The Southeast U.S. is a fantastic place to take a road trip with your family! There are so many things to do and this is such a beautiful section of our country.
From breath-taking mountain ranges to spectacular caves to a plethora of fantastic museums; the southeast United States truly has something for everyone.
Discover below our 15 favorite family-friendly road trip stops in the Southeast U.S. These sites are found in
Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Virginia
and I would love to share them with you!
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Georgia
Consolidated Gold Mine
in Dahlonega, GA (1 hour North of Atlanta)
Why You Should Go:
Did you know that there was a Georgia Gold Rush? I sure didn’t, before our trip.
The Consolidated Gold Mine is a great place to learn all about the Georgia Gold Rush of 1828. Here, the Consolidated Gold Mine provides an excellent 40 min tour where you will walk down into a mine and learn all about its fascinating history.
What Our Family Loved:
First, our children loved the idea of walking down into a mine while wearing a hard hat (that the company provides.) This was their first time venturing into the earth and I highly recommend this experience!
For me, I was extremely impressed with the history and mining information that they provided. It was fantastic! But overall I have to say that the main highlight for our children was panning for gold.
This was our kids first time panning for gold and their expressions were priceless when we struck it rich with 13 flakes!
We found gold!! 13 flakes total!
Suggested Duration:
We recommend ~2 hours here.
The Georgia Aquarium
in Atlanta, GA
Why You Should Go:
The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere with more than 10 million gallons of water!
It is also the only aquarium outside of Asia where you can see Whale Sharks, the largest fish species in the world! And they have four whale sharks!
The George Aquarium is also the only aquarium in the United States to house two Manta Rays and is one of only four in the world to display this species!
This Aquarium was on the top of my list of things I wanted to do in the Southeast U.S. and I loved it!
What Our Family Loved the Most:
I had never seen a whale shark and so I was ecstatic to get this chance!
Another great thing about this aquarium is the abundance of large windows looking into different aquariums everywhere you turn.
Our family favorites included touching the sea anemones, touching sting rays and getting to touch the epaulette sharks!
We also thought that their dolphin show was really good and recommend that you see it if you visit.
One animal I really enjoyed watching was the garden eels who pop their heads out of their sand hole and then quickly hide again. They made me smile and I could have probably watched them all day.
Another favorite of ours was watching the beautiful Manta Rays swim their signature back-flips! This is something they do in the wild and it was amazing to watch their dance!
But if I had to pick an absolute favorite from this museum, it would have to be watching the whale sharks during their feeding time!
It is an impressive sight to watch their 4 ½ foot wide mouth open up and gulp down tiny krill!
Helpful Hints:
Try and go early to beat the crowds. Also take a look at the daily schedule so that you can make sure you get to both the Dolphin Show and the Whale Shark Feeding Presentation.
Unfortunately I did not get very many good pictures of this incredible aquarium. This was our first vacation and there is low light in the aquarium so most of my shots came out blurry. If you are looking to get good pictures make sure your camera works well in low light.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend spending 3 hours here.
Museum of Aviation
Warner Robins, GA
(This is 1hr 40 mins S of Atlanta, not far off I-75)
Why You Should Go:
The Museum of Aviation is a Free Museum that sits on 51 acres and has 4 large (air-conditioned) buildings that house over 80 historic U.S. Air Force Aircraft.
Museum Highlights:
The Museum’s highlights include a P-51 Mustang, a F-84 Thunderjet and a P-40 Warhawk.
What Our Family Loved:
I was really impressed by all of the great information and wonderful displays throughout this museum. The kids loved that they were able to climb into several airplane cockpits and pretend they were pilots. Honestly, airplanes are not my thing, but I think that they did a wonderful job telling the story of each airplane and I had a great time. On the other hand my husband, Chris, and son, Spencer, who both love airplanes, were in hog heaven!
Helpful Hint:
Try and see the outside portion of the museum before the heat of the day.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend at least 2 hours here.
Blue Ridge Mountains (Mt. Pisgah National Forest)
Mt. Pisgah National Forest (~1 hr S of Asheville)
Why You Should Go:
Mt. Pisgah National Forest is perfect for any nature lover. Discover miles upon miles of hiking trails; find tons of family-friendly activities such as as tubing, canoeing and horseback riding and still be close enough to a city to enjoy a good dinner in town in the evening.
