Our Favorite Family-Friendly Cities in the US

If you follow our family travel blog, you’ll know that we love outdoor adventures with our kids. But that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy visiting cities too. In fact, we have visited many amazing family-friendly cities in the US.

As you’ll see from our list of US cities to visit with kids, these destinations offer walkable neighborhoods, great parks and museums, simple food options, and many kid-friendly attractions. And yes, we always find some way to enjoy some nature as well.

This list of family-friendly places in the US isn’t researched or AI-generated, they are all places we visited with our kids (from babies to preteens), with the exact kinds of activities and pace that worked for our family. We hope it will provide some inspiration for your own family travels in the US.

Our Top 10 Favourite Family-Friendly US Cities

1. New York City, New York

Although we traveled to NYC with our 9-month baby, families with kids of all ages will love a family trip to the Big Apple! From world-class museums, Central Park, New York Yankees games, boat tours to the Statue of Liberty, the list of family-friendly things to do in New York City is endless.

The sheer size and fast pace of NYC can be a little overwhelming for some kids, so be sure to plan some quieter moments on your trip. Central Park is surprisingly good for this – it’s often easy to find a quiet, green space to have a little picnic lunch and reset.

2. Savannah, Georgia

We visited Savannah with kids on a family road trip along the southern east coast of the USA. It’s hard not to instantly fall in love with Savannah. We loved exploring this immensely charming city on foot – the stately town squares on Bull Street, the famous Spanish-moss oak trees at the Wormsloe Historic Site, the riverfront walkway, city parks, splash parks, state parks and more!

3. Palm Springs, California

Palm Springs is instantly relaxing for families: with ample sun, pools, and palm trees. We used the city as a base for easy desert outings, including one of our favourite short adventures, the Wilderness Loop found inside the amazing Living Desert Zoo.

If your family craves some adventure, Palm Springs is home to one of the most fun family hikes in the United States. The Ladder Canyon trail leads you deep into the belly of a slot canyon, using ladders to climb deeper and deeper. Our kids loved it!

4. San Diego, California

San Diego is one of the most well-rounded family-friendly cities in the US. With plenty of sunshine, beaches, parks and so many kid-friendly stops that you’ll have trouble choosing.

We spent a week with our young kids in San Diego and built our itinerary around all the kid-friendly activities. During our family vacation to San Diego, we visited the world-famous San Diego Zoo, along with the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Balancing out our family trip, we spent time on the beach, at an aquarium, and enjoying some beautiful ocean-front family friendly hiking trails.

5. Orlando, Florida

We visited Orlando with our kids when our daughter was going through a huge Disney princess phase. We kept Orlando magical by planning one big princess moment per day, with early starts, and early nights. Our daughter’s highlights were a pre-booked Cinderella’s Royal Table meal plus princess encounters like Enchanted Tales with Belle and castle-front shows/parade time.

6. Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston was another highlight of our southern east coast USA family road trip. We loved our two day stay in Charleston with kids – it’s such a beautiful city and the food is incredible!

During our fun family visit to Charleston, we visited the world-famous Magnolia Plantation and wandered its lush gardens. We also enjoyed the highly interactive Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry, the aquarium, wandering it’s colorful streets and finished up with a kayaking tour where we saw dolphins!

7. Wilmington, North Carolina

We knew absolutely nothing about Wilmington before our family visit. It was simply a place to break up the drive between Charleston and Shenandoah National Park, where we began our family road trip through the Appalachian Mountains.

Wilmington was a huge surprise for us – we loved it! Did you know that Venus flytraps are native to the area around Wilmington? What kid doesn’t love Venus flytraps?!?

In addition to geeking out over Venus flytraps, we also enjoyed an eco-tour to Masonboro Island along with a fun afternoon on the beach at Fort Fisher Recreation Area. The beaches here are so nice, it earned Wilmington a spot on our list of the best family-friendly beach destinations in the world.

8. Los Angeles, California

LA can feel sprawling until you break it into bite-size days. With only three days, we chose to focus primarily on the kid-friendly attractions – theme parks and beaches!

The highlights of our trip were visits to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour and Universal Studios, where we enjoyed the new Super Nintendo World. Celine and the kids enjoyed a family day on the beach while I snuck off to see a Los Angles Rams game.

9. Las Vegas, Nevada

We have mixed emotions about visiting Las Vegas with kids. On one hand, there are some truly incredible things to do in Las Vegas with kids, including the brand new Sphere attraction. But, we also found there was little to do in the daytime, and the overall atmosphere was a little seedier than we would have liked for our kids.

During our family trip to Vegas, we enjoyed seeing shows at the Sphere, family-friendly magic and illusion shows, exploring the kid-friendly attractions at the casinos and even sneaking in a Las Vegas Raiders game.

10. Nashville, Tennessee

I’m sure Nashville would place much higher on our list of family-friendly cities in the US, but we only had 1 day there, and Taylor Swift was playing Nissan Stadium that night, so it was very, very busy.

But we managed to squeak in some pretty fun stuff during our visit to Nashville with kids. The winner was the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was a ton of fun for the kids. Afterwards, I loved the BBQ restaurant recommended to us by the Country Music Hall of Fame staff. Plus, did you know that Nashville has a life-sized replica of the Parthenon (from Athens)?!?