Things to Do in Clive, Iowa: A Comfortable Base Near Des Moines

Nobody plans a vacation around a suburb. You book the trip for Des Moines, or the wedding out in West Des Moines, or the tournament somewhere off the interstate, and Clive is just the dot on the map where your rental happens to be. Then you go looking for things to do in Clive, Iowa, half expecting a gas station and a grain of civic pride, and instead you find eleven miles of wooded trail running straight through the middle of town along a creek. Clive is the friend who never brags and then quietly turns out to have the nicest backyard on the block. It won't announce itself. You kind of have to walk into it.

Here's the honest version. Clive is a small, green, family-friendly suburb wedged between West Des Moines and Urbandale, and its whole appeal is being comfortable and central. You are minutes from Jordan Creek shopping, minutes from downtown Des Moines, and about thirty seconds from a trailhead. It's a base, not a destination, and for a lot of families that's exactly the right trade.

Still reading? Good. You're the type who wants to know where the trail actually goes and where to put the kids on a hot afternoon. Let's get into it.

Start on the Clive Greenbelt Trail

If Clive has a signature, this is it. The Clive Greenbelt Trail is an 11-mile paved path that follows Walnut Creek through the heart of town, most of it tucked into genuinely heavy woods. It is closed to cars, which means you can put a seven-year-old on a bike and not spend the whole ride bracing for traffic. In 2019 the state named the greenbelt an Iowa Great Place, which is a fancy way of saying somebody official finally noticed what locals already knew.

You don't have to do all eleven miles to get the point. Pick a trailhead, walk twenty minutes in either direction, and you'll cross the creek a few times, pass under a canopy that makes you forget you're between two of the biggest suburbs in the metro, and probably spook a deer that clearly considers the trail its own. Bring water, bring a stroller if you've got one, and don't overthink it. The trail is the kind of thing you plan a day around and then wish you'd left more time for.

Cool off at the Clive Aquatic Center

Iowa summers do not mess around, and by mid-afternoon a wooded trail stops sounding like a good idea and a pool starts sounding like the only idea. The Clive Aquatic Center is built for exactly that day: a big pool, water slides, a lazy river, and a spray deck for the smaller kids who mostly want to stand under something that dumps water on them and shriek about it.

It's a seasonal, warm-weather spot, so it runs on a summer schedule. Check the City of Clive's current hours before you load the van, because there is no sadder drive than a car full of kids in swimsuits pulling up to a locked gate. When it's open, it's the community's social hub on a hot day, which tells you everything about how a suburb this size spends its Julys.

Travelers overthink the metro. They picture downtown and forget the good stuff for kids is usually a few minutes out, in a suburb nobody warned them about. Clive is that suburb.

Parks, playgrounds, and Greenbelt Landing

Clive runs a park system that's wildly generous for its size, roughly 18 parks stitched together by that same greenbelt. A few worth knowing by name:

• Campbell Recreation Area is the workhorse. Softball fields, tennis courts, picnic areas, restrooms, and a big playground with accessible equipment. This is your "we need to burn off two hours before dinner" park.
• Greenbelt Landing is the newer showpiece: a redone stretch of about 15 acres along the creek with a performance stage and festival lawn, an inclusive playground, a boardwalk, fishing access, and public art. It shares a parking lot with the aquatic center, so you can stack a swim and a playground into one stop.
• The trail connectors themselves count. Half the fun in Clive is parking once and walking to the next thing instead of re-buckling everybody into car seats.

None of this is flashy. It's just well-kept, green, and easy, which after a couple of days of go-go-go tourism is a genuine relief.

Why Clive works as a home base

Here's the part the trail maps won't tell you. The real value of Clive is where it sits. You're a few minutes from Jordan Creek Town Center and all the shopping and restaurants around it. You're a short hop into West Des Moines for a bigger night out, and a quick drive from downtown Des Moines when you want the farmers market, the sculpture park, and the museums. Clive is central to all of it and quieter than any of it.

That's the case for staying here instead of downtown. You get a calm, green neighborhood with a trail out the door, and you're still fifteen minutes from whatever the grown-ups want to do after the kids crash. For families and groups, a whole-home rental in a suburb like this usually beats a stack of hotel rooms downtown. You get a kitchen, real bedrooms, a yard, and space to spread out, which matters a lot more on night three than it did on night one.

A simple Clive day

Keep it loose. Morning on the Greenbelt Trail before it heats up. Midday at the aquatic center or splashing around Greenbelt Landing. Late afternoon at a playground while somebody makes a Jordan Creek grocery run. Dinner in Clive or a few minutes over into West Des Moines. That's a full, easy day, and you never had to fight downtown traffic or a parking garage to get it.

The bottom line

Clive is a comfortable, green, family-friendly base minutes from the whole Des Moines metro, and its best things to do are the low-key kind: a long wooded trail, a summer pool, a stack of good parks. Don't expect fireworks. Expect an easy, walkable stretch of Central Iowa that makes the rest of your trip run smoother.

Coming through the metro with the family? Book a Stay-A-While home and set up in a comfortable, well-placed spot near Clive and the rest of Central Iowa. You handle the fun. We'll handle the stay.