Riding the Stanford perimeter

Stanford's lands wrap around the west side of Palo Alto. The roads that ring them make a tidy, mostly flat bike loop. Ride out along Sand Hill Road past the shopping center and the hospital, turn onto Junipero Serra Boulevard where the oak-dotted hills of the Dish rise on your right and come home through College Terrace and down El Camino Real on the Stanford Perimeter Trail. The whole thing is about 9 miles and starts and ends at Palo Alto station.

It is the ride to do when you have an hour, when you are new to riding with traffic or when you want to try a bike before taking it into the hills. For campus riding rules, see our biking on campus guide. For a longer loop that uses the same roads, see the Arastradero loop.

The ride at a glance

We traced the loop on OpenStreetMap with a cycling router and sampled U.S. Geological Survey elevation data. It comes to roughly 9 miles with 200 to 300 feet of climbing, most of it on the rollers of Junipero Serra Boulevard. Treat both numbers as estimates.

Start and Caltrain

Palo Alto station sits at the foot of Palm Drive, so you can roll off the train and onto the route. Electric trains carry two bike cars each. Caltrain's Stanford station is used only for some football games and will not open for 2026 games, so do not plan around it.

If you drive, the Stanford Avenue section has public parking: back-in angle parking between Junipero Serra Boulevard and Raimundo Way and parallel parking on the north side east of Raimundo Way, according to the Perimeter Trail site. Stanford's own campus lots are mostly permit lots on weekdays.

Turn by turn

1. Palm Drive. From the station, ride up Palm Drive toward the Oval.
2. Arboretum Road. Turn right onto Arboretum Road and follow it past the Arboretum to Sand Hill Road.
3. Sand Hill Road. Turn left and ride west in the bike lane past Stanford Shopping Center and Stanford Hospital.
4. Santa Cruz Avenue. Turn left onto Santa Cruz Avenue and follow it to the junction with Alpine Road and Junipero Serra Boulevard.
5. Junipero Serra Boulevard. Turn left onto Junipero Serra and ride southeast along the foot of the Dish. The road rolls gently. The Perimeter Trail runs beside it.
6. Stanford Avenue. Turn left onto Stanford Avenue at the bike corral. Ride down through College Terrace past Escondido Elementary on the green bike lanes.
7. El Camino Real. At El Camino Real, turn left onto the Perimeter Trail on the Stanford side. Follow it northwest past Paly, across the road from Town & Country Village, to Quarry Road.
8. Back to the station. Turn right at Quarry Road or University Avenue and return to the station.

About the Perimeter Trail

Stanford built the trail as part of a trails program with Palo Alto and Santa Clara County. Its site describes 3.4 miles of new and upgraded trail in three pieces: El Camino Real from Quarry Road to Stanford Avenue, Stanford Avenue from El Camino Real to Junipero Serra Boulevard and Junipero Serra from Stanford Avenue to Page Mill Road, where it connects to the Matadero Creek Trail. Construction began in spring 2015. The university calls it a multi-use path for both the campus and the surrounding community.

It is asphalt, 10 feet wide along Junipero Serra and 8 to 10 feet along El Camino Real, with shoulders where they fit. Stanford also added green bike lanes on Stanford Avenue, better intersection crossings and the 50-bike corral at Junipero Serra and Stanford Avenue. Because it is shared with walkers, runners and students heading to Nixon, Escondido and Paly, fast riders often stay on the road and use the path only where traffic is heavy.

Surface and traffic

• Sand Hill Road is busy at all hours near the shopping center and hospital, with buses, ambulances and cars turning in and out. The bike lane is wide, but watch for right-turning drivers.
• Santa Cruz Avenue and the Alpine Road junction make a complicated intersection. Take it slowly and use the signals.
• Junipero Serra Boulevard is fast for cars but has room for bikes. The Perimeter Trail beside it is the calm option.
• Stanford Avenue is residential, with school traffic on weekdays.
• El Camino Real is the busiest road in the area. The Perimeter Trail keeps you off it, but driveways and side streets cross the path, so watch for cars pulling out.

On campus, Stanford enforces its own bike rules, including a 10 mph limit in pedestrian zones and parking lots and a ban on riding in the arcades. Our campus biking page covers them.

Water, restrooms and coffee

The Perimeter Trail site lists no restrooms or drinking fountains along the trail. There are none on Junipero Serra Boulevard either. Plan on using cafes as a customer.

• Manresa Bread, Town & Country Village, 855 El Camino Real, Suite 138. Its website lists hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is across El Camino Real from the Perimeter Trail near Embarcadero Road. Our Town & Country guide lists the other shops and cafes there.
• Stanford Shopping Center is right on Sand Hill Road near the start if you need a break early.

Carry a bottle. The loop is short, but Junipero Serra has no shade on a warm afternoon.

Closures we checked

We found no posted closures on the Perimeter Trail, Sand Hill Road, Junipero Serra Boulevard or Stanford Avenue in early November 2026. Two things change the picture on certain days. Stanford home football games bring heavy traffic and closures near the stadium. Big campus events such as Big Game weekends also fill the roads. Big Game 2026 is at Berkeley on November 21, so that weekend should be calm here. Check Stanford's event calendar before a Saturday ride.

Safety

Seasons and variations

The loop works in any season. In winter rain, the paths drain quickly and there are no dirt sections. Summer afternoons can be hot along Junipero Serra, so ride early. Daylight saving time ended on November 1, 2026, which means darkness before 5 p.m. by mid-November.

To stretch it, keep going on Junipero Serra past Stanford Avenue to Page Mill Road and come back along the Matadero Creek Trail, or turn the ride into the Arastradero loop by adding Arastradero and Alpine roads. Walkers can combine a ride with the Dish hike by locking up at the corral.

Frequently asked questions