South Bay
Rancho San Antonio County Park/Open Space Preserve
Rancho San Antonio's Deer Hollow Farm is one of the bay area's most popular family destinations. Visit on a summer weekend and be prepared for the crowds. For a quieter experience, go between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The 10-acre working farm and educational center boasts an assortment of animals and an amazing garden. Programs for school groups and other organizations are available during the week. You must trek into the farm, a flat walk of about a mile from the Rancho San Antonio parking lot (groups can use a closer parking lot with prior permission). The park and open space preserve boast picnic grounds and restrooms.

Hidden Villa
A non-profit organization runs this organic farm and wilderness preserve. You'll find trails ranging from flat and easy to winding and tough, picnic tables, farm animals, a short nature path, and restrooms.

Coyote Point Museum and Recreation Area
Hiking is limited here by the small size of the recreation area and its proximity to urban sprawl. But Coyote Point makes a great day destination for families with young children. First visit the museum, where educational exhibits instruct on the bay area's environmental and nature issues. In the wildlife habitat area, you may see bobcat, grey fox, badger, and a host of birds. Afterwards, you can walk or drive to the recreation area's clusters of picnic tables, or sit on the beach and watch the windsurfers. Restrooms on site.

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
Easy beach access, picnic tables, restrooms, and extensive tidepools. A great educational destination.

Picchetti Ranch
Kids may enjoy catching a glimpse of the resident peacock. Restrooms on site. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, instead shorten the hike with an out-and-back trek on Zinfandel Trail. A few pear, plum, and walnut trees still bear fruit in an old orchard.

Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve
The preserve offers a nature center and easy hiking around Alpine Pond, where children can look for crayfish, ducks, dragonflies, and birds. The level 0.4 mile semi-loop hike takes place on an all-access trail, appropriate for strollers.

San Bruno Mountain State and County Park
A large picnic area, as well as restrooms and gentle trails, make San Bruno a fine family destination. Saddle Loop and Bog Loop, on the park's north side, are the best trail choices.

Portola Redwoods State Park
Very educational and engaging visitor center, restrooms, picnic areas, and first-rate camping. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids; instead shorten it to a jaunt on the Sequoia Nature Trail.

Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve
Redwood Trail, a 0.6 mile out-and-back all-access path, is lined with redwood, huckleberry, madrone, and tanoak. This is a good spot for nature study and plant identification, as there is virtually no poison oak. Picnic tables along the path make Redwood Trail a nice lunch stop.

San Pedro Valley Park
This Pacifica park has a nature center, picnic area, restrooms, and self-guided nature trail. Good choices are the Brooks Falls/Old Trout loop, and Valley View Loop.

Huddart County Park
The 0.75 mile all-access Chickadee Trail allows parents with children in strollers to hike through a magnificent display of bay area plants, including redwoods, chaparral, and oak. This trail is particularly enticing in late winter and early spring, when water gushes down a gorge visible from the trail.

Arastradero Preserve
Lovely gentle grassland climbs, but no real facilities. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike may be easy enough for older kids. Look for cottontail rabbits and quail on Corte Madera Trail and birds around Arastradero Lake.

Santa Teresa County Park
Picnic areas, restrooms, some trails with moderate elevation changes. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids; choose instead a loop on Mine and Hidden Springs Trail. Good wildflowers in the spring.

Calero County Park
Picnic area, some mostly level trails. The entire Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids; instead hike on Los Cerritos Trail until it turns away from the reservoir and begins to climb, then retrace your steps to the trailhead. Great wildflowers in the spring.

Edgewood Park and Preserve
Picnic area, restrooms. Moderate trails. Best suited for older kids. Small waterfalls in the winter on Sylvan Trail, great wildflowers in the springs. Watch for poison oak.

Junipero Serra County Park
Picnic area, restrooms, some playground equipment. Small park with "kid-sized" trails. Close to San Francisco, and so easy to get to from the city or upper peninsula, but Junipero Serra is also squeezed on all sides by residential neighborhoods and Highway 280. The Live Oak Nature Trail is worth a visit. Beware of poison oak; there's a lot throughout the park.

Burleigh Murray Ranch State Park
Picnic tables, level trail, but primitive facilities. Kids may enjoy the variety of plants (lots of berries), but watch out for stinging nettles and poison oak.

Los Alamitos Creek Trail
A flat paved out-and-back trail departs from Almaden Lake Park, where you can picnic and swim. A good summertime destination, complete with restrooms and drinking water.

Villa Montalvo County Park
Trails wander along creekbeds, a redwood canyon, and lead to a viewpoint with a sweeping view east. Watch out for poison oak along some trails.

North Bay
Mount Tamalpais/Sky Oaks Trailhead
This is one of the best family trailheads in the North Bay. Restrooms, picnic areas, and a selection of level, lakeside trails. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, instead try the loop around Lake Lagunitas. Lots of wildlife in the area; children may enjoy looking for animal prints on the trail.

