When you need to escape the daily hustle and bustle, head to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. At Lake Havasu City, enjoy water sports and recreational activities like fishing, boating, and swimming. Moreover, skip across the real London Bridge, go off-roading in the desert, check out the view from 500 feet above the lake, or immerse yourself in local history. Book a stay at a Lake Havasu City vacation rental today. Check out the most popular family-friendly attractions in Lake Havasu City.
1. Catch a Fish
Even your youngest angler can get in on the fishing from the lakeshore, a boat, or a dock. The dock in Mesquite Bay North is one of about half-a-dozen free public fishing docks that remain open 24 hours a day for your convenience. You can pick up bait and tackle at Bass Tackle Master or Big 5 Sporting Goods. The experts in the shops gladly discuss the species in the lake and the types of bait to use.
2. Give Rockhounding a Try
If you have a budding geologist in the family, this area is ripe for rockhounding. It’s a great way to collect souvenirs as well as gems, minerals, and fossils while getting exercise and enjoying the breathtaking scenery. The Lake Havasu Gem & Mineral Society offers regular field trips, which help beginners learn where and how to hunt. Some rockhounds use their finds to decorate their homes, but smaller finds can be tumbled and smoothed out for jewelry. Some of the possible finds in this area include agates, quartz, geodes, copper, and gold.
3. Splash and Swim with the Kids
The gentle waters of Lake Havasu make splashing and swimming delightful for the whole family. Water wings, inner tubes, air mattresses, beach balls, and pool noodles amplify the fun, and the soothing waters seem to melt away stress for everyone. If you rent some paddleboards at one of the local watersports stores, you can have fun teaching the kids how to paddle and ensure lots of giggles every time you wipe out.
Find the perfect Lake Havasu City, Arizona vacation rental on Tripping.com. Tripping.com is the world's #1 vacation rental search engine with over 10 million properties!
4. Cross London Bridge
From its opening in 1831, the London Bridge really was falling down, just as the nursery rhyme says. You can teach your kids the song and fill in the history about the real London Bridge. Take the family on a boat tour to learn about the bridge, then dine on seafood or steak at Shugrue’s Restaurant and Brewery Group.
5. Try Parasailing
Get a bird’s-eye view while parasailing with your kids at beautiful Lake Havasu. Harnessed to fly single, tandem, or triple, the ride keeps you dry by slowly reeling you out from the flight deck at the back of the boat. As you soar up to 500 feet above the lake, the panoramic view encompasses the city, lake, and mountain vistas. When the ride ends, the crew gently reels you back onto the flight deck. You and your kids can simply sit back and enjoy the beauty and tranquility of this thrilling ride. It’s just that easy.
6. Rent a Boat
Riding someone else’s boat for a guided tour is a good way to acclimate your family to the lake and learn about the amenities. When you want to cruise the shoreline at your own pace, renting a boat from the marina or Arizona Watersports is the way to go. You can stop in a secluded cove for a picnic and a swim, or just glide gently through the water taking in the scenery, looking for signs of wildlife. The kids might even think it’s a big deal to enjoy a picnic on the boat, making the big cooler you bought come in handy.
7. Do Some Off-Road Sightseeing
You can drive, hike, and take a boat and still see only so much of the amazing landscape around Lake Havasu. If you really want to take your adventure to the next level, Arizona Watersports features rugged utility task vehicles you can rent to explore the desert. The area is home to more than 20 networks of off-road trail systems, including dunes, open desert, and canyons. Some trails lead to old mines and ghost towns that you are free to explore with due caution around mining shafts.
8. Stash a Geocache
When you have kids who love their smartphones, your Lake Havasu City vacation rental area has an app for that. Geocaching is a recreational activity that gets everyone out and moving to find hidden objects by means of using GPS coordinates posted on a website. It’s a treasure hunt, and Lake Havasu City and the surrounding areas are in on it from desert trails to the lake shoreline. Stashes might be easy to find, or they might be camouflaged. This activity takes your kids to places they might not go otherwise to take a little piece of treasure, leave something in its place, sign the logbook, and move to the next search.
9. Tour the Lake Havasu Museum of History
The Lake Havasu Museum of History shares the amazing lives of the Native Americans, the pioneers, settlers, miners, and ranchers who shaped the story of the area. Antique tools, ore samples, and historical documents depict the role mining has had in building dreams about finding gold, copper, and semi-precious stones. Other exhibits cover Native American life, culture, and customs. The history of Lake Havasu City comes to life in the story of the visionaries who planned, invested, and built it.
10. Cool Off in the Aquatic Center
No matter what the weather, the Aquatic Center offers some fun ways to cool off and play indoors. The climate-controlled area is patrolled by lifeguards for safety, and it offers a refreshing change of pace from playing outdoors. There is an indoor water slide, a wave pool, a kiddie pool, and two heated pools. There’s also an outdoor splash zone for additional fun. The center also offers float rings for the beginner swimmers in your family. Vending machines feature drinks and snack foods for a quick bite, or you can bring your own goodies to enjoy in the designated eating zone.
11. Picnic in Lake Havasu State Park
Before the heat of the day sets in, a breakfast picnic at Lake Havasu State Park shows your kids another way to enjoy the outdoors. Along the picturesque shoreline of the lake, you’ll find the picnic area at the beach complete with picnic tables, shade ramadas, grills, water, and restrooms. Following a brisk morning swim, the smell of breakfast cooking on the grill adds to the ambience. You can put in a kayak at the beach to drift around for awhile until everyone’s ready to explore the park. Back onshore, the Mohave Sunset Trail follows the shoreline for just under two miles. You might see desert cottontail, kangaroo rats, ground squirrels, and lizards.
12. See the Lighthouses
Sunset Charter & Tour Company features lake tours of more than two dozen working replicas of famous lighthouses that are positioned around Lake Havasu. While you can hike to most of the lighthouses, some are only visible via boat tours. Lighthouses on the west side of the lake represent the West Coast, and the east side replicas represent the East Coast. The Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club built the lighthouses to light the lake, making it a safe place for nighttime family recreation. At the northeast corner of the London Bridge, the Visitor Center in English Village offers leaflets that list all of the lighthouses and how to access them.
Ready to go? Check out these amazing Lake Havasu City, Arizona vacation rentals on Tripping.com.