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The small, central Mexican state of Querétaro is a great place to visit if you love culture and nature. If you’re wondering about taking the kids to Querétaro, let me assure you that it is a wonderful place to explore with kids, especially those who love being outdoors. Let’s look now, at what to do in Queretaro with kids.

Note: this article deals with all of Querétaro the state, not just the capital city of Santiago de Querétaro.

Querétaro is one of my favourite Mexican states for family travel. It captured the hearts of my whole family and we regularly find ourselves chatting about things we did there and how fun they were. Querétaro is truly an excellent Mexico family vacation option.

Where is Querétaro?

The state of Querétaro is in central Mexico. It shares borders with the states of San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Estado de México and Hidalgo.

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How to get to Querétaro

🚗 The best way to get to (and around Querétaro) is to rent a car and drive yourself.

Check rental car options

🚌 It’s possible to take buses between main cities but for smaller and more rural towns, options are limited

Check bus options in English

➡️ Private tours are an easy way to see a lot quickly. There are many excellent tours available throughout the state of Querétaro. I’ll share links to my favourite options throughout the article.

Check tour options on Viator or Get Your Guide now

How to get to Querétaro City from

How to get to Tequisquiapan from

Best time to visit Querétaro

🔆🌸 Querétaro lies in that happy sweet spot where the weather is pretty great all year around. We were there during the official rainy season and had one day of rain in a month.

☔️ Rainy season is April – September

➡️ Helpful packing list for Mexico with kids

What to do in Querétaro with Kids

📌 Visit the Pueblos Mágicos of Querétaro

There are seven pueblos mágicos in Querétaro:  Tequisquiapan, Bernal, Amealco, Pinal de Amoles, San Joaquín, Cadereyta, and Jalpan de Serra and all offer great activities for families and kids.

🤐 Please no one tell Yucatán that the pueblos magicos of Querátaro stole my heart

Let’s look at what to do with kids in each of them

What to do in Tequisquiapan with Kids

First off – let’s look at how to pronounce this long named town: teh-kees-ki-ap-an. Or, if that’s too much of a mouthful, Tequís will do. That’s what the locals often call it. 

Where to Stay in Tequisquipan

I absolutely recommend staying in Tequisquiapan and getting to know this gorgeous little city if you have time. A day trip will let you see the centre but with a few days you can really take advantage of all there is to do and see.

📌 Explore Tequisquiapan

The plaza grande in this small city is absolutely stunning, it’s large, open and simple. It’s surrounded by arches and historic buildings which house small tourist shops and restaurants. The plaza is absolutely somewhere you’ll want to spend some time as are the cobbled streets branching off from it. There are nice parks for the kids to run and play in and they’ll enjoy running around the plaza too. My kids felt very safe and welcomed here and loved chatting with vendors when buying themselves street food snacks.

📌 Centre of Mexico Monument

Find the monument “Centro Geografico de México en 1916” – but please, don’t play on it. Sadly, I speak from experience. It may look fun to play with but it is forbidden. I promise.

📌 ¡Mexico Me Encanta! Museum

This museum is small and simple but really quite delightful and absolutely worth visiting. The museum is home to lots of typical Mexican scenes in miniature and everything is made by the owner. I found myself deep in conversation with her and I probably sounded like a superfan because I was so impressed with her work. Visit, it’s cute but maybe tone down the adoration and don’t scare the owner like I did. My kids loved this museum so much they went twice.

📌 Callejón del Piojo

This small pedestrianised street leads to the former communal laundry area for the city. It’s nice to walk down and as you come out the other side there is some great street art on your left and the very nice Parque la Pila on your right. If your kids are small enough to enjoy playgrounds then you’ll need to stop off in Parque la Pila.

📌 Thermal Pools

Whenever we are travelling around Mexico and the kids beg for a rest day what they really mean is that they want to go to a water park. Mexico’s small local swimming pools and water parks are perfect for this as they don’t break the bank and they’re never overwhelming. Around Tequisquiapan try Balneario la Vega or Termas del Rey. Just over the border into Hidalgo (about 40 minutes drive) is El Geiser, another popular water park.

⭐️ Las Minas de Opalos (Opal Mines)

Really, the only way to visit the opal mines is to take a tour. You can book your tour once you’re in Tequisquiapan or try driving yourself to the nearby town of La Trinidad (about twenty minutes) and find the owner of the mine concession in his workshop there to see if there is space on the tour.

