Kid friendly getaway to Crescent City

Crescent City Kid Friendly Beaches

Any trip to the coast requires spending some time on the beaches. Crescent City has several kid friendly beaches to choose from. South Beach, Pebble Beach, Battery Point Beach, and Enderts Beach were all great beaches to visit with children although each beach had different adventures to offer. For an in depth look at what each beach has for kids, read our guide to the Best Beaches for kids in Crescent City, CA.

Crescent City Kid Friendly Tidepools

Tide pools are just so magical to me, as an adult, so I think viewing these as a child and learning about the ocean animals needs to be on every family’s must do list. If you’re new to tide pools, in a nutshell, tide pools are where pools of water with ocean life in them get trapped near the rocks when the tide goes out. For Crescent City, tide pool ocean life will typically include sea stars, anemones, and crabs. Crescent City has lots of areas to view tide pools. Pebble Beach, Garth Beach, Enderts Beach, Battery Point Beach, and Point St. George Beach were all great places for kids to explore tide pools. For an in depth look at what each tide pool area entails, read our guide to the Best Tide Pools for kids in Crescent City, CA.

Crescent City Scenic Overlooks

The Crescent City coastline is nothing short of stunning. If you’re hoping to find some places to snap a jaw dropping photo of the coast without having to hike or leave the parking lot, I've got a few options for you. In town, I’d suggest heading over to the Battery Point Lighthouse parking area. You can only access the lighthouse during low tide but you’ll be able to get some gorgeous shots from the parking lot or along Battery St. There are easy paths to the beach and picnic tables there if you need a lunch spot (and Beachfront playground is nearby). Pebble Beach and South Beach are also gorgeous views right from their parking areas. If you’re driving south to visit Trees of Mystery there is a gorgeous overlook pull-off right before DeMartin Beach. My favorite scenic overlook by far is the Crescent City Overlook. Its a couple miles farther past South Beach, but if I could only find time for one place to stop and take the quintessential Crescent City coast photo, this would be it.

Photo: National Park Service

Crescent City Redwood Forest Trails for families

Taking our family to see the giant Redwood trees was another must do item on our list. If you’re coming down US199 from Oregon, you’ll drive right through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. You can see some enormous trees just from the car window as you drive, but there is way more to be seen. If you are pressed for time, you can pull off at a parking area and use their outhouse bathroom area and take a short walk to see some impressively large Redwoods. If you’re looking for more of an adventure, here are the Best Redwood Forest Trails to hike with kids.

Beachfront Park Playground

Traveling with kids somehow supercharges their energy levels while mega draining the parent’s energy amirite? Thankfully Crescent City has a large enclosed playground to help give us a fighting chance. The Beachfront Park playground has lots of play structures, swings, a toddler area, and even a few picnic tables. There is a also a big grassy area and disc golf course. Nearby you’ll find Battery Point Beach and Battery Point Lighthouse.

Ocean World

Ocean World is a popular attraction right in town. It is a small aquarium with a touch tank, sharks, rays, fish, sea lions and seals. They offer small guided tours and have a short segment at the end to learn more about sea lions and seals while demonstrating some of the animal’s skills. There are tons of photo ops throughout the place and their gift shop is enormous. Here’s a little more about what to expect with taking kids to Ocean World and how to score discounted tickets.

Trees of Mystery

Trees of Mystery is another great roadside attraction near Crescent City. It’s a bit farther of a drive south to the town of Klamath. I think it takes about 20-30 minutes depending on traffic. Trees of mystery has a ton of giant Redwoods, a trail of rope bridges suspended between trees, a gondola ride that takes you so far above the forest canopy you can view the ocean, and a ton of fun photo ops you can’t resist getting the kids to pose for. Read more about what to expect when Visiting Trees of Mystery with Kids.

Family Friendly restaurants in Crescent City

It’s always a challenge for us to find places to eat with kids on vacation. It can be tough with a long wait at popular restaurants. It can be tough to find kids menus. It can be tough to find places kids are welcome. And food budgets are always tough these days. If you’re looking for a grocery store to grab picnic supplies, there’s a few to choose from (Walmart, Safeway, etc). If you’re hoping for fast food they’ve got the staples (McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway etc.) Although I need to mention that a Happy Meal is now over $8!!

If you’re looking for a sit down restaurant, I’ve got you covered. SeaQuake Brewing might not immediately catch your attention as a family friendly restaurant, but it was so highly recommended we decided to try it out. When we arrived there was 30-45 minute wait, but we decided to stay. Another family arrived after us, and they were so smart to pre-order their young child’s food and let them snack while they waited. It arrived quickly after they ordered. We were seated in the amount of time quoted. They have kids menus (all the standard kid meal dishes chicken, pizza, macaroni etc and they offered salad, apple slices, and fries as sides). They kids menu is a coloring sheet and they give out crayons to keep them busy. I asked the waiter to bring out our kid’s food as soon as possible and it was on the table in ten minutes! Our appetizer of the fried cheese curds from Rumiano Cheese Co was delicious as well as our main entrees. We were too stuffed to try out their cookies but there’s always next trip. We also heard Hiouchi Cafe has incredible breakfast so its on our radar for a future visit.

Family Friendly places to stay in Crescent City

Crescent City has a lot of options for overnight stays. From living on the East coast so long, I’m accustomed to big name hotels and resorts right on the beach so it always feels a bit daunting trying to find somewhere that is a good fit for my family. We want somewhere safe, somewhere not too far away from the attractions, somewhere with activities and space, and somewhere that won’t break our budget. Since we wanted to stay for several nights we decided to see what Airbnb options were available. We found the perfect place to stay right in town just minutes away from everything on our list. I'd like to share a little about this house because if you want to book it too, the owner will give you $50 off per night just for telling them you read my blog!!

The Airbnb rental is called Spacious House in Crescent City. And it was! It has 3 bedrooms, and huge kitchen with an island, walk-in pantry, and bar seating. The master suite has a large jetted tub which was perfect for my aching muscles after chasing a kiddo through the redwoods. Each of the other bedrooms has 2 twin beds so the home will sleep six comfortably. The backyard is fenced- which is so wonderful with kids and pets. The rental is pet friendly too! We enjoyed making smores around the propane firepit every evening.

What really knocked this place out of the park was all the little extras that made it feel like home. For starters, you get a garage door opener to park in the garage!! Anyone wrangling kids into a car seat knows what an absolute perk this is. You also have a washer & dryer complete with detergent and dryer sheets. Again, anyone with small kids in a forest or on a beach knows what a luxury it is to be able to throw a load of laundry in. But honestly every room was this way. The kitchen counter was loaded with a bin of snacks and breakfast foods (chips, crackers, popcorn, cookies, oatmeal, pop tarts etc.) The fridge had bottled water. Popsicles were waiting on us in the freezer. Coffee pods were under the keurig. Drip coffee and creamer were in the cabinet. There were spices, pantry staples, and even foil and ziplock bags. The bathrooms were full of extra linens, tooth pastes, shampoo, etc. The living room was stocked with card and board games. They also had extra beach towels. Even the kids bathroom had a built in kid toilet seat and stool for littles to reach the sink. Plastic kids dishes were in the kitchen too. Every detail was thought of and well executed for families to focus on relaxing. The house is also right around the corner from Walmart so it was easy to just place our grocery order and pick it up once we arrived.

We were so lucky to find this place. It worked great for our family with a young kid and a doggie. We’d absolutely book it again. Just remember if you want to get The Southern Oregon Mom discount to receive $50 off per night on your stay, message the host on Airbnb and tell them you read about them on my page.