Favorite East Bay Summer Spots

We love being outside so that includes venturing all over the San Francisco Bay Area and sometimes even further along with California coast (sometimes up North or sometimes way down South). Here are some of our favorites to do with the family in the Easy Bay during the summer.

Hiking

We always love a good hike and Coyote Hills Regional Park is one of our favorites. They have a visitor center and amazing views that even our littlest hiker can climb to see. They have some winding trails around the marshlands and cool rocks to climb along the way to the top of the first small hill. There is a fee to park, but if you don’t want to pay you can always park across the street and walk into the park. Many people do this, but it is a bit of a walk (maybe a mile which is hard for the little kids). Parking can also get full on weekends. So get there early or expect to park farther away. They are working on a larger parking lot, but it’s not open yet (targeted for spring 2024 and as of Summer it's still not open). They recently added a campground to the other side of Coyote Hills at the Dumbarton Quarry Campground. We like the play area (plus it’s new so right now everything is beautiful), but the campground itself is a little small and close to the freeway. Again there is a fee so it may not be the best park to head over to if you want to spend a few minutes to just run around, but if you are staying at the campground the play area is a great place to get out some energy. Also since it’s new there are not a lot of mature trees yet so it’s pretty sunny. In general, the spot is next to the San Francisco Bay so it is usually pretty moderate, but there are always some hot days. Nice spot for a quick layover if you are on a long road trip, but right now I wouldn’t stay there for an extended period of time.

We also like the Sabercat Creek Trail, but for this one we recommend a scooter or bike. The beginning of the trail has a nice, short paved path which is great for a scooter (there are some quick turns and it can get fast so be careful with little ones). For the older kids lots of fun going (fast!!) downhill. The remainder of the trail has some winding spots, is mostly gravel with some shaded and sunny spots throughout. There is a lot of plans for this area outlined in the link we posted which is exciting, but also going to bring a lot of construction to the area in the future. The end result will be an extension to the trail and even a proposed paleontological museum. We think that could be a really cool addition, but will also bring a lot more traffic and noise to the area - so we are a bit split and will see if this moves forward over the next few years.

Another great place to ride your bike or scooter is Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area. Again, there is a cost if you park in the regional recreation area parking area, but you can also walk/ride in from the surrounding area. There space is very large and great for exploring and finding wildlife. There are a lot of paved trails for easy riding with younger kids. Bring friends, lots of water (and food/snacks!!) and head out to have an adventure.

Skate Parks

There are two that we visit most often. One is in Newark, CA called Mel Nunes Sportsfield Park, Skate Park. It has both elevated and depressed skate features, seating and viewing areas. The littlest kids rock scooters while the older kids put on protective gear and go for the skateboards.

We also like the Fremont Skate Park for its proximity to a larger park. You can skate the park or the designated skate park area. It gets a little more crowded so being able to head out around the lake is a plus if you just wanna take I nice ride. Lots of times we have a combination of skateboards, bikes and scooters so this option is nice. 

In most instances everyone has been pretty chill with the kids on scooters, but we don’t bring the bikes into the skate park unless we are the only ones there.

Waterparks

We also wanted to mention the water park right next to the Fremont Skate Park called Aqua Adventure Waterpark. We basically live here during the summer. It is small and only open during the summer time, but for kids between 1 and 12 they have an absolute blast. The waterpark really is geared to younger kids with a lazy river, buckets bay, and small splash pad area. There are four water slides (two body slides and two tube slides), but you have to be at least 48" to ride the slides. They do have life jackets available, but we usually bring our own. We purchase season passes in January (yes - winter!!) for the following summer at a discounted price. Just a note that there are always camps here during the weekdays, but it has never been that crowded (we usually go on weekdays). They also offer a family Friday ticket a few times a month at a discounted price for the evening. Check out the calendar for dates.

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