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Pittsburgh is a large modern city with a huge choice of entertainment venues. The second largest city in the state of Pennsylvania each year receives thousands of tourists and never ceases to amaze with its unique architecture, beauty, comfort, as well as the picturesque bridges surrounding the city. In addition to aesthetic beauty, it’s considered to be a major economic, educational, transport and cultural center of the Greater Pittsburgh Region.
If you decide to visit this city with your family, this is an excellent choice, since Pittsburgh has a sufficient number of places for everyone. For easy traveling around the city, use a rental car from Avis at Pittsburgh International Airport – book it for the desired time and it will be prepared upon your arrival. Also, check out this Pittsburgh travel list for even more ideas.
So, what are the greatest family-friendly spots in Pittsburgh?
Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium
This popular local zoo should be included into every Pittsburgh travel list. The zoo was opened in a natural zone, and its territory is home for the numerous animals from all over the world. Also, there’s an aquarium full of unique sea creations.
In Pittsburgh Zoo you can see lions, huge elephants, hippos, and admire rare breeds of sea turtles in the aquarium. There are a lot of greenery and beautiful landscaping in this zoo, and there are several artificial lakes in which pink flamingos live.
Address: 7370 Baker St, Pittsburgh, PA
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 9am-5pm
The National Aviary
Another great vacation spot for nature lovers is the National Aviary. This is a very interesting indoor zoo, where you can see exotic birds and animals.
Here, visitors can hold on hand and feed the parrots, watch the little monkeys and other amazing animals that were brought from tropical countries. The most comfortable living conditions were created for them in the pavilion, where a special climate regime was maintained. Due to this fact, many exotic plants and flowers grow there.
Address: 700 Arch St, Pittsburgh, PA
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 10am-5pm
Bicycle Heaven
Pittsburgh features many interesting museums, which need to be visited together with children, and Bicycle Heaven is among them. It’s dedicated to the safest from an environmental and practical point of view transport – bicycles.
This museum contains a variety of collections of bicycles, including children’s ones, and they create original expositions. The museum is very colorful and large – you can see even old models of two-wheeled vehicles in it.
Address: 1800 Preble Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 10am-7pm
Carnegie Science Center
You should definitely visit the Carnegie Science Center, especially if you travel with children of school age. This museum is very large and has rooms with a variety of interactive exhibits.
During the excursion, children will be able to take part in interesting experiments, for example, jump on a trampoline and experience some physical laws on their own. Also, the museum has a unique hall of robotics, in which kids can play with real robots.
Address: 1 Allegheny Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 12pm-5pm
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh
(photo by alizim)
Pittsburgh can also boast of a typical children’s museum. It pursues an educational goal, and should be visited even with children of preschool age. For the little ones, colorful game halls are prepared there – your kids will be able to launch boats in an artificial river and play on inflatable attractions.
No less popular is the hall where children can blow bubbles, while older visitors to the museum are offered to take part in interesting scientific experiments. The original museum is more like a large entertainment center, where you can spend a whole day trying various entertainments.
Address: 10 Children’s Way, Pittsburgh, PA
Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 12pm-5pm
Randyland
Being among the most original museums in Pittsburgh, Randyland is definitely worth attention. It’s not easy to find a more colorful and original museum – it occupies a complex of beautiful old houses. All of them were manually painted in bright colors, while on the nearby territory of the museum and in its courtyard you can see a lot of unusual exhibits.
A huge number of colorful flower pots, benches and chairs, sculptures depicting birds and animals, interesting handicrafts made of wood – each exhibit was made by the owner of the museum. The situation in this museum is more like an illustration for a children’s fairy tale.
Address: 1501 Arch St, Pittsburgh, PA
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 10am-7pm
Allegheny Observatory
If the above-mentioned entertainment venues are not enough for you and your kids, then you can visit the Allegheny Observatory, which is a division of the Astronomy and Physics departments of the University of Pittsburgh. The observatory provides excursions and lectures for children of different ages, and also offers visitors to admire the starry sky through a telescope.
Address: 159 Riverview Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
Opening hours: Thursday and Friday 8pm-10pm