Once at the mine you’ll be given tools and taught how to use them. You’re then let loose in a field of opal rocks where you look for opals. You’re welcome to keep anything you find.

My kids LOVED this tour. They had fun searching for opals and loved the small pieces they found.

⭐️ Hot air balloon Ride

Tequisquiapan is famous for being a hot air ballooning spot. It’s obviously a very expensive activity and we did it because my mother-in-law died earlier in the year and she left us a little money for fun activities. We thought she’d love that we chose this.

The kids were blown (haha) away by the trip from Tequisquiapan despite the scenery not being as dramatic as over the pyramids outside Mexico City. 

➡️ Book your hot air balloon experience

Peña de Bernal and Pueblo Mágico of Bernal

When visiting Bernal it’s really a double whammy of excellence: the peña (monolith) and the pueblo magico. Not everyone chooses to climb the peña (monolith) but if I’m honest, this was actually why we were in Querétaro – because I was desperate to climb up this incredible natural monument, which is also one of the largest monoliths in the world. If you prefer to just marvel at the peña this is perfectly possible from any of the many miradors (view points) in the town of Bernal.

📌 Climbing the Peña de Bernal

If you’re interested in climbing the peña, don’t head into town, follow signs to the actual peña and keep driving until you see a small car park. There is a small fee to enter the peña grounds.

The first section of the climb is mainly rock-carved steps and there are plenty of people of varying levels of fitness here including kids. It is recommended to not take small children past the second viewing station but we opted to carry on further as our kids have been climbing since they were tiny and are both very sure footed.

Note: This 433 m monolith has been awarded the status of “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Patrimony” by UNESCO.

➡️ If your family is into climbing, it’s possible to take kids over eight on rappeling and climbing tours that go all the way to the top of the peña.

📌 Visiting Bernal with Kids

Bernal is a lovely place to visit with kids. It is a small town that has retained its authenticity, its Mexican culture and it is extremely popular with national tourists. 

✅ Take them for gorditas (the region is famous for them) and let them gorge on this delicious and traditional street food snack. Then let them eat cactus ice cream.

✅ Explore the historic centre of town, focusing on the gorgeous plaza, the Bernal letters, the Museo de la Máscara (Mask Museum) and letting the kids examine aaaaaaallll the artisanias. We came away with some stunning pieces of art from Bernal that still have pride of place in my daughter’s bedroom. 

⭐️ Be sure to search out great views of the peña from the town of Bernal. We stopped in Más Café for drinks and views to knock socks off. 

Top Tip: When searching Google Maps search for “mirador de Bernal” and “letras de la villa Bernal” for the spots with the best views of the peña from town.

Amealco de Bonfil and Cascada de la Concepcion 

Amealco de Bonfil, another pueblo magico, is one of the oldest towns in Queretaro, having been established in 1538. 

The combo of Amealco (in Querétaro) and the waterfall (just over the border into Estado de México) is an awesome day for kids.

This delightful small town is famous for its connection to the Maria doll. It is said that Diego Rivera’s daughter was so concerned with the plight of the town’s women as men left to look for work that she created a programme to help them make money by making Maria Dolls (also known as Otomi Rag Dolls). These dolls have become so important that they have been named an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Queretáro. 

What to do in Amealco de Bonfil

📌 Visit the Plaza de la Constitucion, the Museo de la Muñeca (Doll Museum), eat barbacoa and enjoy souvenir shopping around the plaza. We gave our kids a few hundred pesos each here and they wound up with t-shirts and Maria doll Christmas decorations for their friends. 

📌 Next, visit the Cascada de la Concepcíon 

Just over the state border into Estado de México is the Cascada de la Concepcíon. This waterfall is a great spot for families who love to walk, play, and explore. For smaller kids, it’s best to stay at the top to play but bigger kids (mine were 7 and 9 for reference), it’s possible to find a route down to the bottom of the waterfall and lake. Look for the hidden path that has half hearted blue arrows around it.

Cadereyta

Down the road from Tequisquiapan is Cadereyta, another pueblo magico. Cadereya is all about the nature and outdoor activities.

