Things to Do in Valley of Fire State Park with Kids

Our family spent our spring break road tripping around Las Vegas and Death Valley enjoying family-friendly hikes, incredible scenic drives, and views we can’t get at home in the Midwest.

When we told people we were flying to Las Vegas for spring break with 4 kids, everyone looked at us like we were crazy, and plenty of people told me that Vegas isn’t for kids.

While I disagree, because there are plenty of things you can do in Vegas with kids, I also didn’t really care that people said that, because the truth is that we didn’t really stick around the city very much. We spent most of our time exploring day trips from Las Vegas.

One of our favorite day trips from Vegas was Valley of Fire State Park. The red rock formations, slot canyons, and wildlife sightings absolutely blew me away, and there were plenty of kid-friendly things to do in the park, even if you don’t want to hike at all!

Here are my top things to do with kids in Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

P.S. Check out my Spring Break Destinations for Families in the United States for more ideas!

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woman overlooking White Domes Road in Valley of Fire state park

What to Know Before You Visit Valley of Fire State Park

The park is open from sunrise to sunset.
The entrance fee is $15/vehicle (but $10/vehicle if you’re from Nevada).
Valley of Fire State Park is located 50 miles from Las Vegas, which takes about an hour to drive, making it the perfect day trip if you’re visiting Las Vegas with kids!
You’ll need a vehicle to visit the park.
The Visitor Center is located where Valley of Fire Highway meets White Domes Road, and is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
You’ll receive a map of the park upon entrance, which you will need because reception is spotty throughout the park. It shows most of the points of interest on the map.
Valley of Fire State Park can get HOT, so try to plan your hikes for early in the morning or later in the evening. Avoid the hottest part of the day.
Bring hats, sunscreen, and LOTS of water. If you can, keep a cooler in your vehicle for water, sandwiches, fruit, etc, and bring snacks that won’t melt in the heat.

1-day Valley of Fire State Park Itinerary with Kids

Since this is a day trip from Las Vegas, you’ll likely want to cover as much ground as possible in one day so you can return to your hotel or airbnb. If you’re camping or staying in an RV, you can take as much time as you want to explore the park, taking advantage early morning sunset hikes or late evening sunset views.

But most of us want to get in and out in a day, hitting the highlights.

If you have kids with you, especially young children, you know it’s a combination of keeping things moving and letting kids explore at their own pace.

The park is fairly small, unlike Death Valley National Park, so you’re able to get from one thing to the next fairly quickly.

Here is the itinerary we followed with 4 kids in tow, along with some of our favorite hikes in Valley of Fire State Park that are kid-friendly.

Park Entrance

We left our Las Vegas airbnb as early as possible (getting out the door with 4 kids is always a process), and arrived at Valley of Fire shortly after 9. From highway 15, we drove through the West Entrance onto Valley of Fire Highway.

Beehives

Very shortly after entering the park, there was a small pull-off parking lot with signage for the Beehives. The Valley of Fire Beehives are domed sandstone rock formations that resemble giant beehives.

You don’t have to hike at all to get to the rock formations! You can easily see and access them from the parking lot, so unload the kids from the car, grab your camera, and go play!

You can pose inside the beehives, climb the rocks, and take in the views of the park. The scenery is already incredible at this point, and you’ve just barely entered the park!

This is a perfect stop for families with young children and toddlers who want to walk on their own. You only need a few minutes at this stop, but it’s well worth it!

kid overlooking the view at Valley of Fire State Park

Visitor Center

We continued down Valley of Fire Highway and stopped at a few pull-offs, but didn’t find anything worthwhile (except for this adorable bighorn sheep grazing on the side of the road! We had to pull over and grab a quick photo of that):

Anyway, we decided to head to the Visitor Center to use the restroom and see if there was a Junior Ranger Program or workbook.

There were a lot of cool exhibits to see and read at the Visitor Center that helped us understand the history of the park, but unfortunately the day we visited they were all out of Junior Ranger booklets.

Thankfully, the ranger was so nice, and gave the kids a small souvenir necklace instead.

Balancing Rock

Don’t leave the Visitor Center just yet! One of the coolest rock formations in the park called Balancing Rock is a .1 mile walk from the Visitor Center. You an literally see if from the parking lot.

Walk over the gravel and dirt pathway to see the rock up close. Our kids were amazed by how the rocks seemed to be balancing right on top of one another without falling.

This is a great photo opportunity, and we also loved stopping here because our 2-year-old always wanted to be walking and not in the baby carrier, and she could easily do this path, as it was mostly flat and very short.

White Domes Road

Next you’re going to leave the Visitor Center and turn right onto White Domes Road. You may also see this called Mouse’s Tank Road.

