Family Things to Do in Colorado Springs: A Local’s Guide

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Updated August 2026

Short answer: the four family things to do in Colorado Springs that actually earn a full day are Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Garden of the Gods, the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, and Old Colorado City. All four are doable with strollers or tired teenagers, and two of them (Garden of the Gods and most of Old Colorado City) don’t cost a dime to just walk around. Below is the fuller list, the free stuff, the rainy-day backups, and a couple of honest notes on the two big out-of-town-family draws (Great Wolf Lodge and the North Pole amusement park) that I get asked about a lot but haven’t personally been to.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

I’ve been to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo many times and it’s still the one I’d send a visiting family to first. It sits on the foothills of Cheyenne Mountain, so it’s shaded and cooler than you’d expect on a hot day, and it’s built as a “walking zoo” rather than a sprawling one, meaning you can actually see everything in a morning without your legs giving out. There’s real elevation change though, so wear walking shoes; there’s a trolley if anyone needs a break. The giraffe herd is the signature move here, you can hand-feed them from an elevated platform, and my kids’ reaction to that giraffe tongue is a memory that sticks. I like the monkeys too. The Mountaineer Sky Ride is a good way to rest your feet while still covering ground, and the view of Colorado Springs from up there is worth the ride alone.

Tickets are not the flat rate they used to be. CMZoo now sells advance, timed tickets that run roughly $20 to $35 depending on the day and the time slot you book, with better prices earlier in the day and on non-peak days. Book ahead at cmzoo.org rather than assuming you can walk up. In October the zoo runs Boo at the Zoo, decorated for Halloween, and it’s genuinely fun, we’ve gone in the evening and walked the whole zoo lit up and dressed for the season. Good for families with kids of any age, and it doubles as your exercise for the day.

Garden of the Gods

Free, and the single best value in town for a family day. The Central Garden Trail is paved and stroller-friendly, about 1.5 miles round trip past the big red rock formations with Pikes Peak in the background. Older kids like scrambling toward the Siamese Twins formation, a natural rock window that frames the mountain. Go early on weekends, before 9 AM if you can, because the Juniper Way lot fills fast; the south lot off Gateway Road is a better bet later in the morning. Full details, parking maps, and trail difficulty in our Garden of the Gods guide.

Pikes Peak Cog Railway

I lived here 20 years before I finally rode this, when an out-of-town guest wanted to go, and my honest verdict: worth it. You catch it right out of Manitou Springs, it climbs a genuinely steep grade for about an hour to the 14,115-foot summit, and it’s an old historic train with real history behind it, not a theme-park ride. You get about an hour at the top to look around the new visitor center before it heads back down. Parking near the depot gets tight in summer, so plan to arrive with some buffer. It’s not “better” than driving up, just a different way to do it, and it runs year-round, even in winter with snow on the ground up top.

Old Colorado City

A few blocks of 19th-century storefronts on the west side, good for a couple of hours of walking, shops, and food. Parking is easy, usually right behind the shops on the street or in one of the pay lots. My go-to stop is La Baguette, a French bakery worth the visit on its own, and there’s a Greek spot nearby worth getting a gyro from. Thunder & Buttons II is a classic toy store if the kids want to spend their own money on something, and the Holly Berry House is worth a look if anyone in the family likes Christmas ornaments year-round. There’s also a bike shop that rents e-bikes if you want to extend the day, and Cerberus Brewing is right in the neighborhood if the adults want a beer while the kids finish ice cream. Full walkthrough in our Old Colorado City guide.

Manitou Springs: Penny Arcade and Cliff Dwellings

Ten minutes from Old Colorado City. The Penny Arcade is a genuine time machine, vintage pinball machines I played as a kid, still running, alongside Space Invaders, Asteroids, and a horse-racing game my wife likes where you roll a ball into scoring holes. It’s free to walk in and look around; games run a few cents to a few dollars in tokens. The Manitou Cliff Dwellings let kids climb ladders and walk through 800-year-old Ancestral Puebloan structures, not just look at them behind glass. The dwellings themselves were relocated here from southwest Colorado more than 100 years ago, and there are reconstructed tipis on site too. Current admission is $12.75 for ages 12+ and $8 for ages 4-11, kids under 3 free (verified at cliffdwellingsmuseum.com). Pair both with the free mineral spring tastings around town, eight public fountains, each one tastes different, and kids get a kick out of comparing them.

Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site

Right at the Garden of the Gods entrance. It’s a working historic farm, they’ve had a blacksmith going and a tepee set up, a real trip back to an earlier time in the Pikes Peak region. It’s an easy, low-key way to spend part of an afternoon with the family, walk the grounds, see the animals, there’s a small pond too. Check their schedule before you go; hours vary by season.

Free Parks and Open Space

These cost nothing and cover most ages:

Memorial Park — playgrounds, a splash pad open Memorial Day through Labor Day, ball fields, and paths along Monument Creek. Bring camp chairs; you’ll be there a while.
North Cheyenne Cañon Park — Helen Hunt Falls is an easy walk to a real waterfall inside city limits, less crowded than Garden of the Gods and just as pretty.
Red Rock Canyon Open Space — just south of Garden of the Gods with a fraction of the crowds; the Contemplative Trail loop is flat, easy, and about a mile, with small caves and rock scrambles kids treat like a playground. It also has a 17-acre off-leash dog area if the family dog is coming along, three-dog limit, voice control required, plus picnic spots in the Meadow area and along the creek.
Palmer Park — 730 acres on the east side with red rock formations and trails for every age; the Edna Mae Bennett Nature Trail is a gentle loop for little ones.
Ute Valley Park — a west-side neighborhood park that feels more remote than it is; the main loop is about 2.5 miles, good for ages 5 and up, and deer sightings are common.

Rainy-Day and Free Museums

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum — always free, downtown in the old county courthouse, hands-on history exhibits kids actually engage with. There's an exhibit on the city's 1871 founding, a dress-up area, and scavenger hunts for kids, plus Tesla and Helen Hunt Jackson displays if the adults want something too.
U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum — interactive and genuinely engaging, not a paid admission most families skip, but worth the ticket for older kids.
Space Foundation Discovery Center — space-themed with a Mars robotics lab, a good pick for kids into science.
Money Museum (American Numismatic Association) — small, quirky, always free, about an hour, gold bars and ancient coins.
Starsmore Visitor and Nature Center — free, at the mouth of North Cheyenne Cañon, with a climbing wall for kids and staff-led nature hikes in summer.

Two Popular Ones I Haven’t Personally Done

Two spots come up constantly when people ask about family activities here, and I want to be straight with you: I haven’t been to either myself.

Great Wolf Lodge (Briargate, north side) is a hotel-and-indoor-water-park combo. It’s mostly a draw for out-of-town families staying there, though some locals go for a weekend swim. By reputation it’s one of the better indoor water parks in the region, and there’s a cluster of shops nearby including Bass Pro Shops if you make a day of it.

North Pole – Santa’s Workshop is a small Christmas-themed amusement park at the base of Pikes Peak in Cascade, just outside town. It’s a longtime family draw with rides built for younger kids, named ones like the Candy Cane Coaster, the Peppermint Slide, Santa's Sleigh Carousel, and the Reindeer Express Train, with a 36-inch height minimum on most of them. The Candy Cane Theater runs magic shows throughout the day. It pairs naturally with a Pikes Peak or Manitou Springs day since it’s on the way. Check current-season hours before you drive out, it doesn’t run year-round.

A Sample 3-Day Plan

Day 1: Garden of the Gods in the morning, then Old Colorado City and Manitou’s Penny Arcade for lunch and a wander.

Day 2: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in the morning (book tickets ahead), Rock Ledge Ranch or North Cheyenne Cañon in the afternoon.

Day 3: Pikes Peak Cog Railway or the drive up, then Memorial Park’s playground and splash pad to burn off the last of the kids’ energy.

A Few Practical Notes

Sunscreen, even on cloudy days. At around 6,000 feet elevation you burn faster than you think.
Bring water everywhere. The altitude and dry air dehydrate kids quickly.
Layer up. Mornings in the 50s can turn into 85°F afternoons here.
Go early to the popular spots. Garden of the Gods and North Cheyenne Cañon fill their lots by mid-morning in summer.

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More guides: Free Things to Do in Colorado Springs | Best Hiking Trails | Manitou Springs Day Trip Guide | Garden of the Gods Guide