What are your top Bay Area recommendations for families with kids in elementary school?
We are going on vacation to the bay area for a little over a week, and I’m looking for all the things to consider putting on our list. It could be restaurants or farmers markets or museums or amusement parks or parks or farms or hikes or really anything! What are your top recommendations?
3 answers
ritu2651
I heard about this Vincent family that’s supposed to be kinda fun to visit 😝😝😝😝
Besides that, here’s a small part of my list, in no particular order.
Ferry Building Farmer’s Market - This is my absolute favorite thing to do in SF. We try to go almost every Saturday morning. There’s so much great food. The produce is fantastic and the kids LOVE getting to sample what’s in season. Acme has amazing bread. Miette has the prettiest candy. Dandelion has fantastic chocolate. Batter has the best cookies. And our absolute favorite, the Roli Roti food truck has the best porchetta sandwiches outside of Italy (a bold statement, I know, but I stand by it!) https://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/farmers-market/
The Exploratorium - I love this museum. All about science and everything is super interactive and hands on. It’s very easy to spend a whole day there. https://www.exploratorium.edu/
Cal Academy of Sciences - lots of different science/animal exhibits, and it’s in Golden Gate Park so the surrounding area is also lovely. https://www.calacademy.org/
Monterey Bay Aquarium - a little bit of a drive from SF but this place is amazing and one of the best aquariums in the world. You could easily spend a whole weekend here. https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/
Glowfari at Oakland Zoo - After living in San Diego, Jon’s and my zoo bar is very high. Oakland Zoo isn’t anything particularly fancy during the day, but during the holidays, it gets pretty magical after dark. https://www.oaklandzoo.org/programs-and-events/glowfari
Muir Woods - redwoods, squirrels, wilderness. Also insanely packed parking. https://www.nps.gov/muwo/index.htm
Tilden Park Steam Train - cute steam train ride through the woods. https://www.visitberkeley.com/directory/tilden-park-steam-train/
All the usual SF things - cables cars, Ghirardelli square, Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz, etc.
- rachel—Of course you have an amazing answer! Monterey Bay Aquarium is definitely on the list. And Glowfari for sure. Do you think it’s realistic to do the exploratorium and the farmers market on the same day?
- ritu—oh totally, they’re right next to each other! one option is for us to do the market in the morning, swing by the exploratorium for a couple hours, and then come back to the east bay for dinner and glowfari in the evening - it will be a packed Saturday but very fun!
Fairyland! But the younger the kid is the more fun it is.
- rachel—Do you think my kids are too old at 8, or is it still realistic? We went when they were about 3 and it was magical.
Lake Chabot has beautiful hiking
the planetarium there is amazing.
Oakland Zoo is fun- rachel—Ooooo, lake chabot looks so pretty! Definitely adding that to our list. We are also hoping to go to Glowfari.