Things to do in San Jose with kids

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose

Downtown San Jose

The big purple building on Woz Way, which everyone local calls the Purple Museum. For a toddler it is the best morning in the city. Little Water Ways has troughs and fountains at exactly their height, there is a full-size fire engine and paramedic rig to climb into, and the Rainbow Food Truck has them sorting play produce by colour with great seriousness. Older preschoolers head for the mammoth dig and the air pipes that fire fluff balls overhead.

Bill's Backyard, the outdoor half-acre with the rope bridge, lookout tower and cement slides, comes with the ticket. Visits run in morning and afternoon sessions with a cleaning break between, and weekend sessions go fast, so book one.

Strollers are only allowed for children who cannot walk yet. If your four-year-old tires, they are on your hip. Bring a change of clothes for the water.

Free entry

No

Reservations

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

The Tech Interactive

Downtown San Jose

Three floors of robotics, design challenges and things to build and test, reached by ramps and lifts. It clicks from about five; a toddler will enjoy pressing buttons for twenty minutes and then want to leave. Every ticket includes one IMAX dome film, so choose the showtime as you walk in and plan the galleries around it rather than the other way round.

It is the most expensive museum morning in town, which is the reason to go early and stay long. Opening time and school-year weekdays are quietest, and the museum lends sensory backpacks for children who find the noise too much.

With a toddler and an older child, split up: one adult here, one at the Discovery Museum a few minutes away, and meet for lunch.

The nursing room is on the lower level.

Free entry

No

Reservations

Yes

Restroom

Yes

Changing table

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

Ages 5 and up

Happy Hollow Park & Zoo

Kelley Park

A small zoo, a run of kiddie rides, a puppet theatre and a contact yard for the goats, all inside one park that San Jose children have been taken to since 1961. It is built for about two to eight, and within that range it is a whole day: animals, a ride, a snack, another ride.

Children under two get in free. Parking is charged separately, which is the part people grumble about. The Picnic Basket sells kid food, and bringing your own picnic is fine.

A ten-year-old will be done in two hours. If that is your family, walk across Kelley Park to History Park on a weekend afternoon and make it a double.

Strollers can be rented in the Explore & More shop, first come first served.

Restroom

Yes

Fenced

Yes

Shade

Yes

Water play

No

Swings

Yes

Accessible play

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

Ages 5 and up

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

Rose Garden

Real mummies, animal ones included, and a replica tomb you walk through in the half-dark: the largest Egyptian collection on show in western North America, in a museum that looks like a temple. For a six-to-twelve-year-old in an Egypt phase, nothing else in the Bay Area comes close. Very young children can find the tomb a bit much.

It opens Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. That is the single thing to know, and it rules it out for a weekday school-holiday trip. Children six and under are free, and the ticket desk takes cards only.

The galleries run over several levels with stairs. Bring a carrier rather than a stroller for a baby, and let everyone run in the Egyptian-style gardens outside first.

Free entry

No

Reservations

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

Ages 5 and up

History Park at Kelley Park

Kelley Park

A little village of old and rebuilt San Jose buildings on flat paved streets: a print shop, a one-room school, a fire house, a replica of the electric light tower that once stood over downtown. Entry is free and parking off Phelan Avenue is free too.

Go on a Saturday or Sunday. That is when the buildings open, the historic trolley runs and O'Brien's ice cream parlour serves, and those three things are the outing. On a weekday the grounds are open and nothing else is, which makes it a pleasant stroller walk and not much more.

Paved and level throughout, it is one of the easiest places in the city for a new walker to be let loose.

Free entry

Yes

Restroom

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Winchester Mystery House

West San Jose

Sarah Winchester's house of stairs that end at the ceiling and doors that open onto walls. The guided Mansion Tour takes about an hour through 110 of the 160 rooms, and the house has 47 staircases, which tells you most of what you need to know about doing it with a small child.

It suits about seven to thirteen, and children who like a little spooky. Four and under go free, but a four-year-old in a guided line for an hour is a long hour. Adult tickets are among the dearest in town.