Mount Tamalpais/Phoenix Lake
After a short climb, hike around Phoenix Lake. Picnic area near the parking lot. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids.

Mount Tamalpais/East Peak
Verna Dunshee Trail makes a flat 0.6 mile loop around East Peak and is paved. Easy parking and restrooms are a bonus.

Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve
This park may be too long of a drive for a family with small kids, but it offers level paths through redwood groves, picnic areas, and restrooms. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, instead stick to the paths through the redwood groves.

China Camp State Park
A few level and easy trails, restrooms, historical displays. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, but it can be cut short; from the junction with Shoreline and Miwok Trail, turn back and retrace your steps to the trailhead.

Olompali State Historic Park
Picnic tables, historical displays, some level trails. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, but it can be shortened to an out-and-back hike to Miwok Village.

Shiloh Ranch Regional Park
This small park boasts a picnic area, restrooms, and a few miles of trails. A good spot for a picnic and family hike, very close to Highway 101.

GGNRA/Muir Beach
Beach access, and level trail that leads through Green Gulch Farm. A great place to show kids how food is grown. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, but it can be shortened; take Green Gulch Trail to the edge of the farm section, then turn around and retrace your steps to the trailhead.

Point Reyes/Abbott's Lagoon
A mostly level trail leads to the beach. Restrooms on site.

Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds
Restrooms, picnic area, birdwatching, and flat trails along a marsh and past wildlife ponds.

Marin Headlands/Tennessee Valley
Beach access via a flat easy trail. Picnic tables. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, instead take an out-and-back hike to the ocean.

East Bay
Tilden Regional Park
The best park for young children in the bay area. Pony rides, steam trains, little farm, carousel, swimming beach are offered. Restrooms and picnic facilities available. Some easy short hiking trails surround the kid's area. The Bay Area Hiker featured hike will probably be too hard for kids, but visit EBRPD's website for more details about kid's activities at Tilden, and check their map for appropriate trails.

Joaquin Miller Park
This City of Oakland Park is easy to get to, and features lots of picnic areas, restrooms, and some flat trails. This is a good place to teach kids about trail etiquette, as there are usually lots of hikers, joggers, cyclists, and equestrians on the park's trails.

Miller/Knox
This small park features a paved path around a lagoon, plenty of parking, picnic areas, primitive restrooms, and easy stroller/wheelchair access. There are lots of ducks, geese, seagulls, and squirrels to watch, and pretty views of San Francisco Bay, Mount Tamalpais, San Francisco, and Angel Island.

Point Pinole Regional Shoreline
Picnic areas, children's play area, shuttle bus to fishing pier, restrooms, flat trails.

Point Isabel Regional Shoreline
Picnic tables, restrooms, flat paved trails, dogs permitted off leash.

Briones Regional Park (Bear Creek Trailhead)
Picnic facilities, restroom, some flat trails. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike might be too tough for young kids, but Old Briones Road is nearly flat, and makes a nice out-and-back hike.

Coyote Hills Regional Park
Nature center, some flat trails, historical displays, picnic areas. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, but check the map for easy, flat loop hikes through the marsh on Chochenyo, D.U.S.T., Muskrat, and Tuibin Trails.

Redwood Regional Park
Picnic areas, some flat trails. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, but check the map for easy, flat out-and-back hikes along Redwood Creek. In the winter, you may come across large groups of ladybugs on Stream Trail.

Del Valle Regional Park
Swimming beaches, picnic areas, some flat trails, visitor center. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids, but check the map for out-and-back hikes on easy, flat lakeside paths.

Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve
Mostly flat trails, restrooms, interpretive geologic exhibits, labyrinths.

Garin/Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Parks
Visitor center, restrooms, kite field, some flat trails, picnic areas. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike will probably be too tough for young kids,
Anthony Chabot Regional Park
Family camping, picnic areas, restrooms, several easy trails. Bay Area Hiker's featured hike (departing from the Bort Meadow/Grass Valley Trailhead) will probably be too tough for young kids, but you can shorten it to a loop combining Grass Valley Trail and Brandon Trail. Also, check the Chabot map for picnic areas and easy, flat trails around Lake Chabot.

Mount Diablo State Park
Although much of Mount Diablo State Park is rugged terrain, the gentle Mary Bowerman Interpretive Trail near the summit makes a fine family excursion. Visit the Summit Museum and Store, where you and your children can see nature exhibits and pick up a map to the intrepretive trail, then take an easy 0.7 mile loop stroll on the Mary Bowerman Interpretive Trail. Fantastic views, great education on geology and local plants. Be alert to poison oak, and steep dropoffs in places. Restrooms available at the Summitt Museum, and picnic facilities are scattered throughout the park.