Top Outdoor Activities for Families to Enjoy in Moab

We spent a week in Moab last summer, and it was the best part of our 2.5-week road trip! This desert city is an adventurer’s mecca. There are endless outdoor activities for families and kids, from calm to crazy. These can be experienced on free BLM land, as part of more extensive and/or expensive paid guided services, or anywhere in between.

We split our time between cheap and budget-friendly experiences and higher-end guided tours. This included mountain biking, hiking, swimming, white water rafting, rappelling into slot canyons, rock climbing, playgrounds, and biking around downtown. For more information on our full 2.5-week road trip across America, including budgeting information, here are the details.

I am an Amazon affiliate, and using my links supports this page at no cost to you. All opinions are my own. Read on for tons of recommendations for great activities for kids and families in Moab. I have the specific tours we splurged on, along with low-cost activities to balance them out.

Hikes-The Options are Endless

There are so many options here. We like shorter hikes of less than 3 miles that are “exciting”. Trails that are steep and curvy, lead to waterfalls, have rock scrambling, or have especially fantastic views draw us in. Here is the list of the hikes to consider; it is not exhaustive by any means.

• Double Arches in Arches National Park (0.6 miles out and back with AMAZING arches).
• Mill Creek Trail on BLM land in Moab. (1.6 miles out and back that follows a creek and ends in a swimming hole/waterfall. Your shoes WILL get wet)
• Grandstaff Trail on BLM land in Moab (4.4-mile out-and-back trail that is somewhat in the shade and leads to a great arch)
• Mesa Arch Trail in Canyonlands, Island in the Sky (0.6-mile loop, beautiful arch, most famous for sunrise).
• Upheaval Dome via Crater View Trail in Canyonlands (1.3-mile out and back. Views of a crater likely made from a meteor, steep rocky scrambles, and great views).

There are so many options. I recommend going to the Moab Information Center downtown once you arrive in Moab. The staff here has extensive knowledge and can provide you with customized advice for your specific needs. There is also a short movie that discusses the biological living soil crust, so you and the kids can learn about special precautions to care for this beautiful desert.

Practical Considerations

The time of year may affect activities. It is the desert, and it gets super hot, especially in the summer afternoons. We were here in early June and found it best to get up and moving quickly. Then we would return to our camper for the mid-afternoon heat.

I highly recommend cooling rags; these really helped keep us cool on hot, dry days. Tie it around your head or drape it around your neck. Consider backpacks with bladders for easy hydration. We are a big thrifting family and usually find things second-hand, but if you are in the market for a kids’ hiking pack with a hydration system, I would consider Camelbak’s Mini M.U.L.E.

Sunscreen and sunglasses are also a must. We also brought kids’ binoculars as an easy motivator to keep them hiking. I always recommend bringing lots of snacks when hiking with kids! Livesavers are a favorite candy that takes time to eat, but they aren’t a choking hazard.

Bring LOTS of water, more than you think you will need, so you have extra to keep your cooling rags wet and some to dump over your head when you get really hot.

National Parks near Moab

Arches National Park is right in Moab. The entrance is literally minutes from town, which makes it easy to go back if you want. We love National Parks and are on a quest to visit all of them, so of course, we were going to visit one when we were in Moab. That said, there are many arches on BLM land that are free and way less crowded. As noted above, we did the Double Arches Hike and a few other viewpoints along the road. I foolishly went in the afternoon, and the kids got too hot, so we didn’t last too long.

Canyonlands National Park is naturally split into three sections by the convergence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. Each one has a separate entrance and doesn’t connect to the others by road. We went to the Island in the Sky section because it is the closest to Moab. The hikes were interesting and fun, and the canyon looks a bit like a miniature Grand Canyon. We did Mesa Arch and Upheaval Dome hikes as described above.

Capital Reef National Park is just under 2.5 hours away from Moab. I wanted to go, but there were just too many things to do in Moab to make the long drive worthwhile. Hopefully next time! In case you are wondering, Zion National Park is 4 hours from Moab, Bryce Canyon National Park is just over 4 hours, and the Grand Canyon is just over 5 hours.

Swimming-Time to Cool Off!

If you go in the summer, be sure to get lodging with a pool! It is so wonderful to take a dip to cool off. If you are looking for more, check out the Moab Community Pool. It is right downtown. At $36 for a family of four, I wouldn’t say it was especially cheap, but it was worth it. It is a large pool with a regular and high dive, a slide, a kiddie area with smaller slides, a mini lazy river (no tubes), and several large pools. There are nice showers as well. They offer week-long passes if that fits your needs.

