If you grew up in the NYC region, your impression of Pennsylvania's Poconos may come primarily from the commercials for "Beautiful Mount Airy Lodge" with its heart-shaped hot tubs and, therefore, may think of the area as a cheesy vacation spot with strip malls and go-kart tracks. If so, it's time to update your view.
Just two hours from NYC or Philadelphia, the Poconos offer pristine natural beauty mixed with enough family friendly activities to fill a weekend getaway or an entire summer vacation. Truly a four season resort area, during the winter people flock to the region for skiing and other winter sports, and the cool lake-dotted mountains draw families for swimming, hiking, boating, horseback riding and more in the summer.
My family has been to the Poconos a few times, but this summer we visited the area for several weeks, checking out as many activities as we could to create our Poconos Family Vacation Guide and compile this list of the best 50 things to do with kids in the Poconos.
Since it's a fairly large region I've separated the list by area to make it easier to find what's near you if you're only there for a weekend. For a longer stay, it's definitely worth exploring all the great attractions across the Poconos.