10 Superlative Family Vacation Destination Ideas

Largest Indoor Playground: The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

Located in: Indianapolis

Why you should go: Yes, the summer is made for playing outdoors, unless playing indoors means digging for bones in a massive “Dinosphere,” conducting kooky science experiments in a lab, or stargazing in a planetarium. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis offers all this—and lots more. At almost 473,000 square feet, this “learning playground” is the largest facility of its kind in the country. This summer the museum will debut “National Geographic Treasures of the Earth,” a permanent exhibit that allows kiddies to crawl through tunnels in a re-created Egyptian tomb...and get up close and personal with a real cannon from Captain Kidd’s shipwreck. (Admission for adults is $17.50; $12.50 for children ages 2 to 17; childrensmuseum.org/.)

Where to stay: The Omni Severin Hotel, in downtown Indianapolis (from $129 per night, including bedtime milk and cookies for kids and a free activity-filled backpack at check-in; omnihotels.com).