was A$235. Registration for 2027 has been announced for early December 2026; the fee hasn't been released yet. Registration for the 2026 marathon opened at 9 a.

m. on December 2, 2025, and closed 8 hours later, even though the field had grown by more than 20 percent from the year before.

Gold Coast MarathonSun, July 4, 2027 · D-261 · Gold Coast, AustraliaSee race details