A method for determining a read power of a laser beam according to the present invention includes a step of setting a power of a laser beam to a recommended recording power Pw′ and forming a recording mark train including at least one of a recording mark having a length shorter than a resolution limit and a blank region having a length shorter than the resolution limit in an optical recording disc, thereby recording test data therein, a step of setting the power of the laser beam to a recommended read power Pr′ and reproducing the test data recorded in the optical recording disc, a step of judging whether or not signal characteristics of a reproduced signal obtained by reproducing the test data satisfies reference conditions, and determining an optimum read power of the laser beam based on the result of the judgment. According to the thus constituted method for determining a read power of a laser beam, even in the case where the length of a recording mark or the length of a blank region between neighboring recording marks is shorter than the resolution limit, it is possible to record and reproduce a recording mark train including these recording marks and blank regions. Therefore, this method can be applied to an optical recording medium whose storage capacity is markedly increased.