The self-guided Sarah Winchester Garden tour comes with a mansion ticket and is the easy part with a baby. For lunch, Falafel's Drive-In is five minutes away.

Book a tour time online; weekend slots go.

Free entry

No

Reservations

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

Ages 5 and up

LEGOLAND Discovery Center Bay Area

Milpitas

Indoors at the Great Mall, so it is the answer for a wet day or a 95-degree one. Two small LEGO rides, a 4D cinema, ramps to build and race cars on, a Master Builder workshop, and Miniland, the Bay Area rebuilt in bricks, which parents tend to like more than they expected.

Every visit needs a timed entry, and booking ahead is cheaper than paying at the door. Adults cannot get in without a child, except on the adult nights. No outside food beyond baby food and allergy needs; there is a café inside.

It is aimed at three to ten and is about the size of a large shop, so older children finish quickly. The add-ons at the end are where the bill grows.

Free entry

No

Reservations

Yes

Changing table

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

California's Great America

Santa Clara

More than fifty rides, most of which are irrelevant if your children are under eight. For them the day is Planet Snoopy, the Peanuts area, and the Family Care Center there handles baby changing, stroller hire and lost children. In summer the South Bay Shores water park is included with admission, so pack swimsuits.

Under-twos are free, and in recent seasons the park has offered a free season pass for three- to five-year-olds; look for it before paying for a preschooler.

Summer means lines, heat and a large parking bill. Staying at the Santa Clara Marriott or Hyatt House lets you go back to the hotel pool at midday, which is how to survive it.

Free entry

No

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad & W.E. 'Bill' Mason Carousel

Los Gatos

A miniature steam railroad run by volunteers, looping out of Oak Meadow Park and along Vasona Lake, with an antique carousel beside the station. Rides are a few dollars each, under-threes ride free with a paying adult, and tickets never expire, so the leftover ones in your pocket are good next year.

It runs at weekends all year and on weekdays only in summer. Tickets are sold at the booth and nowhere else, and on a sunny Saturday that queue is the longest part of the visit.

Oak Meadow has its own playground and Vasona's pedal boats are a short walk, so this is a full day from downtown San Jose, about twenty minutes away.

The Snack Shack grills hot dogs and burgers but opens later than the rides.

Free entry

No

Reservations

No

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Emma Prusch Farm Park

East San Jose

Forty-three acres of city farm wedged between 680, 280 and 101, where chickens and peacocks wander about as if they own it, which they more or less do. Bring quarters for the feed machines. The playground centres on a giant hen sitting on a grassy mound with a raised coop tower to climb, and there is a rare fruit orchard with more than a hundred trees, bananas among them.

The big barn belongs to 4-H children who keep their livestock there, so it is a working barn, not a petting zoo, and some visits there is not much in it. The birds and the playground carry the day regardless.

Free to get in, free to park, and the lawns are big enough for a kite.

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Rotary PlayGarden

Guadalupe Gardens

San Jose's first all-inclusive playground, in the Guadalupe Gardens by the river near the airport. Adaptive swings, a merry-go-round level with a wheelchair, kinetic sculptures and sensory panels mean a child in a wheelchair and a sibling who wants to climb everything both have somewhere to go. A 2023 expansion added more shade and more to climb.

It opens Thursday to Sunday only, and it is free. That makes it a Friday-morning playground, not a Monday one.

No scooters, skateboards, balloons, kites or dogs inside. A free nature programme for two- to six-year-olds runs from here.

Restroom

Yes

Fenced

No

Shade

Yes

Water play

No

Swings

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Accessible play

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Hellyer County Park

South San Jose

The playground here, opened in 2017, is one of the best in the South Bay. A two-tower wooden fort 24 feet tall with an enclosed slide, a log climbing structure, and a splash pad of jets and waterfalls set among fake rock, all under old trees and big shade sails.

The splash pad runs roughly April to September; bring swimsuits and towels on any warm day. Cottonwood Lake next door is stocked for fishing, and the Coyote Creek Trail runs through for a flat bike ride.

