The best things to do in Northern California with kids
Planning our road trip along the Pacific Coast Highway, I had only one regret – that we didn’t have three times as long, in order to explore more of the things to do in Northern California with kids.
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Starting in San Francisco, my original wishlist included exploring some of the Gold Rush towns, taking a detour to Yosemite National Park as well as hugging the coast all the way down to San Diego.
With a four-year-old and limited time, I had to abandon that as seriously optimistic, but that does give me a great excuse for another road trip… or two. So if you’re planning to explore Northern California with kids, here’s my pick of the best for your list.
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Discover San Francisco
One of my favourite places for a family city break, you can’t miss out at least a few days in San Francisco with kids.
With museums and family attractions galore, the chance to explore on a fire truck tour, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and everything from street art to street food, there’s almost too much to mention.
Save time to chill out in Golden Gate Park, as well as discovering the string of attractions within its boundary too.
There’s so many fun things to do for the whole family, the city deserves a post of its own – so check out my top 63 things to do in San Francisco with kids for all the highlights.
See the sequoias at Yosemite
Yosemite is one of the most popular National Parks in the US for a good reason – not least the massive, ancient giant sequoias, as well as great hikes and some beautiful waterfalls.
You’ll find those in three groves within the National Park, but by far the easiest with kids is the Mariposa Grove near the South Entrance. If you want a less visited option, Tuolumne Grove has a slightly shorter hike than the third option, Merced Groves, although it’s a mile each way including a strenuous uphill stretch.
Mariposa Grove is home to more than 500 giant sequoias and there are accessible trails to get there, if you’re visiting with younger kids. It’s around a 75-minute drive from Yosemite Valley.
Avoid travelling in the peak summer months if you can: May and September are two of the best times to enjoy the scenery without the crowds, but with less risk of bad weather derailing your plans. Always check the status of the park before you visit for any closures.
For more sequoias, head over to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, which tends to be much quieter, and is one of the best things to do in Arnold, CA
Visit the redwoods
Sequoias aren’t the only giant trees to discover in Northern California. Don’t miss the spectacular redwoods too – some of the redwoods in the Bay Area are nearly 1,000 years old, and there are options whether you want a day trip or to head off the beaten track.
Muir Woods and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park are both great spots to see these astonishing trees, some of which are over 250ft tall, with kid-friendly hikes as well as trails which are accessible with strollers.
There’s something very special about standing dwarfed by these ancient towering redwoods, craning your neck up to see them and remembering just how small humanity is compared to the wonders of nature.
Muir Woods is close to San Francisco, just a few miles north of the city, so it’s easy to get to with kids but does tend to be busier. There are also lots of tours to take you there too – this tour visits Muir Woods and the giant redwoods, as well as Sausalito.
For more ideas days out from San Francisco with kids, check out my top picks
If you’re exploring further into Northern California with kids, it’s well worth making it out to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park – the last in the string of three main stretches of Redwoods National and State Parks in the far north of Northern California, it’s home to the Grove of Titans, with some of the oldest redwoods.
The elevated walkway also means you’ll have a different way to experience these giants, with a 1500ft walkway high above the forest floor, to protect it and providing more information.
Along the way, drive along the Avenue of Giants – a 31-mile stretch of historic Highway 101 (running parallel to its modern counterpart), that’s surrounded by Humboldt Redwoods State park, with its own astonishing redwoods.
There are three you can drive through in this area as well – Klamath Tour Thru Tree, Shrine Drive-Thru Tree and Chandelier Tree in the Drive-Thru Tree Park. Touristy? Yes… but who cares, how often do you get to drive through a tree?
If you’re travelling further south, you can also see more at Big Basin Redwoods State park, as well as Henry Cowell Redwoods state park, not far from Santa Cruz which has a great short trail through one of the groves that’s ideal for younger kids. Check out my Pacific Coast Highway itinerary with kids for more details.
Explore the Lava Beds
Around 10,000 years ago, lava flowing across the landscape of Northern California created more than 800 caves – now Lava Beds National Monument, it’s a fabulous place to explore in Northern California with kids.
