Guide to Boise - Everything You Need to Know, Top Sights, Dining & Nightlife

Let's cover all the top things you'll want to see and do in Boise, including dining and nightlife tips.

First up, just a bit of background on Boise. Boise is the capital of Idaho in its largest city. It's located in southwest Idaho, about 40 miles east of the Oregon border and about 110 miles north of the Nevada border in the city is centered around its namesake, the Boise River. How about some more fun facts on Boise?

Since 2010, Boise in the Treasure Valley have been consistently ranked one of the best places in the country to live, as well as one of the fastest growing mid-size metro areas. Even though it's grown significantly, Boise is still relatively small compared to many big cities. Boise's population itself is less than 300,000 in the overall Treasure Valley, including many surrounding towns, has a total population of less than 800,000. So Boise itself still has a small town feel in many areas.

Now, let's get right into the best things to see and do in the Boise area. I'll start by talking about Boise's outdoor activities as Boise is known as a very outdoorsy centric city. And for the outdoors, first up has to be the Boise River Green Belt and related Park system.

The Boise Green Belt is the crown jewel of outdoor activities in Boise. It's an extensive urban trail system running along both sides of the Boise River throughout downtown, and all the way to Lucky Peak Reservoir in the east. It's a prime summertime destination for biking, walking, fishing, swimming, rafting, tubing, and more.

The riverfront Greenbelt is an awesome destination in itself, but it's also a key recreational link connecting multiple large city parks, each with their very own individual attractions and charms. Just three examples are Julia Davis Park. Here you can see quite a few things in a compact park. There's the Boise Art Museum, the Science Discovery Center, and the Boise Zoo, all of which I'll talk more about later.

And if you look hard enough, You might even find Abraham Lincoln and Morrison Park is next, and it's a prime sporting related destination with multiple ball fields, tennis courts, biking paths, and more.

Finally, the third one I'll mention is Esther Simplot Whitewater Park in Quinn's Pond. It's the newest and perhaps the most popular park option along the river, and it's a water related natural wonderland for young and old. There's actual surfing on the Boise River as well as standup paddle boarding, swimming, beaching, fishing and kayaking across multiple adjoining lakes and ponds.

Beyond all the parks and paths, there is the river itself, and floating on the Boise River is a local tradition. Every weekend in the summer, you can find hundreds, if not thousands of people in tubes, kayaks, and canoes floating down the river. The primary route is a five mile long float. It takes about three hours from Barber Park in the East to Ann Morrison Park in downtown, and there's a shuttle bus service, which makes everything nice and easy.

Hiking is another big draw in Boise. Within 10 minutes of downtown are almost a hundred hiking trails across the Ridge to Rivers Trail System, an interconnected network of over 130 miles. Of roads and trails throughout the northern hills, behind the city table. Rock Mesa Halls Gulch and Camel's Back Park are some of the most popular options.

And in the winter, Boises, don't let a little cold slow them down as bogus Basin Ski Resort. It is just 16 miles north of downtown first opened in 1942. It hosts multiple wintertime activities like skiing, snowboarding, and tubing, and also offers a list of summertime activities as well. With 10 lifts and over 2,600 acres of skiable terrain, it's certainly a destination. Check them out@bogusbasin.org.

Finally, I mentioned Lucky Peak Reservoir bit earlier, and it's only about 15 minutes east of Boise. And offers up water skiing, beach activities, and overnight camping. It's a great day trip to spend a summer afternoon if all those outdoor attractions aren't enough for you.

Boise has some worthwhile sporting and cultural attractions too. Many people come to know Boise first through Boise State University in their famous blue football field. B S U hosts one of the year end college bowls known as the Idaho Potato Bowl, and the university itself has an ideal location right downtown, just south of the river.

Idaho State Capitol is also downtown, only a few streets off the main shopping, dining, and nightlife area Built in 1905 from sandstone blocks taken from nearby table rock. It was built for only 2 million at the time. It's a great place to take a quick peek around before having dinner. Downtown Idaho Central Arena is also directly downtown, just a few blocks away in the other direction, and it's the main entertainment hub in town and host Boise's Minor league hockey team, The Steelheads. And many traveling concerts and sporting events throughout the year. Other cultural attractions include the Boise Art Museum, the Discovery Center of Idaho, the Boise Zoo, the Morrison Performing Art Center. The. And the historic Idaho Penitentiary. The Boise Art Museum focuses on 20th century American art, and the mission is only six bucks.

Discovery Center of Idaho is an interactive science museum aiming to inspire lifelong interest in learning and science, technology and engineering. The Boise Zoo is also downtown along the riverfront area, and there's actually lions, tigers, and giraffes, and more at the zoo. It's a decent one day outing for the kiddos, and it's open all year round with a mission, only $11 for adults and $8 for kids.

The Morrison Performing Art Center is on the campus of BSU and supports a thriving performance art community downtown, with hundreds of live entertainment and educational options each year. It's also home to the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra in ballet, Idaho. Finally, the historic Idaho penitentiary is a unique little site to consider on the edge of town opened in 1872 to handle the region's most notorious criminals. The penitentiary operated all the way up until 1973. Today you can tour the gallows, the solitary confinement. And learn more about CEL of it's past semi-famous residents, and the Idaho botanical Gardens are right next door.

