Visiting New River Gorge National Park with Little Kids

New River Gorge National Park in southern West Virginia is the 63rd (and currently the newest) national park in the United States!

Located in the Appalachian Mountains and surrounding the New River, which despite its name is thought to be one of the oldest rivers in the United States, this park if full of opportunities for outdoor adventure.

Though New River Gorge is known for whitewater rafting, rock climbing, and arduous hikes, you can still find plenty to do with young children. We visited this national park with 4 young children ages 8, 6, 4, and 15 months, so it’s even doable with a toddler.

Here are my top tips for visiting New River Gorge National Park with kids!

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What to Know Before You Visit New River Gorge National Park

New River Gorge is FREE to visit! There is no entrance fee to the park.
How long does it take to see New River Gorge National Park? The park is 53 miles long so you might want to plan 2 or 3 days for exploring!
There are 4 Visitor Centers in New River Gorge NP:
- Canyon Rim: one of the primary visitor centers, open year round from 9-5. It’s right by the New River Gorge Bridge, one of the things you just have to see at the park. Located near the city of Fayetteville.
- Sandstone: another primary visitor center open year round. It’s located in the Southern portion of the park.
- Grandview: open seasonally, but a lot smaller than the other centers. There are 5 trailheads from here, and a scenic overlook just a short walk from the parking lot. There are also lots of picnic tables and a playground for kids, so we made this a good spot to stop after a hike so the kids could take a break.
- Thurmond Depot: a restored train depot, open seasonally.
If you’re visiting in summer, bring sunscreen, hats, lots of water, lots of snacks that won’t melt in the sun (apple slices, non-chocolatey granola bars, trail mix, fruit pouches, crackers, etc) and/or a good cooler.

Where to Stay on Your Visit to New River Gorge National Park

There are no lodging options in the park. Your only option to stay in the park is primitive camping.

If you would prefer to stay in a hotel, you can find lodging in the nearby cities of Beckley, Fayetteville, Sandstone, and Glen Jean.

Beckley

We opted to stay in Beckley, WV at the Country Inn and Suites. If you choose to stay in a suite, be aware that it’s not a true suite with a door to the bedroom, but more of an open concept space. Beckley is a great city to stay in if you’re also interested in visiting an exhibition coal mine.

While it was fine, it wasn’t the best hotel experience I’ve ever had. They had no towels in the pool area but I didn’t realize it until after I got out of the pool, so I had to walk to the lobby dripping wet in a swimsuit to ask for extras. We also found ants in our room, so overall I wouldn’t give it a ringing endorsement, though every person we spoke to who worked at the hotel was so nice and so accommodating.

Check out current prices on hotels in Beckley, WV.

Fayetteville

You may want to consider Fayetteville to be closer to the park since it’s where the biggest visitor center is.

Check out the current prices on hotels in Fayetteville.

Planning Your Visit to New River Gorge with Little Kids

I found New River Gorge National Park a little more difficult to plan for than the other National Parks we’ve visited, simply because it’s so new that I couldn’t find a ton of information about which hikes were doable with very young children. Ours are 8, 6, 4, and 1, so while our oldest could do a lot of the more challenging hikes or the ones with big drop offs, it wasn’t as easy with the younger ones in tow.

Here are my tips for organizing your visit:

1. Start your visit with a stop at Canyon Rim Visitor Center. Get a map, and talk to the park ranger about which hikes to do, which areas to check out, etc.

2. Break up your trip into sections of the park, and find one or two hikes per area to try. You could do 1 section per day, or fit in 2 different sections if you’re willing to fit in 2 long hikes with your kids in a day.

Fayetteville area
Sandstone area (this is south and where the waterfalls are)
Grandview area

There are more sections of the park, but I these are the 3 I would recommend to start with.

3. If you have older kids and want to do something adventurous (bridge walk or rafting), set aside a whole day for that!

Ok, now I’m going to give your more details on each section of the park and the hikes we did.

9 Things to Do at New River Gorge National Park with Kids

Stop at the Visitor Center for a Junior Ranger Booklet

Our first stop was at Canyon Rim Visitor Center. It’s huge and there are beautiful views of the river gorge with full length windows in the back of the building.

There’s a short video you can watch about the history of the park, and you can also stop at talk to some park rangers about which hikes you can do. Be sure to ask for a map and have them circle where their recommendations are.

You can also ask for Junior Ranger booklets for the kids. If they complete them, you can bring them back to a visitor center and get a junior ranger badge for them.

See the New River Gorge Bridge

This iconic steel arch bridge is the largest in the Western Hemisphere and spans the New River. it’s an incredible sight to see, and the perfect background for some memorable photos!

After visiting Canyon Rim Visitor Center, simply walk over to the trailhead and start down the boardwalk. You’ll have to descend a number of stairs, so this overlook is NOT stroller-friendly. Bring that baby carrier!

Once you get to the overlook you’ll have an amazing view of the bridge, and an option to continue your hike.

Hike the Endless Wall Trail

The Endless Wall Trail is also in the Fayetteville area just like Canyon Rim and the New River Gorge Bridge, but you will need to drive to the trailhead from Canyon Rim. (Here are all the hiking options in the Fayetteville area).

