Kids Stuff in Monterey, CA
Monterey, California is the perfect family vacation destination, offering kids of all ages a wide range of fun attractions and plenty of outdoor activities, from the Monterey Bay Aquarium to whale watching tours on the Monterey Bay. When you visit the Monterey area and stay at the Victorian Inn, you’ll enjoy great, family friendly accommodations and a wide range of exciting and interesting attractions just a few steps away from our historic hotel. Enjoy our spacious rooms and suites, deluxe hotel amenities, complimentary continental breakfast, and take advantage of the fun indoor and outdoor activities, top attractions, shopping, kid friendly beaches, and family style dining you’ll find right here in Monterey.
Monterey Bay Aquarium. Located on Monterey’s famous Cannery Row, the exciting Monterey Bay Aquarium offers exhibits of live animals and fish, including sharks, an impressive kelp forest, live otters, weird jellyfish, and children’s activities, and is dedicated to marine education, research and preservation. Open daily, except Dec. 25 from 10am-6pm.
Cannery Row IMAX Theatre. Located inside the former Edgewater Packing Facility, the Cannery Row IMAX Theatre offers an exciting, 3D movie experience in its modern, 290-seat theater. Enjoy the movie, deluxe concessions, an IMAX retail store, and a café serving traditional Italian gelato and other treats. Open daily.
Old Fisherman's Wharf. Enjoy a day of people watching, shopping, eat a bowl of award-winning clam chowder, search for colonies of sea lions and otters, hop a boat for a whale watching tour of the Monterey Bay, and stock up on souvenirs at this popular family friendly attraction.
Whale Watching. Enjoy a day of people watching, shopping, eat a bowl of award-winning clam chowder, search for colonies of sea lions and otters, hop a boat for a whale watching tour of the Monterey Bay, and stock up on souvenirs at this popular family friendly attraction.
Monterey Bay Coastal Recreational Trail. This beautifully maintained, 18-mile long waterfront recreation trail is a paved pathway that follows the coast and is perfect for a family fun day of bike riding, skating or walking along the coast. Several shops along the trail rent bicycles, 4-person surreys, in-line skates, and kayaks that will help you explore the Monterey area.
Adventures By the Sea. Offering daily rentals of bicycles, surreys, surfboards, and kayaks, Adventures by the Sea the place to go for outdoor fun on the Monterey Bay. [Top]
Dennis the Menace Playground. Created in 1956 by cartoonist Hank Ketcham, this Monterey favorite is well known for its unusual playground equipment, including an undulating rope bridge, a funky roller slide, and a zigzag climbing wall, plus a lake and picnic areas. Open daily from 10am - dusk.
El Estero Lake. Located near Dennis the Menace Playground, El Estero Lake offers an exciting skateboard park, paddle boats, a baseball park and group barbeque facilities. [Top]
Monterey Youth (MY) Museum. Located near Monterey’s famous Cannery Row, the Monterey County Youth Museum is a fun kids’ museum that offers a wide variety of exciting hands-on exhibits for kids of all ages, including creative arts and crafts areas, a dress-up area and theatre, magnet exploration exhibits, a construction zone, and a kids-sized, imaginary pizzeria.
Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary. For butterfly enthusiasts, Pacific Grove is the ideal destination to catch a glimpse of the beloved Monarch. The city is the winter home to thousands of Monarch butterflies that spend their winters in the area during their annual migration trip south from Canada. The butterflies fly over 2,000 miles south to spend the winter in California’s mild coastal temperatures, making their homes in the protected pines and eucalyptus trees of Pacific Grove’s Monarch Sanctuary and other coastal areas around the state of California.
Earthbound Farms. This organic farm offers a variety of organic produce and other products in grocery stores across the US, as well as at a local farm stand store located in the Carmel Valley. The farm stand offers a wide range of clean, organic produce, specialty groceries, fresh flowers, a certified organic kitchen, a self-serve herb garden, a labyrinth, and a hands-on kids' garden. On select Saturdays' take a 'bug walk' through this working organic farm, and learn about the use of beneficial insects while kids can release ladybugs into the fields to help to reduce unwanted insect populations.
[Top]
Vision Quest Ranch, Wild Animal Sanctuary. Vision Quest is a wildlife sanctuary that lets visitors see and touch live wild animals like elephants, tigers, bears, alligators, and birds and offers education, outreach and a home to rescued animals. Daily tours are offered at 1pm.
