Stinson Beach Activities for Small Children

Stinson Beach Activities for Small Children

We just finished a weekend family getaway at Stinson Beach and it was surprisingly nice! Only 1 hr north of San Francisco, it’s a great way to escape the city and get some fresh air. Here is a sample itinerary and a list of nice-to-knows for my future self and any other young family venturing this direction.

At the time of writing this we have an almost 2.5 yr old and 5.5 yr old. My husband and I love the idea of taking vacations, until we remember we have kids and they will be with us. Did I just write that out loud? Kids are awesome but let’s be honest, they are an emotional roller coaster. And the more we as parents can do to minimize the roller part of the coaster, the better for everyone involved, right!? I’ll admit, we did no activity planning before hitting the road, which could have been suicide, but you see I lived to write about it… “You’re going to the beach! What more do you need?”, you say.  Well, yes, but until this trip, it seemed the adults were the only ones who loved the beach. The littles had generally winced (some would call it scream) at the water, spent a great deal of time eating sand, and would tire quickly. We need more than just beach.

Highlights: We all loved the soft-as-silk beach, the easy (shady) hike along Matt Davis Trail, the Village Green Park playground, lunch from The Siren Canteen, and Straus Creamery ice cream from Parkside.

Nice-to-knows

Grocery store. There is a legit grocery store in the middle of the ‘down town’ area. You could definitely do all food shopping here and not have to pre-pack a cooler of lunches or dinners if you don’t want to. They also have beer, wine, or liquor. (C’mon, those of you with kids – don’t pretend like you weren’t happy to read that…you know just as well as I do that sometimes a margarita is the only way to stay sane. Side note: grandma recently came to visit and jokingly (99% sure) called my husband and I lushes…I honestly started to question if she had really raised kids…)

No sidewalks. The main road (Shoreline Hwy 1) through town does not have a sidewalk nor lights, so if you are not staying down town, then just know this and plan for it. We had our beach wagon so it was easy to tote the littles on the main road to and from the beach cottage. It was less than a 10min walk from Calle Del Sierra.

Dogs. We brought our pup, so it was nice that some parts of the beach were dog-friendly (see in front of the Calle (Cll) streets – I realize that is like saying Street streets, but stay with me).  We learned that Stinson Beach proper is NOT dog-friendly, though we did see a dog on the beach and nobody complained or enforced the rule.

Downtown. As for the ‘down town’ area. Probably a 0.5 mi span of the main road with what looked like a few cute artisan stores. Admittedly, we did not explore them. Not a chance the kids would last more than 30 seconds inside.

Stinson Beach Itinerary Example

Ok, the details. We arrived Thursday at 4pm check-in and departed Sunday around noon.  We stayed at Rosalia’s, which was an excellent location for both dog-friendly beach access and proximity to downtown. Given our experience, here’s a suggested itinerary for a young family like us.

Thursday – check in at 4pm

• Settle into beach house
• Playground to get wiggles out (or do this prior to check-in if arrive early)
• Dinner at Parkside restaurant or hit up the grocery store across the street
• Watch the sunset

Friday

• Breakfast at beach house. Oh how I’d love to do Parkside Market for coffee and pastries, but the grimlins would need food before we’d make it there. That said, if one of you is an early riser, I suppose someone could be a runner to get it and bring it back 🙂
• Beach time. Head out with a loaded up beach wagon (these wheels make all the difference on sand!!!) with sand toys, snacks, and beach tent
• Lunch. Pre-pack it, get something to-go from Parkside or Siren Canteen, or head back to the beach house.
• Little more beach time.
• Shower / bath before afternoon naps.
• Playground or library. Certainly, you could go back to the beach, but I prefer one bath a day…
• Dinner out or in.
• Movie night! We read some warnings about the internet speed out here, but we didn’t have any issues given our requirements to stream kid-friendly movies after a long day outdoors. If you’re looking to play video games, however, I got nothin for ya.

Saturday

• Breakfast at beach house.
• Hike a few miles on Matt Davis Trail.  It is very well groomed and gradual incline up to wonderful views of the ocean.  While I was astonished how well the kiddos did on this trail, I wish we’d brought our Osprey backpack* for our 2.5yr old just to give her a little break at times. We saw a deer within the first few minutes. (*I know this is crazy expensive, but I am uber petite and my research found this to be best fit for my frame)
• Lunch at Table Rock lookout point.
• Nap time.
• Short beach time.
• Likely do dinner in because everyone will be pooped.
• Movie night! (I’d love to do a game night, but our kiddos are just too little right now)

Sunday – Check out at 10am

• Breakfast at beach house.
• Pack up.
• Coffee and playground to get wiggles out before car ride.

That does it – I hope this is helpful to someone else! Would love to hear of other examples of what others with a young brood have done to occupy time at Stinson!