It is off 101 in south San Jose and pairs with nothing downtown, so make it a morning of its own. Summer weekend afternoons around the splash pad are busy.

Restroom

Yes

Fenced

No

Shade

Yes

Water play

Yes

Swings

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Accessible play

No

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Almaden Lake Regional Park

South San Jose

The Playground of Possibilities is new and inclusive: a tall fast slide, a globe spinner, and baby, regular and harnessed swings over soft surfacing. The main structure suits bigger children, while toddlers get a mound slide, a frog to climb and a bouncer.

There is no shade over the new playground, so in summer it is a morning place. The lake loop is flat and paved, good for strollers and scooters, and there are restrooms on both sides of the park.

There is a parking fee at the main lot by the playground.

Restroom

Yes

Fenced

No

Shade

No

Water play

No

Swings

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Accessible play

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Vasona Lake County Park

Los Gatos

The county's busiest park, and on a warm weekend you will see why: wide lawns, a large playground, and pedal boats, kayaks and paddleboards to rent on the lake from early spring into early autumn. The Los Gatos Creek Trail runs through, flat enough for a child on a balance bike.

It shares a fence line with Oak Meadow Park, so the Billy Jones railroad and carousel are a short walk, and the little train runs along the lake's edge. Put the two together and you have the easiest full day in this list.

Parking is charged all year and the lots fill on warm weekends. Get there before eleven.

Restroom

Yes

Fenced

No

Shade

Yes

Water play

No

Swings

Yes

Accessible play

No

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Alum Rock Park

Alum Rock

California's oldest city park, from 1872: a creek canyon in the eastern foothills that was a spa resort a century ago. The Mineral Springs loop passes stone grottos and springs that smell of sulphur, which children find endlessly funny. The valley floor has a playground, picnic lawns, restrooms and barbecue pits.

The Youth Science Institute runs a small nature centre inside the park with live animals, open Wednesday to Sunday afternoons, and it is worth timing a visit around.

The road in is narrow and winding, and the trails that leave the valley floor get steep quickly for small legs. Stay low with little ones. Parking inside is charged; the lots near the entrance are free.

Restroom

Yes

Fenced

No

Shade

Yes

Water play

No

Accessible play

No

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

San Pedro Square Market

Downtown San Jose

A food hall of twenty-odd counters round a big open-air courtyard, which solves the family lunch problem: everyone orders what they want and sits at the same long table. Pizza Bocca Lupo's wood-fired pies are the safe bet for children; there are also tacos, sushi, hot dogs and Latin plates.

The Discovery Museum allows no food inside, so this is the natural lunch break, a short walk away. The garage next door validates two hours.

Thursday to Saturday evenings bring free live music, and nobody will notice your child's volume. After about eight at the weekend, though, it turns into downtown's bar scene, and that is your cue.

High chairs

Yes

For the kids

Outdoor space

Wheelchair access

Yes

Original Joe's San Jose

Downtown San Jose

Red-sauce Italian-American on First Street since 1956, with deep booths that fit a family of five and waiters who have seen everything. There is a kids' menu, and the portions are large enough that one plate of pasta will feed two children, which is the better plan.

It serves all day, so it is the easy early dinner after The Tech or the Discovery Museum, both a few blocks away.

Check the SAP Center schedule before you go. On a Sharks night the room fills with jerseys before the puck drops, and an early table is the difference between a relaxed meal and a long wait.

High chairs

Yes

Kids' menu

Yes

Booster seats

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Falafel's Drive-In

West San Jose

Order at the window, eat at picnic tables under murals of old San Jose. The Nijmeh family opened it on Stevens Creek Boulevard in 1966, and the falafel sandwich with a banana milkshake has been the order ever since. Children tend to skip the falafel and go straight for the shake, and the hummus with pita and vegetables for dipping.

It has been on television and the lunch queue shows it, but the line moves fast.

There are no high chairs and no kids' menu; it is picnic-table eating, so bring a clip-on seat for a baby. Five minutes from the Winchester Mystery House and Valley Fair.