And if your family enjoys camping, Mt. Pisgah Campground is one of only two campgrounds along the parkway that has showers! The picture above is just a little bit down the road from the Mt. Pishgah campground. The scenery here is beautiful!
What Our Family Loved:
Our family absolutely loved camping in Mt. Pisgah National Forest and we highly recommend camping here!
Our favorite hike here was hiking up Black Basalm. This is a 2.2 mile round trip hike up to the mountain top from Art Loeb trailhead at MM420.2. This treeless mountain top almost had me singing songs from the Sound of Music. It was gorgeous!
Our Favorite Waterfall to visit here was Graveyard Fields Lower Falls.
Graveyard Fields Lower Falls was beautiful and can be reached by a short hike (0.3 miles)! This waterfall can be found at mile marker 418.8 along the Blue Ridge Parkway. And the best spot to view this falls is from the large boulders to the right. This is a great waterfall to visit along the parkway.
Sliding Rock
Sliding Rock is also found in Mt. Pisgah National Forest and is about 2 miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway (mile marker 412) on US 276. This was our kids absolute favorite activity in the area! Sliding Rock is awesome!!
Here you can slide down an actual natural rock water slide!
Travel Tip
Please note that the water here is really cold and it is a slightly bumpy ride down (it’s a natural made rock water slide after all.) There is also a pool at the bottom which is 8 feet deep, so make sure you know how to swim. And even if you know how to swim please note that hitting the cold water at the bottom makes swimming more challenging than normal, hence it’s a good idea to go when the life guards are there. When the staff is on duty there are 4 lifeguards present (located at the top and bottom of the slide), the restroom will be open and there is a small fee to slide.
Sliding Rock is a completely amazing experience and definitely something you and your kids will remember forever!
Smoky Mountain National Park
in North Carolina and Tennessee
Website: https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm
Their First Mountains!
Why You Should Go:
Did you know that the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited National Park in America! It’s not hard to see why.
This park is filled with beautiful sweeping mountain views, old historic buildings and over 800 miles of trails! The Smoky Mountains is a great addition to any Southeast U.S. road trip and there are so many things to do here!
Park Highlights:
Newfound Gap Road (US-441) is a gorgeous drive that easily provides stunning mountain views across the park.
Clingmans Dome is a sight not to miss. It is the highest mountain in the park at 6,643 feet and has a spectacular 360 degree view.
Cades Cove is a beautiful area to visit that is filled with historic cabins, barns, mills and churches from the early 1800s.
What Our Family Loved:
My favorite site in this area was Roaring Fork Road! Roaring Fork Road is a 5.5 mile narrow one way loop that is beyond gorgeous!
I didn’t list it above in park highlights because it lies just outside of the park by Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Are you looking for a kid friendly waterfall hike here?
Mingo Falls was our family’s favorite!
Mingo Falls is considered the tallest and one of the prettiest waterfalls in the Southern Appalachians!
Again, I did not list this in park highlights because it lies just outside of the park near Cherokee, North Carolina.
Are you curious about the Native Americans that call the Smoky Mountains their home. Then don’t miss Oconaluftee Indian Village to learn more about the Cherokees. This village is fascinating! My boys absolutely loved the blow gun demonstration and I loved their canoe making demonstration the best. (I had never thought before about how you would make a canoe if you didn’t have an ax. Be sure to check this out if you go.)
Helpful Hints:
Due to the popularity of this park, it is best the start your day early and try to beat some of the crowds. Cades Cove and Roaring Fork Road are the most effected by the crowds so try not to visit them during the peak hours.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend spending at least a full day or two to explore this beautiful park, but know that it only takes just over an hour to drive straight through this park from one side to the other.
Museum of Science and Energy
in Oak Ridge, TN
(1.5 hours west of Smoky Mountain National Park)
Website: https://amse.org/
Why You Should Go:
The Museum of Science and Energy is a great museum built in a former “secret city” that focuses on teaching about energy and the role that this town played in the Manhattan Project.
