Day Trip: Fremont, Nebraska with the Family

Head northwest out of Omaha on Highway 275 and about forty minutes later you're in Fremont, a real small city with a historic Main Street, a string of sandpit lakes on the edge of town, and enough to fill an easy, cheap family day. It's close enough to be home before bedtime and different enough to feel like you actually went somewhere. Here's how to run it.

The star is Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area, about three miles west of town. It's the most popular state rec area in eastern Nebraska, around twenty sandpit lakes with sandy edges for swimming, fishing, boating, and picnicking, plus camping if you ever want to stretch it into an overnight. Swimming is in the marked areas only and there aren't lifeguards, so keep the little ones close. You'll need a Nebraska park entry permit on the car, seven dollars for the day with a Nebraska plate (as of July 2026 — check current prices at their site), which you can buy right there.

If the day turns hot and you'd rather have a splash pad, Fremont has you covered cheaply. The city runs five free splash pads around town, zero-depth and touch-activated, perfect for toddlers, open daily through the summer. There's also Splash Station, the city's family aquatic center, with a main pool, a train-themed water walk, and a spray area, for about nine dollars a person or forty-five for a family day pass (as of July 2026).

For a slower, wholesome stop, the Louis E. May Historical Museum is a grand Victorian mansion, the old Nye home, filled with recreated 19th-century rooms with an 1868 log house on the grounds. Admission is a free-will donation, which makes it an easy, low-cost history stop, but the hours are seasonal and limited, so confirm before you drive out. Downtown, The Milady Coffeehouse bills itself as Fremont's largest living room, a warm, family-friendly gathering spot for coffee and a light bite, and it's a nice place to regroup mid-day.

If you can line your visit up with the second full weekend of July, you'll catch John C. Fremont Days, the town's award-winning three-day community festival downtown, with all the family-oriented fun a small-town celebration brings. And if you're up this way in the colder months, the Sidner Ice Arena offers public skating, a good indoor option when the lakes are out of season. Check its current schedule before you go.

One honest heads-up so you don't chase an old listing: the Fremont dinner and excursion train that people fondly remember stopped running years ago and the tracks are gone, so it's not an option anymore. Plenty of other good stuff is, though, from the lakes to the splash pads to downtown ice cream and treat shops along Main Street.

Here's the tip. On a hot summer day, hit the lake or a splash pad in the morning while it's cool, grab lunch and a coffee downtown, then wander Main Street before the drive home. It's a full day for the price of gas, a park permit, and lunch, and it gets the family out of the usual Omaha rhythm without a long haul. If your crew likes an easy day trip like this, the drive north to Fort Atkinson in Fort Calhoun is another cheap, close one, and Lincoln's Historic Haymarket runs the same play to the south.

Then point the car northwest and go make a day of it.

Prices and hours change, so always confirm the latest on each place's official website before you go — the figures in this guide are current as of July 2026.