High chairs

No

Kids' menu

No

Changing table

No

For the kids

Outdoor space

Wheelchair access

Yes

Bill's Cafe (Willow Glen)

Willow Glen

A San Jose breakfast chain since 1977, and the Willow Street branch is the neighbourhood's Saturday-morning habit. The kids' pancakes come as four small ones from the house recipe, with a chocolate version for the child who has been very good or is about to be. Crayons arrive with the menus.

Breakfast and lunch only. Weekend mornings mean a wait; on a weekday you walk straight in.

Afterwards, walk down Lincoln Avenue, Willow Glen's main street, where Willow Glen Creamery does frozen yogurt and ice cream for the ones who did not get the chocolate pancakes.

High chairs

Yes

Kids' menu

Yes

Booster seats

Yes

For the kids

Crayons, Outdoor space

Wheelchair access

Yes

Din Tai Fung (Valley Fair)

Santa Clara

Children stand at the glass and watch the cooks pleat soup dumplings, which buys you most of the wait. Pork xiao long bao and fried rice are what they end up eating. There is no children's menu, but staff bring special children's plates, and there are high chairs on request and changing tables in every restroom.

Walk-in waits of an hour or more are normal at peak times. Either arrive at opening, or book: reservations open on the website 30 days ahead at midnight, and the whole party has to be there within 15 minutes or the table goes.

It is inside Westfield Valley Fair, so if you do end up waiting, the mall absorbs it.

High chairs

Yes

Kids' menu

No

Booster seats

Yes

Changing table

Yes

Signia by Hilton San Jose

Downtown San Jose

The downtown high-rise beside the convention centre, and the one to pick if you would rather not move the car all weekend. The Tech, the Children's Discovery Museum, San Pedro Square Market and Original Joe's are all a walk from the door, and the airport is about ten minutes' drive.

There is a rooftop pool for the late afternoon, cribs and connecting rooms for families, and a fridge in the room. Adults get a Nespresso machine and a kettle, and there are two restaurants downstairs for the night nobody wants to go out.

It is a convention hotel, priced like one, with paid parking. On a big convention week the lobby is all lanyards, so it pays to look at the convention calendar before choosing dates.

Cribs

Yes

Connecting rooms

Yes

Fridge

Yes

Pool

Yes

Santa Clara Marriott

Santa Clara

The Great America base. The park is about a mile away and Levi's Stadium is walkable, and the hotel claims the largest hotel pool in Silicon Valley, with cabanas and a hot tub, which is what makes the midday break from the park work.

Ask for connecting rooms if there are more than two children; cribs are available. It is a business hotel on weekdays and a family hotel on summer weekends, and the pool shows it.

The catch is the setting. It is office parks in every direction, so dinner means getting back in the car.

Cribs

Yes

Connecting rooms

Yes

Fridge

Yes

Pool

Yes

Embassy Suites by Hilton Milpitas Silicon Valley

Milpitas

Two-room suites, so the children sleep behind a door and the adults are not sitting in the dark at eight o'clock. Breakfast is included, as is the evening reception with snacks, which covers the awkward hour before dinner.

The pool is indoors, so swimming works in January. The hotel is off I-680 near the Great Mall, a few minutes from LEGOLAND Discovery Center and about fifteen from downtown San Jose.

Reviews mention a building that is showing its age. For a family that mostly needs space and a pool, that matters less than the door between the rooms.

Cribs

Yes

Connecting rooms

Yes

Suites

Yes

Fridge

Yes

Pool

Yes

Free breakfast

Yes

Hyatt House San Jose

North San Jose

An all-suite hotel in North San Jose, and the one for a longer stay or a child who eats four things. Ask for a suite with the full kitchen and living area. Breakfast is included, and the outdoor pool is heated all year.

Great America and Levi's Stadium are a short drive, and the airport is under four miles, which helps with a late arrival and a sleeping child.

It sits among tech campuses: quiet at night, with nothing to walk to.

Cribs

Yes

Suites

Yes

Pool

Yes, heated

Free breakfast

Yes

Kids' activities

No