# 3 days in Sacramento with kids

Written 2026-09-27 by Play Day. Three days in Sacramento with kids: the zoo and Fairytale Town in Land Park, the trains and the river in Old Sacramento, then a day out in Folsom, with a map a day and six places to stay.

Sacramento gets skipped. People drive straight through it on the way to Tahoe, which is a shame, because for little kids it’s kind of perfect. Everything is flat, the good stuff is packed into a few neighborhoods, and the big three (the zoo, Fairytale Town and the railroad museum) are all made for exactly the ages that wear you out.

So this plan takes one neighborhood a day. Day one is Land Park, where the zoo, Fairytale Town and a tiny amusement park sit across the street from each other. Day two is Old Sacramento and the river, for the trains. Day three is a drive out to Folsom for a small zoo, a miniature train and a castle playground.

It’s built for kids from about two to ten (we flag the stops for older kids as they come up).

## Where to stay

Stay downtown, by Old Sacramento or the Capitol, and days one and two are short drives or walks. There’s no real need to move for day three: Folsom is half an hour out, and there’s a quiet option out that way if you’d rather be close to it.

Summer is hot enough that a pool is worth having, and most of these have one.

- [Embassy Suites by Hilton Sacramento Riverfront Promenade](https://ourplayday.com/places/embassy-suites-sacramento-riverfront): The easy pick for Old Sacramento: every room has its own bedroom door (bedtime solved), and the boardwalks are across the street. Confirmed on the listing: cribs available, suite with separate bedroom, pool, free breakfast.
- [Delta King Hotel](https://ourplayday.com/places/delta-king-hotel): The one to tell people about: a 1927 paddlewheel riverboat moored in Old Sacramento. Staterooms are small and most sleep two, so it works best with one kid.
- [Residence Inn Sacramento Downtown at Capitol Park](https://ourplayday.com/places/residence-inn-sacramento-downtown-capitol-park): Suites with kitchens on the edge of Capitol Park, for the nights when dinner is mac and cheese in the room. Confirmed on the listing: pool, free breakfast.
- [Hyatt Regency Sacramento](https://ourplayday.com/places/hyatt-regency-sacramento): Right across from the Capitol and its lawns, with a saltwater pool. Handy for a downtown weekend on foot. Confirmed on the listing: pool.
- [Home2 Suites by Hilton West Sacramento](https://ourplayday.com/places/home2-suites-west-sacramento): Kitchen suites just across the river from Old Sacramento, near the River Cats’ ballpark. Confirmed on the listing: pool, free breakfast.
- [Residence Inn Sacramento Rancho Cordova](https://ourplayday.com/places/residence-inn-rancho-cordova): Out on Highway 50 toward Folsom, a few minutes’ walk from the Sacramento Children’s Museum. The pick if you have a toddler and want day three to start close. Confirmed on the listing: pool, free breakfast.

## At a glance

- Walking: Light. Day one is three places across the street from each other, day two is a flat mile or so around Old Sacramento, and day three is short hops by car with a walk down Sutter Street.
- Ages: Two to ten is the sweet spot. Fairytale Town and Funderland are really for under-eights, and the railroad museum and the science museum work for everyone.
- Season: Spring and fall are the best of it. Summer gets properly hot, so do the outdoor stops in the morning and save the museums for the afternoon. Funderland closes for the winter, and Fairytale Town closes when it rains.

## Getting around

Bring a car, or rent one. Land Park, Old Sacramento and Midtown are each easy on foot once you’re there, but they’re a few miles apart, and Folsom is about half an hour east on Highway 50.

If you’d rather skip the car on day three, the Gold Line light rail runs from downtown out to Historic Folsom, a block from Sutter Street. The zoo and the mini train are a short walk from there. Castle Park is the one stop you’d need a ride for.

## Day 1: Land Park: the zoo, Fairytale Town and the rides

Three of Sacramento’s best kid places sit in one old park, across the street from each other. Park the car once, do the zoo while it’s cool, then Fairytale Town, then rides.

### Morning: [Sacramento Zoo](https://ourplayday.com/places/sacramento-zoo) (give it about two and a half hours)

A small, walkable zoo under big old trees, with a giraffe deck where you can feed them and a carousel your kid will ask to ride twice. It’s sized for little legs: you can see all of it before anyone melts down.

Tip: There’s no zoo parking lot. Park on the streets around Land Park and walk in, and get there early on a summer weekend.

- Entry: Paid
- Wheelchair accessible: Yes
- Restrooms: Yes

### Late morning: [Fairytale Town](https://ourplayday.com/places/fairytale-town) (give it about two hours)

Right across the street: a storybook park where the nursery rhymes are things to climb, crawl through and slide down, with farm animals and a little theater for kids’ shows. Grown-ups only get in with a kid (as it should be).

Tip: You can bring your own food, so a picnic lunch here saves you a stop.