This is one of the most scenic drives I’ve ever been on, and each time we came around a curve I would gasp out loud. The kids kept asking what I was gasping about and I would just laugh and tell them to look out the window. They were impressed but not quite THAT impressed.

There are actually quite a few amazing hikes along this road, but I’m only going to share the ones we did, since I’m not sure how kid-friendly the other hikes are.

Just know that there are also TONS of pull-offs on the drive where you can pull your vehicle over and get out to take picture, do a little exploring, or scramble up some rocks for a better view.

There is one particularly Instagram-famous view of White Domes Road, but you’ll catch that on your way back to Valley of Fire Highway. I’ll share the exact location a little later in the article.

Fire Wave Trail

Fire Wave is one of the most unique and epic spots in Valley of Fire. This hike is a 1.5-mile out and back hike. It’s mostly an easy trail that all of our kids could do, though we did keep our 2-year-old in the carrier for sanity purposes.

We parked in parking lot P3 across the street from the trailhead. It’s a pretty big parking lot, but it does fill up quickly.

The first part of the hike starts high up with epic views of the valley below in the shade of a giant rock formation. You slowly descend to the sandstone Fire Wave part of the hike. You’ll eventually start walking on the sandstone and red and white striations will appear beneath your feet.

The trail becomes very wide so you can really spread out and explore the different areas of the fire wave.

Be aware that there is no shade, especially on the last part of the hike, so wear hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen, and bring some water with you.

If you’re moving quickly this hike will take about 45 minutes, but we took our time and enjoyed the views, so it definitely took us over an hour.

This is well worth it to do with kids, and I would highly recommend giving it a try!

White Domes Trail

The White Domes Trail is a 1.1 mile loop trail at the very end of White Domes Road. We found the trail to be fairly easy with the exception of the steep descent at the beginning of the hike. You’ll start by walking on loose sand before reaching the natural stone steps that descend into the canyon below.

The steps could get quite slippery, so we made sure to keep our footing on the sandy parts of the steps for some traction. There were even some areas that required us to use our hands for better balance.

Now is a good time to tell you that we didn’t end up taking our youngest 2 on the hike. My husband took our oldest at first, and I stayed in the car with the 3 younger kids. We ate lunch, they watched movies, and colored.

child walking through slot canyon at valley of fire state park

They ended up loving the trail so much that they encouraged me to try it, and our 6-year-old asked to join, too.

I think our 4-year-old could have easily done the trail, too, but it would have been significantly more difficult, though not impossible, to navigate the first part with a toddler in the baby carrier.

Anyway, once you reach the bottom of the steps, you’ll eventually walk past an old movie set from the 1966 movie The Professionals. We didn’t spend much time here as I had never heard of the movie, and there wasn’t much to see besides an old stone wall.

Keep walking and you’ll reach a slot canyon. It’s not especially long, but the walls had an almost pink-ish cast to them, and the kids absolutely loved walking through it.

child taking in the colorful rocks at valley of fire state park

woman under a natural bridge on white domes trail in valley of fire

The rest of the hike slowly ascends back up to the parking lot, but everywhere you look are colorful rocks in pastel pinks, yellows, oranges, and reds. With every bend in the trail the views got more and more spectacular. I couldn’t get enough, but each time I tried to take a picture or video it didn’t do justice to the vista before me.

I would highly recommend trying this hike with kids, especially slightly older ones. It was one of my favorite memories from our trip, and I definitely wouldn’t mind doing this hike again. It was absolutely spectacular.

White Domes Road Viewpoint

This isn’t an official spot in the park, but if you’ve researched Valley of Fire State Park on Instagram, I guarantee you’ve seen a photo of this spot. It’s just an epic view of the red rocks rising above the road and the mountains looming in the background.

You’ll get to this spot as you’re driving back from White Domes Trail toward Valley of Fire Highway.

Drive past the Rainbow Vista trailhead and parking lot, and the road will start to curve to the right and go downhill. When the road begins to straighten out, look for a gravel pullout on the right side of the road. Climb to the top of the rock (it’s not that tall - takes like 20 seconds) and you’ll see that famous view of White Domes Road.

We did not take our kids up on the rock with us. They were fine chilling in the car with their tablets while we quickly snapped a few photos.

Elephant Rock

Our last stop before leaving the park was Elephant Rock. This is another rock formation that’s not too far from the parking lot, and our youngest two were starting to have meltdowns, so my husband and I took turns taking the older 2 kids to see the rock. (The younger 2 could have easily walked there.)

Walking out to Elephant Rock and back to the parking lot probably took about 10 minutes total. It’s pretty cool, but wasn’t necessarily our favorite stop of the day.

The parking lot for Elephant Rock is located RIGHT next to the East Entrance to the park, so if you’re approaching from the East this would be your first stop.