Rock Climbing and Canyoneering

Moab and the surrounding area offer countless places to climb or rappel. We like to climb but do not have the knowledge or gear to do so independently, so we opted for a day tour. Trips are pricey, but this was one of the absolute highlights for me. Moab Cliffs and Canyons were so inclusive of kids and families. They allowed us to bring our 5-year-old, though the website says 6 and up. We did a “rockaneering” trip that combined a bit of everything. This was PERFECT! Our day trip included rock climbing, rappelling off an arch, hiking, and rappelling into a slot canyon. This is a private trip, which meant the guide tailored it to our family’s level and abilities. I can’t recommend this trip highly enough. In 2026, the price was $130-$180 per person, depending on your group’s size.

Whitewater Rafting the Colorado River

We did a full-day tour with World Wide River Expeditions. We had a wonderful experience on the Fisher Towers tour. This was a family-friendly class I/II trip with a minimum age of only 4 years. The information from the emails prior to the trip seemed a bit contradictory, but once we arrived, everything flowed smoothly. The guides were fantastic, and the river was exciting enough to keep the kids interested but calm enough for them to jump out and swim at times during the trip. There are many other options for older kids/families, including multi-day trips. Grab a water gun from base camp before you leave for extra fun. In 2026, this trip costs $97 per person and includes lunch. Don’t forget to bring sunglasses, a sunglasses leash, sunscreen, a water bottle, and a way to keep your phone secure.

There are other guide companies. We chose this one for its family-friendly advertising, and we would go with them again.

Mountain Biking

This is a mecca for mountain biking. We love to mountain bike at home in Wisconsin and had a blast trying out the trails in Moab. I would not recommend Moab be the first place you mountain bike, though. Cactuses are not much fun to land on. If you have a little experience, there are lots of options.

For the kids, ages 5 and 7, we took them to Deadhorse State Park. This was described as a very beginner-friendly trail, mostly because of the minimal elevation gain. That said, the blue trail was very challenging for them! There were a couple of rocks that could not be rolled, even with a full-sized bike, much less a kids’ one.

My husband attempted a few miles of the famous SlickRock Trail, which was fun and very challenging. Be sure your cardio is prepared!

For general riding, my husband and I’s favorite was Raptor Route. We took the Hazard County Shuttle for $30 each, which was well worth it. Our 5 and 7-year-olds were not ready for this yet, but hopefully soon! The shuttle takes you up a bumpy dirt road, which takes about an hour, and then you get to ride from over 7,000 feet down to 4,000 feet and right back into town!

So Many Dinosaurs!

There is a strong dinosaur history in this whole area. My 5 and 7-year-olds were so excited about the idea of dinosaur prints and fossils, but less excited by the actual finds. We saw a really cool dinosaur footprint at a rock at Deadhorse State Horse right along the parking lot by the main visitor center. They thought it was cool but not interesting enough to dedicate whole hikes to find more; they preferred waterfall and arches hikes. If your kids are more interested, I recommend discussing it with the Moab Visitor Center to find the best place to go. There are some hikes where you can find hundreds of fossils!

We did go to Moab Giants, a paid open-air museum which includes replicas of the actual dinosaurs. My kids enjoyed it.

Lodging-Options for Any Taste

Like many tourist and adventure hubs, there are so many options here. This includes everything from luxurious hotels to rustic campsites. I ended up renting an Airstream camper at Sun Outdoors, and we loved it. It was large enough for 3 adults and 2 kids, had a small kitchen with a mid-size fridge, and a private bathroom. We also had access to the campground pool, playground, and comfort station(with more bathrooms and showers). The location was right in town, so we could bike into town for food or coffee. There was a discount for staying a full week. There are other options, including rustic cabins and RV sites.

Free Kids Activities close to Moab

There is a small bouldering play area at Lions Park on the North end of Moab. We biked here from our lodging, but there is also a parking area. A great free place to burn off some energy. There are biking/walking trails that start here, including one with a long pedestrian bridge that crosses the Colorado River.

Moab’s Sand Hill is a free hill to play on near the entrance to Arches. Don’t go in the heat of the day, or the sand will be too hot! Do you have what it takes to get to the top?

The Rotary Playground in Moab has a playground and a whimsical music station. A nice place to spend a little time exploring and relaxing.

Food in Moab for Kids

All the food we had in Moab was delicious, but also a bit pricey. We limited eating out to once a day or less. One popular stop we visited twice in one week was the Food Truck Park. There were at least 10 trucks, so there was an option for everyone!

Trailhead Public had pub food and free Wikkistix to entertain the kids while they waited. We had never seen these, and after getting these, we ended up buying more for the kids as travel toys.

One morning, we grabbed coffee and a treat to go from Sweet Cravings Bakery and Bistro. We found some delicious and authentic burritos at Giliberto’s.

UTV and Hummer Tours

We generally prefer silent sports, but if off-roading interests you, check out High Point Hummer and ATV tours. They allow passengers as young as 5 and have a variety of tours to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Concluding Thoughts-Moab with Kids

Moab was one of our favorite spots in America to travel with kids. This is by no means a comprehensive review, and we cannot wait to go back and find more gems! Moab offers so many different adventures, from free hiking to paid rappelling tours. There is something for any adventure lover.