- Entry: Paid
- Restrooms: Yes

### Lunch: [Vic's Ice Cream](https://ourplayday.com/places/vics-ice-cream) (give it about an hour)

A Land Park soda fountain from 1947, reopened in 2026 by new local owners with the old recipes. Order a sandwich first (there’s PB&J) and you can honestly call the sundae lunch.

### Afternoon: [Funderland Amusement Park](https://ourplayday.com/places/funderland-amusement-park) (give it about an hour and a half)

A tiny amusement park that has been on the edge of Land Park since 1946, with a train, teacups and a carousel sized for toddlers. A two-year-old can ride most of it, which is pretty rare.

Tip: Funderland closes for the winter. If it’s shut, spend the afternoon in William Land Park itself: the duck ponds, the rock garden and the big play area, plus a wading pool in summer.

- Entry: Paid

Also: [William Land Regional Park](https://ourplayday.com/places/william-land-park).

### Dinner: [Masullo](https://ourplayday.com/places/masullo-pizza) (give it about an hour and a half)

A neighborhood pizzeria on Riverside Boulevard, just up from the park. Go early, grab a table, and finish with the ice cream sandwich made with Gunther’s vanilla.

Evening: Still going? Gunther’s Ice Cream, Sacramento’s oldest parlor, is a few minutes east. Look up at the neon Jugglin’ Joe on the roof: if he ever drops the scoop, it’s free.

## Day 2: Old Sacramento and the river: trains and science

Today is trains. The railroad museum is the one thing in Sacramento every train kid needs to see, and it sits at the top of Old Sacramento’s boardwalks, so the rest of the morning is a wander. The afternoon goes a mile up the river to the science museum.

### Morning: [California State Railroad Museum](https://ourplayday.com/places/california-state-railroad-museum) (give it about two and a half hours)

Giant restored locomotives you can walk right up to, and some you can climb into, including a sleeping car that rocks like it’s moving. Train kids lose their minds here. Everyone else gets pulled along anyway.

Tip: On weekends a real excursion train runs along the river from the station nearby. It’s a separate ticket, and it’s worth it.

- Entry: Paid
- Wheelchair accessible: Yes
- Nearest food on this plan: Bear & Crown, 0.2 mi

### Late morning: [Old Sacramento Waterfront](https://ourplayday.com/places/old-sacramento-waterfront) (give it about an hour)

Gold Rush streets on the river, with wooden boardwalks, old-fashioned candy shops and the Delta King riverboat tied up at the dock. Just wander.

For school-age kids, the Underground Tours from the Sacramento History Museum take you down to the streets the city buried when it raised itself above the floods. It’s the thing they’ll tell their friends about.

- Restrooms: Yes
- Nearest food on this plan: Bear & Crown, next door

Also: [Sacramento History Museum](https://ourplayday.com/places/sacramento-history-museum).

### Lunch: [Bear & Crown](https://ourplayday.com/places/bear-and-crown-old-sacramento) (give it about an hour)

A British pub right in Old Sacramento, for fish and chips at an actual table after a morning on your feet. The kids’ menu has a single banger and mash, which is somehow very funny to a five-year-old.

- Kids' menu: Yes

### Afternoon: [SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity](https://ourplayday.com/places/mosac-sacramento) (give it about two and a half hours)

A hands-on science museum in an old power station on the river, about a mile north of Old Sacramento (a short drive, or a flat walk). Everyone calls it MOSAC. There’s a planetarium upstairs for kids four and up.

Tip: Littler kids, or a quieter afternoon? The Crocker Art Museum, just south of Old Sacramento, has Tot Land downstairs for play and books, and loaner strollers at the door.

- Entry: Paid
- Restrooms: Yes
- Changing table: Yes

Also: [Crocker Art Museum](https://ourplayday.com/places/crocker-art-museum).

### Dinner: [Pizzasaurus Rex](https://ourplayday.com/places/pizzasaurus-rex) (give it about an hour)

Square-slice pizza in Midtown with a T. rex for a mascot, which is really all a dinosaur kid needs to hear.

Tip: Rick’s Dessert Diner is a block away, a 1950s diner with glass cases full of cakes and pies. Good luck getting them to pick just one.

Also: [Rick's Dessert Diner](https://ourplayday.com/places/ricks-dessert-diner).

Evening: Staying downtown? The Capitol lights up at night, and the lawns of Capitol Park are a nice last lap before bed.

## Day 3: Folsom: a small zoo, a mini train and a castle

A half-hour drive east, Folsom has a lot packed into one park: a zoo for rescued animals and a miniature steam train that loops right around it. Lunch and a slow walk down Sutter Street, then a castle playground to finish.

### Morning: [Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary](https://ourplayday.com/places/folsom-city-zoo-sanctuary) (give it about an hour and a half)

A small zoo for animals that were rescued and can’t go back to the wild, which makes for a nice conversation with a kid who asks why the bear lives here. It’s an easy hour or two, not a big day.

Tip: It keeps short weeks, so check the listing before you plan the day around it.