The Endless Wall Trail is 2.4 miles, and moderately difficult as you’ll be gaining elevation. There are also some areas that are near a steep drop-off, but we didn’t find it to be too scary with little ones. Most of the trail is away from cliff edges.

As you get higher up, look for Diamond Point overlook. This is where we stopped, and took the older kids out to see the view while another adult stayed back with the little ones. We then turned around to head back down to the parking lot, making it an out and back trail for us.

You can make it a loop trail if you keep walking along the road for a half mile if you take the trail all the way to the end. This will take you back to the parking lot.

(Hopefully this isn’t too confusing. Make sure to download AllTrails to your phone before your visit to the park and have the hiking maps downloaded in case you lose internet).

The views from Diamond Point are incredible. One of my favorite spots in the park!

See the Main Overlook at Grandview

On your second day you’ll want to start at the Grandview Visitor Center. You don’t even need to go inside Grandview Visitor Center, but park in the parking lot. You can find restrooms, picnic tables, and a playground there.

Straight from the parking lot head to the Main Overlook where you’ll see panoramic views of a bend in the river.

We spent quite a bit of time taking in those views!

Go Hiking near Grandview

There are 5 trailheads from Grandview to choose from. We had heard amazing things about Grandview Rim Trail, a 1.6 mile hike that connects from the Main Overlook to Turkey Spur (which is supposed to have incredible views, too).

HOWEVER. The majority of the trail is perched on a steep drop-off with no guard rails. Had we been with older kids, it would have been no problem. The hike itself is not hard.

But with 4 young children to herd, it did get a little stressful keeping them all away from the edge. There is a road running parallel to this trail, so we decided about halfway through to head back via the side of the road.

A more toddler-friendly or little kid-friendly trail would be Tunnel Trail, a .5 mile trail with that runs along the bottom of towering rock walls. You could also try the relaxing .6 mile Woodland Loop Trail.

Take a Scenic Drive

We wanted one last look at the bridge before we left the park, so we took the Fayette Station Road down to the bottom of the gorge.

This drive is full of hairpin turns and switchbacks, but I didn’t find it to be difficult to navigate in our minivan. There are some areas of the road that are very narrow and one-way. You cross a small bridge over the river at the bottom of the gorge, then head back up to the top.

There are plenty of areas to get out and take in the view, so make sure to do just that! This was a nice change of pace after a challenging hike. The kids could drink water, eat snacks, and fill out their Junior Ranger booklets while we drove.

I loved the views here, and was imagining how pretty it would be in autumn!

Go Whitewater Rafting

Since we were visiting with toddlers and little kids, whitewater rafting was out of the question. One of my sisters was with us, and she really wanted to try this, but we just didn’t end up having enough time.

If this captures your interest and if you have older kids, definitely check out all the licensed rafting guides in the area! I can only imagine what a memorable excursion that would be as a family.

Do the Bridge Walk

Bridge Walk leads 3-hour tours where guests can walk along the catwalk under the New River Gorge Bridge while strapped into harnesses, of course.

This is for adults and kids ages 8 and up, so we skipped it this time. However, I could definitely see coming back sometime to try this! It’s one of those soft adventures that kids can do to feel very brave while being completely safe.

Tours start at $72 per person, so it’s definitely a splurge activity, but it’s also a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing that kids will never forget.

See the Sandstone Falls

If we had had just a few more hours to spend at the park we would have gone to Sandstone Falls. Even with young children like ours you could easily do the Sandstone Falls Boardwalk which is completely accessible and only a quarter mile.

Visit the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine

Part of the reason we ran out of time at the park was because on the first morning of our visit we decided to stop at Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. The weather was calling for thunderstorms all morning, so we thought this would be a good way to wait out the weather.

Well, it never ended up storming, but we REALLY enjoyed our tour of the mine! We were so pleasantly surprised by how much we learned.

You can buy tickets for a tour of an old mine, and you ride a tram through the mine with someone who used to work as a miner as your guide.

🎟 Adults: $22, Kids $12.50. In addition to the tour, you get access to a recreated coal camp where you can see how they used to live, a homestead museum, and the Youth Museum which is Thomas the Train themed with loads of fun hands-on activities for the kids.

🧥Bring a jacket for the tour- the coal mines are always 58°.

🚂 Save the youth museum for last. You kids will never want to leave, especially if they like toy trains (like our 4-year-old Lewis). As I mentioned, it’s Thomas the Train themed, and there are so many fun toys and games and brain teasers inside. You could easily spend hours here!

🏡 We loved touring the old mine camp and the homestead and learning about life “back in the day.” (Again, I thought the kids would be bored but they were really into it! Especially the older 2).

👶🏼 You can bring a stroller. You can “park” it right as you’re boarding the tram and pick it up when you’re done. But warning- the coal camp is connected by boardwalks which are stroller-friendly, but there are some parts you can’t get to with a stroller because there are stairs.

It was fascinating to learn about coal mining and how hard they worked, and what it was like to be the family of a miner. I left with a new appreciation for them!

Is New River Gorge worth visiting?

Yes! The views are incredible and the hikes are challenging yet rewarding. For outdoor adventure lovers this is one of the top national parks to visit! Even families with young children will find something to love here.