📌 Take the kids to visit the botanical gardens, the planetarium, to stay in the cabins at ‘La Isla’ on Presa Zimapán, go rafting on the Río Moctezuma, and visit Velo de Novia, a 75 m waterfall and the caves just outside town. There are also thermal pools and hot springs all around Cadereyta so don’t miss those. 

The final three pueblos magicos are all located deep within the Biosfera de la Sierra Gorda, the incredible hilly biosphere.

Pinal de Amoles

This might just be my favourite pueblo magico ever. Located deep in the Sierra Gorda, this tiny town will steal your heart. It isn’t really somewhere to visit for a day given its location but if you have time to get into the Sierra Gorda, the kids will never forget it. The day trips possible from here are mentioned below in the Sierra Gorda section.

We stayed in Pinal de Amoles for a few nights in a cabin in the woods, which was a truly amazing experience for us all. (Hint: if you don’t find anything on hotel websites, there are some local cabins that can be booked direct by searching Google Maps – you’ll probably need some Spanish to do this though)

San Joaquín

San Joaquín began life as an ancient and pre-historic mining town. Nearby are two archaeological sites: Las Ranas and Toluquilla, both very quiet and small but utterly beautiful.  Las Ranas was a Chichimeca site. There are also caves and waterfalls to visit nearby. Las Grutas de los Herrera has stalagmites and stalactites that are over 100 million years old. 

Jalpan de Serra

We did not stop in Jalpan de Serra but we did drive through on our way to Xilitla in San Luís Potosi. I wish we had as I’d love to see the Tancamá ruin with 42 structures including rare circular ones (we’ve seen the circular structures in CDMX and in Jalisco). 

Apart from the ruins, kids will enjoy visiting the Presa de Jalpan where it’s possible to go biking, take quad bike and boat rides. 

What to do in Querétaro (City) with Kids

Querétaro is a fast-growing city but the centre is really quite gorgeous and it isn’t so big that you’ll feel overwhelmed exploring it with kids. If you have a few days to spare, then I recommend staying in Querétaro but if a day is all you have, you can still see a lot.

Queretaro is unusual because when visiting you can see both the conquistador geometric street plan as well as the winding alleys of the Otomo, Tarasco and the Chichimca peoples. 

📌 Explore Querétaro’s Historic Center

Begin around the Plaza de Armas. See if the kids can find the UNESCO World Heritage Site plaque or the statue to indigenous people in the centre. (el Danzante Conchero Chichimeca) 

If the kids are into history there are a number of history museums within walking distance of the main square. 

📌 El Cerrito Archaeological Zone

This archaeological site dates from around 300 BCE and is home to a large pyramid. The museum wasn’t open when we visited, sadly. It’s free to visit but be sure to check opening times as they are pretty restricted. El Cerrito is an important Toltec site but it was also inhabited by other Indigenous Mexican groups both before and after.

📌 Cerro de las Campanas

Spend time letting the kids let off steam and play in this small hill park.

📌 Aqueduct

This is obviously one of Querétaro’s most famous landmarks and is a symbol of the city. The aqueduct is 1,280 m long and has 74 arches. It’s one of the biggest aqueducts in Mexico. Driving around the town and suddenly coming across the aqueduct is fun but for the best views, head to the Mirador de los Arcos.

📌 Museo Bichos E Insectos

Not for the faint hearted but kids who enjoy nature will love this small museum and its chatty, knowledgeable owner. We all held enormous tarantulas and cockroaches here

What Else is There to do in Querétaro with Kids?

Wine/Cheese Tasting

 Querétaro is a serious wine and cheese region and as such, you can visit vineyards and cheese-yards either on your own with a car or with a tour. Some are more fun for the kids than others but since happy parents make for happier kids, I think this counts as a fun family activity. My kids actually did love the times we spent at vineyards: there was space to play, sometimes even playground equipment and we took silly photos together, which they adored. 

We really only checked out two vineyards but I had a list of others all prepared in case we had time:

🍷 San Juanito – We had lunch and tried wine here. The setting is lovely, the pizza is wonderful and the wine was delicious. The kids really enjoyed it too since there was a small playground so they could play while we drank wine. 

🍷La Redonda – Loved the ambiance and the glass of wine I had was very nice. It is expected that you go with your own glass – we didn’t so were given plastic glasses. There is a lot of space for kids to run and play here. Our kids were also very pro the dessert menu.