- Entry: Paid

### Late morning: [Folsom Valley Railway](https://ourplayday.com/places/folsom-valley-railway) (give it about 30 minutes)

A miniature steam train that has been looping through City Lions Park, right around the zoo, since 1970. Ten minutes of pure joy for a train kid, and you’ll probably go twice.

Tip: The library is right next door, with a picture book room and drop-in story time for little ones, if you need a cool, quiet half hour.

Also: [Folsom Public Library](https://ourplayday.com/places/folsom-public-library).

### Lunch: [Karen's Bakery Cafe](https://ourplayday.com/places/karens-bakery-cafe-folsom) (give it about an hour)

A bakery café a block from Sutter Street. Order at the counter, grab a table on the big patio, and they bring it out to you. The cake case is the whole point.

- Takes reservations: No

### Afternoon: [Folsom History Museum](https://ourplayday.com/places/folsom-history-museum) (give it about an hour)

Folsom’s Gold Rush history, in a museum small enough for short attention spans, right on Sutter Street. Walk the old street after, where the light rail ends and the shops are mostly the fun kind.

- Entry: Paid
- Nearest food on this plan: Karen's Bakery Cafe, 0.1 mi

### Late afternoon: [Castle Park](https://ourplayday.com/places/castle-park-folsom) (give it about an hour)

Folsom’s beloved castle playground, rebuilt and reopened in 2026 with the turrets and the dragon slide back. There’s a toddler side and a big-kid side, plus swings built for kids of all abilities. Let them run it out before the drive home.

### Dinner: [Skipolini's Folsom](https://ourplayday.com/places/skipolinis-folsom) (give it about an hour and a half)

Pizza and pasta with big tables for groups, and the Junior Chef, where kids build their own pizza at the table (a very serious job).

- Kids' menu: Yes

Evening: Back to Sacramento on Highway 50, about half an hour, or stay out in Folsom and skip the drive.

## If it rains

Day two is already mostly indoors. Swap Fairytale Town and Funderland, which close in the rain, for the Crocker’s Tot Land and the Sacramento Children’s Museum. For burning off energy, there’s Sky Zone and Rebounderz for trampolines, and Skatetown in Roseville for ice skating.

## With a toddler

Keep day one exactly as it is: it’s made for them. On day two, trade the science museum for the Crocker’s Tot Land. On day three, start at the Sacramento Children’s Museum in Rancho Cordova, a play museum built for kids up to about eight, on the way out to Folsom, and finish at Castle Park’s toddler side.

## With big kids

Add the Underground Tours in Old Sacramento and the Aerospace Museum of California, a hangar full of real aircraft with flight simulators. Freedom Park, right next door to it, has a spaceship playground built for climbers. In Rocklin, Quarry Park Adventures has zip lines and ropes courses in an old granite quarry.

## If it’s 105 degrees

It happens. Do the zoo right at opening and move the afternoon indoors. For water, Golfland Sunsplash in Roseville is a proper water park in summer, and the splash pads at Southside Park, Freedom Park and North Natomas Regional Park are free.

## What to skip

Swimming in the rivers, especially where the American meets the Sacramento. The currents are strong, and people have drowned there. Use a pool or a splash pad instead. And the Capitol tour is weekdays only, so don’t plan a Saturday around it.

## Questions

### Is Sacramento good for kids?

Really good, especially under ten. The zoo, Fairytale Town and Funderland sit across the street from each other in Land Park, the railroad museum is one of the best train museums anywhere, and there’s a hands-on science museum on the river. It’s flat, easy to drive and much cheaper to stay in than the Bay Area.

### How many days do you need in Sacramento with kids?

Two for the city: one for Land Park and one for Old Sacramento and the railroad museum. Add a third for Folsom, or for the Sacramento Children’s Museum if you have a toddler.

### What is there to do in Sacramento with toddlers?

Fairytale Town and Funderland in Land Park, both sized for under-eights, the Sacramento Children’s Museum in Rancho Cordova, Tot Land at the Crocker Art Museum and the indoor playgrounds like Enchanted in Natomas. The Folsom mini train is ten minutes of heaven for a two-year-old.

### Is the California State Railroad Museum worth it with kids?

Yes. It’s the must-do in Sacramento for kids of almost any age: huge real locomotives you can walk up to and climb into. Give it two to three hours, and add the weekend excursion train if you can.

### Where should a family stay in Sacramento?

Downtown, near Old Sacramento or the Capitol, so days one and two are short hops. Embassy Suites gives everyone a door to close, and the Delta King is a riverboat. With a toddler, the Residence Inn in Rancho Cordova is next to the children’s museum. Six picks are under Where to stay.

## About this plan

The prose carries no prices, opening hours or ticket rules, because those change. Each place named links to its Play Day listing, which carries the kid facts (high chairs, changing tables, kids' menus, wheelchair access) with the source and month of each.

Page: https://ourplayday.com/itineraries/3-days-in-sacramento