Things To Do At Royal Gorge Bridge With Kids

Royal Gorge Bridge & Park is located in Cañon City, Colorado. We visited the area over a weekend in our trailer for an anniversary getaway while I was pregnant, but it’s the kind of place that now that we have kids would be equally fun as a family destination.

Visiting the Royal Gorge Bridge with kids offers way more than just a suspension bridge to walk across. Though that’s nothing to scoff at!

Start your day at the visitor center, ride the gondola across, and come back along the rim to finish by walking one of the world’s highest suspension bridges. It’s pretty impressive! In between, take a break at the kids playground and let them become junior rangers.

And if you’re debating whether to take the train ride down in the gorge, it’s not even a question. You should definitely do it! It’s the icing on the cake of a very cool day out with so much for parents and kids to enjoy.

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Check Out the Visitor Center

We started at the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park visitor center on the north rim. You’ll learn all the cool facts like the bridge being 956 above the Arkansas River, and spanning 1,260 feet across.

You can also check out the gift shop or café here or watch the zipliners coming in for a landing.

Before you move on, take a look at the unique water clock behind the visitor center. It’s a fun learning moment for kids to figure out how it works!

We were advised to first take the gondola across to the south side and walk back, rather than the other way around.

This was great advice as it’s downhill on the southside from the gondola to the bridge. However, it’s quite steep if you were to attempt it the other way around. Testing this out as a pregnant woman walking the route I can vouch that this is the way you want to go!

Ride the Gondola Across the Gorge

The gondola ride was great. Though it’s over pretty quick, the view is amazing and gives you a totally different perspective than any other vantage point in the park as you’re gliding parallel to the bridge and high above the gorge.

Our kids are always into gondola or cable car rides. Is that a universal kid thing?

The distance across is 2,300 feet and here you’re more than 1,200 feet above the river below. The extra nice thing is that the gondola ride is included in the price of admission to the park so don’t miss out!

Other ways to enjoy the height was a zipline across the gorge or the “Skycoaster” that swings you out over the edge. It was fascinating but certainly was off-limits due to my pregnancy!

Watch the Park Movie & Bird Show

We watched the park movie and checked out various pictures, articles, and artifacts inside the Plaza Theater building. It’s a good way to quickly and easily learn more about the history of the park.

You can also catch a bird of prey show here between Memorial and Labor Day every hour from 1 to 4pm. My kids absolutely love a good bird of prey show. We’ve seen them at castles in Germany and Disney World Animal Kingdom Feathered Friends in Flight show. The kids always come out raving about how cool the birds are and how close they were to us.

Walk the Rim and Bridge

We took in the view from various points along the rim while walking from the gondola back to the bridge itself on the south side.

From there, we finally walked the bridge itself. The view down into the gorge to the Arkansas River down below was dizzying. This was enhanced by the fact that the bridge does bounce slightly.

This is especially true when the park shuttle drives across so if it bothers you maybe find a place to stop and hold on when you see it coming!

Ride the Royal Gorge Route Railroad Train

After exploring the park, we went into town and boarded the Royal Gorge Route Railroad Train. We’d booked seats in the Vista Dome car. We thought the higher price for the dome car was worth it. This car has large windows that curve overhead for a good view.

We had lunch and went out into the open air cars to enjoy the view from a totally different perspective. It’s pretty interesting to see the gorge from both above and below in the same day. We thought it was worth doing to get the experience of both views.

Keep an eye out for white water rafters in the Arkansas River. We previously went whitewater rafting with AVA Rafting & Zipline near Idaho Springs on Clear Creek which was a ton of fun. Other outfitters operate here at the Royal Gorge but that would be another way to enjoy a fun day of adventure with great views!

Seeing how small the people on the bridge as well as the gondolas look from below was pretty striking!

Final verdict, the train ride is a must do!

Kid Centered Fun

Arguably it’s all fun for kids, but here are a couple extra things geared specifically toward kids.

If you need a break at any point or your kids need some unstructured play, check out the playland called Howard’s Hangout. Some things are seasonal and the splash pad isn’t open year-round (thankfully, or my kids would probably beg to get in even in December!).

The Junior Ranger program is a must do when visiting the Royal Gorge Bridge with kids. The program is like what you find at National Parks and some state parks. While you’re at the Visitor Center, you can pick up this booklet with activities for fun and learning that kids can do while exploring the park. Kids will earn a badge for completing the booklet.

I’ve found these booklets and the badges they earn are great for motivating kids to keep going during the day and excited to participate.

Extras for Families

There are some extra things you can add on and depending on the age of your kids you have several options.

For kids 10 years and older, your family can challenge yourselves on the Via Ferrata. This is a climbing route with iron rungs and cables that you clip into. Our experience doing a Via Ferrata in West Virginia is a memory I’ll never forget.

If you want a higher speed trip across the gorge, you can take the zipline! The zipline starts from the far side of the gorge and brings you back for a landing at the visitor center. I’ve been on ziplines before but I can only imagine how tiny and high up you would feel on this one – talk about exhilarating!

If the zipline isn’t exciting enough for you, you can try the skycoaster. It lifts you 100ft into the air and then drops you, letting you swing out over the gorge. I’ve been skydiving, but I think I’ll pass on this one! Maybe it’s right up your alley though!

What to See Next

If you’ve visiting the Royal Gorge, you’re a couple hours north of Great Sand Dunes National Park, which is always worth a visit.

Buena Vista is one of our favorite areas of the state, and is only about an hour to the west in the upper Arkansas River Valley.

And of course, there are always a ton of things to do in Colorado Springs!