🍷 Viñedos Azteca – There are fun workshops for kids held here and the restaurant looks great too.

The other vineyards and cheese-yards we hoped to visit were:

• Bodegas de Cote
• Rancho Santa Marina
• La Biquette
• Tierra de Alonso

🚗 It is possible to drive to vineyards yourself (we did) but if you’re serious about wine or drinking then I recommend taking a tour as this way you can actually “taste” as much wine as you like without worrying about driving.

➡️ Check wine and cheese tour options

➡️ You could also book a tour with Heart of Mexico Wine Tours.

Visit the Sierra Gorda with Kids

The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve is one of the most strikingly beautiful areas of Mexico. It covers about a third of the state of Querétaro. This incredible ecological wonder is often referred to as the lungs of Mexico and is also the most diverse protected ecosystem in the country. There are viewpoints, villages, towns, waterfalls, hiking spots and so much more.

I still dream about the Sierra Gorda.

➡️ If you haven’t rented a car then I recommend taking a tour as the Sierra Gorda is not somewhere to miss out on.

📌 Cuatro Palos Mirador

For some of the most astounding views you’ll ever see, do not miss Cuatro Palos. You have to visit with a local guide. The whole experience lasts around 90 minutes.

There is a lot of walking to begin with. One kid (maybe two) was very whiny about this but the views at the top got both kids very excited. Once they had a bit of space to run they were happier and once they found the swings at the top they were even more excited and it was hard to get them down.

📍Many of the photos you’ll see from this viewpoint are taken at dawn. We were there around 11 am and were astounded by what we saw. I’d love to spend 12 hours up there and see how the view changes but that wasn’t possible this time. Dawn is only going to be possible if you rent a cabin up there or if you take a tour. We drove ourselves (it was scary enough in broad daylight). The road up is steep and not always easy but the reward through the views is well worth it.

📌 Puente de Dios and Rio Escanela

This tour takes in a walk of over an hour along the beautiful banks of the Rio Escanela. It isn’t possible without a guide. We organised our tour from Pinal de Amoles.

The Puente de Dios itself is the endpoint. Here you stop and swim if you feel brave enough to get in the cold, cold water. We did. It was coooooold but super fun. The small girl and I didn’t swim but we waded through to the other side before we were told it was time to get out and get ready for the walk back.

The kids really enjoyed this adventure because a lot of it felt daring. Think jumping from rock to rock, crossing wooden planks over streams and wooden pathways attached to the edge of rocks at times. The river was never deep or fast-moving so it was never dangerous at all.

Of course, both kids wound up with wet feet: one kid because she can’t help but throw herself around in utter joy at life and the other because although he’s extremely careful there were a few slippery rocks.

📌 Cascada El Chuveje

No official guide is required here because this is private land. Once you pay your entry fee you just follow the path until you get to a bridge where you can go left or right to reach the waterfall.

The pools along here look a lot like mini versions of the Grutas de Tolontango pools so of course, I had to brave the cold and get in. Let me tell you, NOT heated, and not warm even in summer.

📌 Campamento El Cedral 

We did not make it here because we were exhausted but it was next on my list of fun to have. If you’re not staying here you can do guided walks in the morning for three or four hours. They look really cool and I’m still bummed I didn’t do one but I was just too tired for another early morning start.

Awesome Day Trips Outside of Querétaro with Kids

➡️ San Miguel de Allende – explore the historic center and don’t miss el Charco del Ingenio, the botanical garden outside of San Miguel de Allende. This is a great day trip from the city of Querétaro.

➡️ Visit Las Pozas, Edward James’ gardens in Xilitla, San Luís Potosí.

➡️ Visit the Grutas de Tolontango to marvel at their beauty and swim in the famous mountainside hot springs.

Final Thoughts on What to do in Queretaro with Kids

My final thoughts are that Querétaro is one of my favourite states in Mexico and I highly recommend it as a great location for a family vacation. This small state is full of amazing outdoor activities that kids will relish. It’s a perfect place to let your kids get to grips with nature and adventuring without ever being scared.

I hope you do take your kids to Querétaro and that you all love it as much as we did.

And if you’re finding yourself wondering now about moving to Mexico with kids, I’m not surprised! There’s just so much going for families in Mexico these days.