Much of the museum’s information was far too advanced for our children (ages 3, 6 and 8), but there was also a lot of kid friendly hands on science displays that made it fun for everyone.
Museum Highlight:
Without a doubt, you have to experience the hair-raising Van der Graaff generator! (See picture above.) It’s an experience you’ll remember forever!
What our Family Loved:
Our absolute favorite was the Van der Graaf Generator, but we also really enjoyed the plasma ball, the robotic arm, the brain teaser puzzles and all of the other hands on science displays.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing ~2hrs to visit (especially if you go to the 45min Van der Graaf presentation.)
Museum of the Appalachia
in Clinton, TN
(This is 30 minutes from the Museum of Science and Energy)
Website: http://www.museumofappalachia.org/
Why You Should Go:
The Museum of Appalachia is set up as an authentic mountain farm village from the 1800’s. There are more than 30 log structures in the village to visit, including a family cabin from Mark Twain!
What Our Family Loved:
We really enjoyed the thousands of time-period artifacts displayed throughout the village and in the Display Barn.
These artifacts and displays gave us a real glimpse into what life was like here in the mountains. This museum is not a living history museum, so do not expect time period costumed employees to be wandering around. I felt that this made the village feel very quiet and peaceful, like it would have been in the mountains so long ago.
An Unexpected Highlight:
There are beautiful peacocks everywhere just roaming around the village. We were ecstatic so be so close to so many of these beautiful exotic birds!
Suggested Duration:
We recommend visiting for ~2 hours.
Tennessee Aquarium
in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Website: www.tnaqua.org
Why You Should Go:
Our Family was seriously impressed with the Tenneessee Aquarium.
Here, this aquarium tells the incredible story of how a single drop of water that starts on the mountain tops of Tennessee will flow into the rivers and finally end up in the ocean.
Excellent information, along with wonderful displays of what creatures live in each area along the water drop’s journey made this aquarium a really fun adventure. The Tennessee Aquarium also takes you on a journey to discover the animals that live in the different types of rivers throughout the world. They immerse you into each of these environments and they show you how the aquarium is striving to protect these waters.
This museum focuses on the Tennessee River, the Amazon River, African Rivers and to those found in Eurasian water. It also teaches about different ocean environments near the rivers like tropical coves, reefs and the arctic rocks.
What Our Family Loved:
Our family favorites were seeing the enormous River Giants like the powerful Arapaima, the feared anaconda and the razor-toothed carnivorous piranhas. I also personally loved watching the incredible looking cuttlefish (it’s my new favorite). Other highlights included coming eye to eye with the gigantic Japanese spider crabs and touching real prehistoric looking sturgeons!
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing ~2 hours to visit.
Mammoth Cave
in Kentucky
(2 hour and 10 min drive from Cumberland Falls)
Website: https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm
There is a Time Zone Change to Central Time coming here
Why You Should Go:
Mammoth Cave is the World’s Longest Known Cave System! There are more than 400 miles of explored passages and new ones are still being discovered! Different tours let you explore up to 10 miles within this enormous cave.
Mammoth Cave does not glamorize the cave experience with garish lighting, but instead they leave this underground world as natural as possible. I really enjoyed that about this cave.
What Our Family Loved:
We chose the Domes and Dripstones Tour and highly recommend it. It is a 2 hour tour covering ¾ mile that focuses on finding stalactites and stalagmites and learning the science behind this enormous cave system.
One of our favorite moments on our cave tour was when the tour guide momentarily shut off all of the lights and we were able to experience complete darkness in the cave!
Helpful Hints:
Reservations are highly recommended.
Temperatures within the cave range from 50-60 degrees so you might want to bring a light jacket.
Suggested Duration:
This depends on the length of tour you choose.
Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace
in Hodgenville, KY
(45 min drive from Mammoth Cave)
Website: https://www.nps.gov/abli/index.htm
There is a Time Zone Change back to Eastern Time if coming from Mammoth Cave.
Why You Should Go:
This is a great place to revel in Abraham Lincoln’s journey from log cabin to the White House. It’s an incredible feeling to walk in Lincoln’s first footsteps and walk through the woods where he first played!