Start at the visitor center to learn a bit more and get directions to the caves, with various different degrees of difficulty. Some are an easy walk through, others stretch further for more of an adventure, walking around half a mile in the dark.
There’s also a two-mile loop route that you can drive which has over 20 caves along it. Before you set off, do check out the tips on caving safely and how to do so without damaging the caves, or harming the bats which live there.
Headtorches are a great idea for kids, so they keep both hands free, but don’t even consider going in without at least a few flashlights (and consider knee pads and helmets for the more difficult ones). It’s best to bring your own, although you can buy them at the visitor center (for a mark-up!)
The area was once home to Native American tribes, including the Modoc. In some areas, there are petroglyphs and pictograms dating back thousands of years, when the caves were inhabited.
Lassen Volcanic National park
One of the least visited National Parks, you’ll escape the crowds while getting to discover four different types of volcano at Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Lassen Peak, the southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range, last erupted in 1915 (although it continued rumbling for two more years). It’s now dormant but you can still see plenty of hydrothermal activity as well as the scenery carved out by volcanoes.
Along with mountain lakes and the volcanic peaks, not to mention glorious wildflowers in the meadows, there are fumaroles and vents smoking away.
To get (safely) up close, try the three-mile Bumpass Hell Trail, which takes you past some of the park’s hydrothermal highlights – it’s only accessible for the warmest months of the year, usually from June to October.
Don’t even consider stepping off the boardwalks and marked trail areas in the park, as visitors have been scalded when accidentally breaking through the volcanic crust – this is not one for wayward toddlers!
Explore Fort Bragg
Visiting Fort Bragg is like taking a step back in time. Originally a 19th century garrison town, it was badly damaged in the 1906 earthquake, so while it’s great to get a sense of the area’s history, the biggest attractions are natural ones.
Just outside town, there’s the Mendocino Coast botanical gardens, and some great hiking and biking along the coast itself.
One of the big highlights is Glass Beach – actually three beaches, which were long used as a dump for rubbish by locals. Now cleaned up, the sea has smashed and pounded the abandoned bottles into shimmering pebbles of sea glass, scattered along the sand and shingle.
It’s illegal to take the sea glass away now (so worth warning kids before they set their heart on a particular shiny piece), but you can lose happy hours to hunting for different colours, as well as exploring tide pools at low tide and relaxing in the sun.
For more tips on visiting Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, check out this post
The town is also the western terminus of the California Western Railroad, better known as the Skunk Train (so called because you smelled it before you saw it). Today you can still hop on board for a journey through the redwood groves, over bridges and through tunnels into the heart of the Noyo River Canyon, just as it has done for over a century.
As well as the two-hour train ride into the Canyon, there’s a shorter 75-minute journey along Pudding Creek Estuary
Strike gold at Bodie
A little further into Central California, Bodie Historic State Park is one not to miss if you’re fascinated by the gold rush – and who isn’t?
In 1859, William Waterman Bodey discovered gold near what is now referred to as Bodie Bluff. In 1861, a mill was established and the town started to grow, with around 10,000 people in Bodie by 1880, from gunfighters to families.
At one point, it’s thought there were 65 saloons in town, along with opium dens, gambling and ‘houses of ill-repute’. Ahem.
It has been a State Historic Park since the 1960s, with the buildings from the last century preserved not restored: this is the original deal. It’s a town literally frozen in time – as if the residents have all just popped out.
As you explore, you can learn how Bodie went from boom to ghost town, plus some fun puzzles on the website, including this Bodie word search for kids.
See the Petrified Forest
Around 3.4 million years ago, an eruption at Mount St Helena transformed the redwood trees growing in this part of Sonoma County into a petrified forest, a process that took thousands of years.
With the largest petrified trees in the world, this California Historical Landmark has been called one of the finest examples of an ancient forest too and there’s an easy half-mile loop trail to walk for kids to experience this weirdly wonderful spot.
Or wander along the Meadow Trail and keep an eye out for some of the wildlife living here too – an impressive variety, including birdlife galore.
