Whether your family’s idea of water fun is tucking kayak paddles into a quiet lagoon, sunning on a sandy lakeside beach, dropping a fishing line in a shady pool, or spraying rooster tails across the lake behind a ski boat, Lakewood has a lake for you.

If you feel the need for speed, head over to the Grand Prix Raceway. This go-kart track hosts serious go-kart racing tournaments, so it’s a cut above the typical go-kart experience. It’s also indoors, so it’s a great rainy day adventure for the whole family. Challenge your kiddos to a race, and wiz around the track in a peppy cart. Keep your eye out for experienced racers. Even the youngsters can show you up if they’ve had some training.

Grand Prix Raceway

If you love golf, Lakewood boasts several stellar courses, including some of the finest public greens in the state at Oakbrook Golf Club. Owned by local PGA golfer, Ryan Moore, the course offers immaculate turf and an elevated guest experience. Book some private instruction before your tee time or cap off your round with a visit to The Adriatic at Oakbrook, the club’s fine-dining destination.

Why not make a weekend of it and play a few of Lakewood’s courses? Serious golfers may even want to finish their weekend by challenging themselves with links play at the US Open’s own Chambers Bay Golf Course nearby. Looking for a casual golf alternative? lace up your sneakers for a little footgolf (yes, it’s a thing), play some putt-putt at nearby Parkland Putters, or fling a disc at our 18-hole disc golf course?

Lakewold Gardens bursts into a riot of color every spring and summer. This stately 10-acre garden estate located right on Gravelly Lake was built in an era when Lakewood was a playground for wealthy industrial barons. Its manicured grounds teem with exotic plantings, over 500 rhododendrons, and 8 champion trees (largest of their species in the state).

Got a green thumb? Stop by The Shop at Lakewold Gardens. Housed in the estate’s old carriage house, The Shop offers gifts, gardening tools, and a selection of unique perennials that will send you back to your garden ready to recreate some Lakewold magic. Kids love the whimsy of finding Lakewold’s fairy houses hidden throughout the grounds. The Gardens even host a not-to-miss event for kids every June called FairyFest complete with fairy costumes and a fairy house building competition. Adult admission to the gardens is $10. Seniors: $8. Children 6-17: $5.

Lakewold Gardens

Does shipping a 400-year old Elizabethan manor house brick by brick to the US to build a home for your bride sounds like something out of a movie? Well, that’s exactly what happened with Thornewood Castle, located on the shores of American Lake in Lakewood. The only castle on the West Coast, Thornewood has been the setting for many movies including the Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood. Unfortunately, the castle isn’t open for walk-up visitors, but you can reserve a room for a one-of-a-kind stay. Visited by presidents and other dignitaries through the years, Thornewood immerses you in history and surrounds you with luxury.

Thornewood Castle

The largest park in Lakewood boasting 340 acres, Fort Steilacoom Park is a stay-all-day-and-play proposition. It offers a sprawling trail system, ball fields for baseball and soccer, a large and imaginative playground, an orienteering course, an RC aircraft zone, the largest off-leash dog park in the state, a 5K route, picnic shelters, and much more.

If you and your family enjoy history, you can follow the Discovery Trail markers around the mile-long Waughop Lake Trail loop. You’ll learn about the pre-colonization history of the Steilacoom and Nisqually tribes who used the land that comprises Fort Steilacoom Park as a place to gather food and get together. As white settlers moved in, the land was later used for a military fort. So, get ready to learn about the rich and complicated history of the region.

Fort Steilacoom Park