What is the best California lighthouse to visit with kids?

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Point Vicente Lighthouse, Old Point Loma Lighthouse, and Point Pinos Lighthouse are the easiest California stops with kids — open grounds, short or paved walks, museums or interpretive centers, and no required tour ticket.

Picking by access and on-site interest rather than tower height, four sites stand out:

• Pigeon Point Lighthouse — accessible grounds, dramatic 115-foot tower visible from the parking area, visitor center with Fresnel-lens exhibits, free day-use, and an on-site hostel if you want to make a night of it.
• Point Vicente Lighthouse — free, paved viewing, dramatic cliffs above the Pacific, an adjacent whale-watching interpretive center, and one of the best gray-whale-migration spotting points in Southern California.
• Old Point Loma Lighthouse — inside Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego. Paved path, big bay views, an interior the kids can walk through, and tide pools below the bluff.
• Point Pinos Lighthouse in Pacific Grove — small, friendly, the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast, with a small museum suited to school-age kids.

All four are free or low-cost (Old Point Loma is $20/vehicle at Cabrillo NM; the others are free). None require a strenuous walk. For older kids, Point Sur Light Station runs a three-hour guided tour — extraordinary, but a steep half-mile uphill in the open sun.