What Our Family Loved:
I loved visiting here because it created a wonderful opportunity to talk to our children a little bit about history. Lincoln’s story from log cabin to the White House really shows that you can do anything if you set your mind to it.
There is also a fantastic lawn to let kids run and play.
For me traveling is all about learning about our world and learning about my family. Here at Lincoln’s Memorial I also learned a little about what makes Matthew’s eyes light up!
We were discovering where he finds joy.
Suggested Duration:
This free site can be seen in 1 hour.
Side Note:
You can also visit his boyhood home right down the road at Knob Creek. We were not able to visit due to time constraints.
Cumberland Falls
in Cumberland Falls State Park, Kentucky
(1 hour and 15 min from the Museum of Appalachia)
Website: https://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/cumberland-falls/
Why You Should Go:
Cumberland Falls is a dramatic 125 foot wide waterfall that plunges 7 stories into a gorge! It is known as the “Niagara of the South” and there are two separate viewpoints to see this waterfall. They are both just a short walk from the parking lot.
Fun Fact:
Cumberland Falls is famous for its “Moonbow” that is visible on clear moonlit evenings. This is a phenomenon not found anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere!
Helpful Hint:
In National Parks there is usually no data service for your phone. In other words, you can’t download new maps as you’re driving. Yet the GPS antenna in the phone still works. Therefore, prior to your vacation I highly recommend that you download the maps of where you will be. If you have exact addresses then the GPS will still work and you can continue to use Google maps to get directions to where you want to go next.
We found this out the hard way. As soon as we entered into each National Park on this trip, we lost service and then had no idea of where we were going! It was when we got home that we discovered this trick.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing ~30 minutes to view this waterfall.
Indianapolis Children’s Museum
in Indianapolis, Indiana
(2 hours and 45 min from Lincoln’s Birthplace)
Website: https://www.childrensmuseum.org/
Why You Should Go:
The Indianapolis Children’s Museum is the World’s Largest Children’s Museum! It is also considered to be one of the Best Children’s Museums in the United States! The Indianapolis Children’s Museum has five floors of interactive learning and fun and we highly recommend visiting with your family!
We love this Incredible Museum!
Museum Highlights:
Dinosphere is the largest display of real juvenile and family dinosaur fossils in the entire United States! In Dinosphere you can also see a real working Paleo Prep Lab and touch a real T. Rex femur!
Discover a Mummy’s Tomb, explore a pirate shipwreck or stand face to face with a Terra Cotta Warrior in the National Geographic Treasures of the Earth exhibit.
The highlights list continues with saying hello to Bumblebee as you enter into the welcoming center, riding on a historic carousel, sitting in a real IndyCar and watching North America’s largest Water Clock at the top of the hour!
This museum is amazing and should definitely be put on your list of places to visit!
What Our Family Loved:
Everyone in our family absolutely loved the Indianapolis Children’s Museum! We especially loved how they made learning fun on so many different topics through hundreds of interactive exhibits. Aside from the amazing exhibits, one of my favorites was the 43 foot tall Chihuly Glass sculpture! This magnificent sculpture contains 3,200 stunning pieces of blown glass that rises five stories high!
It’s easy to see why many people rate this museum as the Best Children’s Museums in the United States!
Suggested Duration:
We only allowed 3 hours to visit because we didn’t think our 3 year old could handle more but we easily could have stayed all day.
Conner Prairie
in Fishers, IN
(30 min from the Indianapolis Children’s Museum)
Why You Should Go:
Conner Prairie is one of the Top Living History Museums in entire the United States!
They do a fantastic job at bringing history to life!
At Conner Prairie you will step back in time into the 1836 Prairietown where you can study in a one room school house, watch a tradesperson work, interact with 19th century villagers or learn a new trade yourself.
In another section of this enormous 800 acre museum you can immerse yourself into 1863 and experience what life was like in the southern Indiana town of Dupont shortly after a raid by General Morgan during the Civil War.
Museum Highlights:
The 1836 Prairietown and 1863 Civil War Journey are definitely the museums top highlights that shouldn’t be missed.
