Things to do
Family hotelsRestaurants 15Cafés 6Hotels 9Playgrounds and things to do 162High chairs 7Changing tables 4Kids' menu 7Wheelchair accessible 8Cribs 7Pool 7Free breakfast 4Connecting rooms 5Fridge in the room 8Separate bedroom 8Restrooms 22Shade 63Water play 24Order at the counter 7
A whole afternoon 5
3 daysEvery room has its own bedroom door, and you're across the street from the Old Sacramento boardwalks.
Two-bedroom suites off I-5, so everyone gets a door to close.
Suites at the edge of Capitol Park.
A solar-system playground built so kids of every ability can use it, with ramps, spinners and separate areas for babies, preschoolers and big kids. There's a pond with fishing piers too.
Natomas's big park, with a lake, a baseball-themed spray park and a playground that's shaded all the way over.
At the Old Sacramento end of downtown, a few minutes' walk from the Railroad Museum, with a rooftop pool and skyline views.
Right across from the Capitol and its lawns, with a saltwater pool and cabanas. Handy for a downtown weekend on foot.
Sacramento's big old park, with duck ponds, a rock garden, an adventure playground and a wading pool in summer. The zoo, Fairytale Town and Funderland are all on its edges.
A British pub in Old Sacramento for fish and chips a short walk from the Railroad Museum, with a kids' menu that includes a single banger and mash.
A burger place on R Street with its own beer for you and plain burgers, grilled cheese and hot dogs on the kids' menu.
A full-service Hilton in Point West, walking distance to Cal Expo for the State Fair. Better for school-age kids than babies.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
A tree-shaded garden patio, a globe-trotting menu and much-loved French toast, with coloring sheets and kids' sections for brunch and dinner.
A Natomas neighborhood park with a little duck-and-frog spray pad that's just right for toddlers, and ranch-themed playgrounds under big shade covers.
A big art museum that actually plans for kids: Tot Land downstairs is for play, books and making things, and there are loaner strollers at the door.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
An East Sac neighborhood café with wood-fired pizza, burgers and house desserts, casual enough for kids and good enough for you.
Park with a play structure and swings.
A 1920s market building turned hotel a couple of blocks from the Capitol. The pool is the reward at the end of a long museum day.
A 1925 building turned boutique hotel a few blocks from the Capitol, and it says outright that kids are welcome (cribs and connecting rooms on request). No pool, so it's a better fit for a baby or toddler than a kid who wants to swim.
East Sacramento's favorite park (everyone just says McKinley), with an adventure playground, a separate tot lot and a rose garden next door. Summer brings a wading pool.
A Tahoe Park brunch spot known for French toast and donuts, with a patio. Mornings only, and it's worth the wait.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
Square-slice pizza with a T. rex mascot, which is all a dinosaur kid needs to hear. Lots of vegan options too.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
A free adventure playground run by Fairytale Town for school-age kids who like to get messy, with an after-school program and a monthly Community Day open to all.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Pizza and ice cream under one roof, which is basically a kid's dream restaurant. Breakfast pizza in the mornings and vegan options for both.
Free tours of the Capitol itself, with lawns outside for the kids to run on.
The space-themed Enchanted, with rocket ships to climb and room for kids up to eight. Story time and toddler art come with entry, like the others.
A Midtown taproom with Neapolitan and Detroit-style pizza and a real kids' menu.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Children's park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Community center park with a wading pool.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure, swings, picnic tables and a pond.
Park with a play structure and swings.
A small, walkable zoo tucked into Land Park, with giraffes you can feed from a raised deck and a carousel. Fairytale Town and Funderland are right across the street.
Park with a play structure and swings.
A hands-on science museum in an old riverside power plant, with a Toddler Zone for under-fives and a planetarium upstairs for kids four and up.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
Huge restored locomotives to walk right into, a sleeping car that rocks like it is moving, and a big Thomas train table for the smallest fans.
Forty acres of lawn and huge old trees around the Capitol, with a rose garden and plenty of squirrels to chase.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
Downtown's main library, with the Kid's Place downstairs and maker spaces with 3D printers for older kids. A good cool-off stop between downtown sights.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
Sleep on a 1927 paddlewheel riverboat in Old Sacramento, a short walk from the Railroad Museum. Staterooms are small and most sleep two.
A storybook play park where the nursery rhymes are things to climb on, with farm animals and kids' theater in between. Grown-ups only get in with a kid.
A tiny old-school amusement park in Land Park, sized for little kids: a two-year-old can ride most of it, from the teacups to the train.
Park with a wading pool, a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure.
A sit-down ice cream parlor where the kids' meal ends in a clown sundae, and a birthday party here is a local rite of passage.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure.
A Land Park pizzeria for an early dinner with the kids, with a kid's pasta and an ice cream sandwich made with Gunther's vanilla for dessert.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure.
Park with a play structure.
A big indoor trampoline park with a ninja course and climbing walls, plus a separate indoor playground for kids seven and under that you can go into with them.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Gold Rush Sacramento in Old Sacramento, and the people who run the Underground Tours of the buried streets below it. The tour is the part school-age kids remember.
Old-school mini golf, go-karts, bumper boats and batting cages, with junior rides for little kids. Height rules vary ride by ride.
Park with a play structure and swings.
A small state museum about California Indian life, with hands-on things for kids, on the same block as Sutter's Fort. Do both in one morning.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
More than a hundred cars from the very first ones to now, and on some days you can go for a ride in one.
Gold Rush streets on the river with wooden boardwalks and old-fashioned candy shops, a block from the railroad and history museums. Start at the visitor center on 2nd Street and just wander.
Park with a play structure.
The bigger of the local Sky Zones, with a foam pit, a ninja course, a trapeze and a toddler zone.
A rebuilt 1840s adobe fort in Midtown where kids can poke through the old rooms at their own pace, a quick visit that suits school-age kids.
Trampolines, a ropes course, an indoor zip line and climbing walls across from Arden Fair, with a separate area for kids seven and under. Grip socks required.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Brewery restaurant with a roomy back patio and flights of soft-serve ice cream, and staff who hand kids Wikki Stix to play with.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure.
Youth sports complex with a play structure.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
The Land Park bakery a lot of Sacramento kids get their birthday cakes from, with cookies and pastries in the case for a regular Tuesday. Cards only, no cash.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Sacramento's oldest ice cream parlor, making its own from a 1940s recipe, with kiddie cones and clown cones. If Jugglin' Joe on the roof sign drops the scoop, it's free.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Neighborhood park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure.
Bright, airy community cafe with a relaxed feel and a kids' menu, where kids settle in easily.
Community center park with a play structure and swings.
An East Sac breakfast house open every day of the year, with house salsa instead of ketchup.
A Midtown Italian and pizza place that local guides keep naming, with plenty of pizza and pasta a kid will actually eat.
A gluten-free, dairy-free bakery, so the kid with the allergy gets to pick anything in the case for once. Cupcakes, cookies and sandwiches.
A 1950s-style Midtown diner with glass cases full of cakes and pies made from scratch. Letting a kid pick one slice from that case is harder than it sounds.
Casual taproom with wood-fired pizzas and a big outdoor patio with plenty of seating and misters to cool off.
Park with a play structure.
A Land Park soda fountain from 1947, reopened in 2026 by new local owners with the old recipes. There are sandwiches and soup too.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Park with a play structure and swings.
Mexican restaurant with a kids' plate of quesadilla, burrito, tacos or enchilada that ends with a churro and ice cream.