Visit Lake Tahoe
Whether you’re planning an active break in Northern California with kids or fancy some gorgeous scenery to slow down, chill out and take a hundred photos, Lake Tahoe is hard to beat.
Those beautiful turquoise waters are, unsurprisingly, popular so visit out of peak season to escape the crowds – although it gets cold in winter!
Bring your own bike (or rent one including hybrid bikes) to enjoy the bike trails that run along the highway, or there are family-friendly hikes along the trails.
Try the Cascade Falls hike, a two-mile round trip that’s great for kids, as you get to see the falls themselves as well as the scenic mountainside path, but without any steep climbs.
Kids will also love the Balancing Rock Trail in DL Bliss State Park – around half a mile long, it leads to the stacked boulders of Balancing Rock, which look just like a smiling dinosaur!
If you are visiting in summer, you can get the chance to peek inside the Hellman-Ehrman Mansion as well. Built in 1903, there’s an hour-long tour to explore. The grounds are open year-round.
Relax at Bodega Bay
If your kids are less excited by the dramatic scenery of the Pacific Coast and more interested in when they get to go to the beach, head to Bodega Bay.
The protected bay tends to have calmer water, so you could try kayaking, as well as relaxing on the sandy beach. It often gets windier in the afternoon, so bring a kite to fly as well.
Sheltered Campbell Cove Beach (Bodega Head) is another great option for kids, with starfish in the shallow water and more calm waters.
Just north of the bay, you’ll see sea stacks caused by erosion overlooking the coast too – and for any older kids who are classic movie fans, Alfred Hitchcock’s famous film, “The Birds”, was shot in Bodega Bay.
Discover Fort Ross
Did your kids know that Russians settled part of the California coast in the 19th century? And that’s just one reason to visit Fort Ross.
Originally Fortress Ross, built in 1812 (and operated by the Russians until 1841), it’s now a State Historic Park with trails, beaches, a book shop, and a museum, not to mention shipwrecks off the coast.
But one of the most unusual things to do here is to walk across the San Andreas Fault. Fort Ross sits on the ocean side of the faultline, with a red marker on Fort Ross road showing where it lies (which makes for a quirky photo opp).
More seriously, it’s one of the best places to see the awesomely destructive power of earthquakes. The Fort Ross Visitor Center has more information about the 1906 quake and its effects, but you can see the damage in the landscape, including cracked redwoods and even interruptions in the slope of hills as the earth here moved 12.6 feet.
Canoe in Mendocino Headlands State Park
The Mendocino Headlands State Park is set on 347 acres of land surrounding Mendocino, including a 19th centry model of the town in the Historic Ford House museum, which acts as the visitor center. But it’s the outdoors which is the biggest attraction.
The bluffs are great for hiking, and at the right time of year, you can spot whales off the coast too.
It’s even more fun to explore by river – there are canoes and kayaks to rent, including outrigger canoes, which are very stable for kids, with a chance to see seals and otters as you paddle.
Drive Highway 1
Highway 1 really deserves its own post to do it justice – it’s a true bucket list road trip, so if you’re in Northern California with kids, don’t miss travelling along part of the route at least.
For tips on driving south from San Francisco, I’ve got a 10-day Pacific Coast Highway itinerary with kids to start you off, including Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay, but there are some spectacular stops heading north as well.
If you fancy following the coast almost the whole way from the Oregon border, the road hugs the sea for pretty much the entire length, so you could start at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, detour along the Avenue of the Giants for a photo opp at a drive through tree, visit Fort Bragg and Glass Beach, Mendocino State Park, Fort Ross and Bodega Bay before hitting San Francisco.
You can choose to head up the coast or down (or do both, and retrace your steps, of course) but for the best views, it’s worth taking the faster northern route inland and winding back south along the coast. Be prepared for cooler, damp and often windy weather in the northern stretches as well, even in summer.
But with layers to hand against the changeable weather, binoculars and camera at the ready, plus some hiking shoes to get out and see the scenery without the car window between you and the view, it’s unforgettable.
PIN FOR LATER: THINGS TO DO IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WITH KIDS
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Highway 1 image copyright MummyTravels, all other images courtesy of Depositphotos
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