Other highlights include being able to feed, pet, and play with farm animals inside a barn on a real working farm!
The “make and take” activities are also a highlight! These include candle dipping and basket weaving for ages 4+; baking “Cracknels”, metal casting a pewter pendant or using a hammer to make a copper bracelet for ages 8+; making cheese for ages 10+; and even learning how to load and fire a Civil War rifled musket (no live ammunition is used) for ages 14+.
What Our Family Loved:
Our family really enjoyed how all of the staff was in character the entire time.
When you enter the school house, the teacher was teaching an actual lesson that would have been taught to children in 1836.
When you talked to any of the villagers, every question was answered as if you were really living in 1836. We also loved all of the interactive learning there was in this museum. Our boys learned how to pick seeds out of cotton, pull the string on a spinning wheel and then use a small loom to make cloth.
They also learned how to pump water from the ground and walk on stilts!
This complete immersion into another time was an absolutely amazing experience!
Suggested Duration:
First of all I had no clue how amazing this site would be and I thought we’d only spend a maximum of 3 hours to visit.
We did manage to see most of the museum in 3 hours but we would recommend allowing at least 4 hours, especially if you really enjoy history or want to participate in the many “make and take” activities they have.
I also made the mistake of trying to see the Indianapolis Children’s Museum in the morning and Conner Prairie in the afternoon.
I had no clue how incredible both of these sites would be. Therefore, I would recommend seeing these museums on two separate days if possible.
Luray Caverns
in Luray, VA (2 hours from Washington D.C – non rush hour)
Website: https://luraycaverns.com/
Why You Should Go:
Luray Caverns is my #1 Most Beautifully Decorated – Must See Cave in the United States!
This cave is full of immense beauty with it’s delicately folded stone formations, enormous towering columns and spectacular displays of frozen flowing limestone.
Ten story high ceilings are exquisitely decorated with stalactite formations that are beyond compare.
Large crystal clear pools create a mesmerizing mirror image of the greatly decorated stalactite ceiling that is beyond spectacular!
Luray Caverns simply takes your breath away!
Cave Highlights:
Aside from this caves exquisite beauty, Luray caverns also contains the world’s largest musical instrument, the great Stalacpipe Organ!
This Stalacpipe Organ gently taps stalactites throughout 3 acres of the caverns to create the most amazing and beautiful music!
I was stunned. I couldn’t believe my ears!
This is something you just have to experience for yourself!
Luray Caverns would be an incredible addition to any Southeast United States road trip itinerary!
Suggested Duration:
Guided tours last about an hour and depart about every 20 minutes.
Skyline Drive
in Shenandoah National Park, VA (drive 15 min from Luray to join Skyline Drive going South)
Website: https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/driving-skyline-drive.htm
Why You Should Go:
Skyline Drive is one of the Top Mountain Drives in America!
It is a spectacular drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains for 105 miles through the heart of Shenandoah National Park.
Highlights:
Milepost 32 – Mary’s Rock Tunnel was an engineering marvel back when it was built in 1932.
Milepost 41 – Stony Man Trail is a 1.6 mile kid friendly loop hike through a fern blanketed forest with awe-inspiring summit views. (see picture above)
What Our Family Loved:
Our family favorite along Skyline Road was Stony Man Trail!
The lush ferns at the beginning of the trail were so incredibly green and the views at the top of the trail were magnificent!
And my three year old was able to hike it with no problem!
Watching my kids expression as the trees parted and the spectacular view was placed in front of them was priceless!
In this moment I realized:
“You can tell someone about a mountain or show them a picture of a mountain, but let them climb up the mountain so that they can really know what it is”
Suggested Duration:
Stony Man Trail took us about one hour and a half to hike.
Driving from Luray, VA (going south) to the end of Skyline Drive at the Blue Ridge Parkway North Entrance, takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes with no stops.
If you need to exit earlier you can get off at Swift Run Gap to get back on an interstate.
This concludes our list of 15 amazing family-friendly sites and top things to do in the Southeast U.S.
I hope you were able to find a few new sites that you would like to visit with your family for your next trip.
Do you have any favorite sites or things to do in the southeast U.S. with your family? Let us know in the comment section below.
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