And this is also the starting point for the popular hike to the top of Table Rock Mesa, which I mentioned briefly earlier, can't miss the great views from there Out over the Boise River Valley, once the sun goes down, Boise doesn't roll up. Its treats like some smaller cities, but actually has a very lively dining and nightlife scene. Add in quite a few annual festivals such as the Shakespeare Festival, tree, Fort Music Festival, and bass celebrations, as well as weekly downtown events like a live after five and first Thursday's gallery stroll.

And you've got quite a few entertainment options for little old Boise. Fun fact, did you know that Boise has the largest concentration of Bask people outside of Europe? They actually have a museum and a cultural center right downtown and right next door there's a really great Bask restaurant to try.

And one more pro tip. It's not dining or nightlife specifically, but be sure to check out Freak Alley downtown. It's a long alley filled with more than a quarter mile of street art along the alley in an adjacent parking lot area. It's pretty cool. We're in downtown Boise, Idaho area, lake Alley Gallery.

What's so special about this place? They have light music here and lots of murals, wall.

Now let's get to a few dining ideas for downtown Boise. Obviously, I'm not going to be able to cover everything in this video, but let me just touch on five or six ideas to get you going from the very basic, but local favorites to the best fine dining options Boise has to offer. First up are a couple of local chains, which have a long time following.

For your basic pizza fix, there's Idaho Pizza Company. They have multiple locations around town and they're known for their popular lunch buffet. But don't expect anything fancy here. Moving just a bit more upscale, but not much. Have you ever tried finger stakes? It's a thing in Boise and two of the best places to try them and other great food are big Judds and the West Side Drive-in each has a couple of outlets around town and don't forget to try their famous dipping sauce for a mid-range dining option. Our absolute favorite is Luciano's Italian restaurant. It's been around since 1954 and has won numerous local awards and it's consistently voted the best family Italian restaurant in town. We try to stop by here every time we pass through.

Moving up the fine dining ladder, two of the most popular choices for a high end treat are Chandler in downtown and barbacoa and park center. Chandlers is perhaps the best fine dining choice in Boise for steaks and seafood. It's been around since 1994 and has live music on most nights in Barbacoa. It's more of a high end Spanish tapas, Argentine steakhouse kind of place, and it's on the water and park center area. It's very popular almost every night of the week, so do be sure to make a reservation in advance if you want to check this one out.

Finally we get to the nightlife. There's really only one nightlife area in Boise, but it's a great one with dozens of choices to choose from. From dive bars to college dance clubs, to secret bars, to upscale wine bars center around the eighth Street pedestrian zone directly downtown.

Most everything is within a few blocks in either direction. Again, I can't cover everything here, but I'll give you six options to get you going. The first option has to be humping Hannah's. It's a local mainstay for more than 50 years with live music every night, and it's also a great place for pool and bar games across its sizable two-story interior. The house band is awesome, and I believe it's had the same singer for over 30 years now.

OCHO is next, and it's a fine wine bar inside an 1892 house. Was seating across multiple rooms in an awesome outdoor rear patio.

Patton Gilley Saloon is another one of our favorites. I'd call this one a mix between a dive bar and a small music venue, and the eclectic mix of people in this place on most nights can't be beat.

Amsterdam Lounge is a classier joint I'd call a dress to impress upscale cocktail lounge with a hipster vibe. They have an outdoor patio directly facing the street. Western Proper is one of the newest and coolest places in downtown. It's a quite unique multi-function entertainment place. It's a nice restaurant slash sports bar slash nightlife lounge slash bowling alley, and game arcade all mixed into one.

Finally, there's The Press and Pony. It's a tiny little secret bar, hidden behind a non-descript street front and a heavy velvet curtain. Find it if you can to experience some craft cocktails and a speakeasy vibe. I did say there's really only one nightlife hub in Boise, and that is true, but some might argue that the Garden City Riverfront district right next door to Boise also has its merits. It's an up and coming area with some trendy options right along the riverfront and a growing list of local brewery wineries and coffee shops.

Three of our favorites in this area are The Sandbar, which is a little open cafe bar area with live music on some days. Cafe Luciano's is another good choice, which is a little Italian cafe directly on the Green Belt path with a nice patio, and it's related to the bigger Luciano's Italian restaurant I mentioned earlier.

And finally, Yard Arm. It's an outdoor container slash food truck sandbar about a block off the river. You kinda have to check this one out to know what I'm talking about. Finally, if you're looking for a little more, leave it to Beaver Old School Main Street, kind of nightlife. Then check out Hyde Park and 13th Street.

It's basically one street in a little sleepy part of Boise with some nice laid back dining and bar options, and you really need to check out this cool candy and ice cream shop called Goodies as a bonus. There you have it. Our visitor guide to Boise, Idaho, the hometown and the Scottsdale travel chick.

It's a great place to spend a few days exploring the area. Or may be a great place to raise a family. Hope you enjoyed our video. If you did, we'd really appreciate a thumbs up, perhaps a nice comment, and maybe even consider following us for more fun, informative travel videos just like this one.

 

Credit and thanks to original creator Scottsdale Travel Chick and her original video here.