Day Trippin' › Idaho › From Idaho Falls
From Idaho Falls, the Menan Buttes and St. Anthony's white dunes are under an hour away, and Harriman's moose meadows, Mesa Falls, Lava Hot Springs and the Teton Valley are each about an hour or a little more, with Craters of the Moon a big day west. The best day trips from Idaho Falls, by drive time.
38 places within a 3-hour drive, by real roads.
Wildlife · 42 min north
Ponds and marshes in the sagebrush draw sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, waterfowl, moose and pronghorn, on a 3.5- or 7-mile auto tour.
Museum · 49 min west
In 1951 this reactor became the first in the world to make usable electricity; walk through the control room and see the reactor hardware in the open desert.
Trail · 33 min north
A steep climb up North Menan Butte, one of the world's largest tuff cones, to a rim with views over the Snake River plain to the Tetons.
Historic site · 44 min south
A full-size rebuild of the 1834 fur-trade and Oregon Trail fort in Pocatello's Ross Park, with period rooms and frontier displays.
Landmark · 46 min north
White quartz dunes up to 400 feet tall in the middle of farm country, for ATVs, sandboarding and sunset hikes.
State park · 1 hr 12 min northeast
A wildlife refuge on the Henrys Fork with moose, elk and trumpeter swans, a historic ranch, trails, famous fly fishing and groomed ski trails in winter.
National monument · 1 hr 20 min west
A huge, strange lava field with a 7-mile loop road past cinder cones, spatter cones and lava tubes you can walk into with a flashlight.
Hot spring · 1 hr 9 min south
A small canyon town built around public hot mineral pools (about 102 to 112°F), with tubing on the Portneuf River in summer.
Town · 1 hr 20 min east
A laid-back mountain town on the quiet west side of the Tetons, with a classic drive-in, the Teton Valley museum and Grand Targhee up the road.
Landmark · 1 hr 31 min south
A captive geyser downtown that the city sets off on a timer, sending carbonated water high into the air every hour on the hour.
Waterfall · 1 hr 10 min northeast
A roadside overlook on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway where the Henrys Fork crashes through a canyon of volcanic rock.
State park · 1 hr 3 min southwest
Lava bluffs above the Snake River with trails, Oregon Trail exhibits, and Register Rock, a boulder covered with emigrant signatures, two miles away.
Lake · 1 hr 32 min northeast
A high mountain lake near the Montana line known for big trout, with wide views of the Centennial Mountains and a short trail.
Beach · 2 hr 29 min south
Bear Lake's turquoise water and broad sandy beaches are made for swimming and paddling.
National park · 2 hr 38 min southwest
Granite spires and domes up to 60 stories tall, world-class climbing, and names California Trail emigrants wrote on the rocks in wagon grease.
Landmark · 2 hr 5 min southwest
A 1,500-foot steel bridge almost 500 feet above the Snake River, one of the few places in the US where BASE jumpers leap legally, with canyon overlooks by the visitor center.
Waterfall · 2 hr 7 min southwest
The Snake River drops 212 feet over a rim wider than Niagara, seen from viewing decks a short walk from the car, with Dierkes Lake for swimming and fishing in the same park.
Town · 2 hr 31 min west
Sun Valley's walkable home base, with galleries, cafes, bike paths, the Hemingway Memorial and a free town bus.
State park · 2 hr 35 min southwest
A quieter neighbor to City of Rocks, with granite towers, a historic ranch, and trails for hiking, climbing and riding.
Wildlife · 2 hr 41 min west
Each spring this high prairie wetland near Fairfield turns blue with camas lilies and fills with waterbirds.
Historic site · 2 hr 8 min southwest
A sobering walk through the WWII camp where more than 13,000 Japanese Americans were held, with restored barracks, a guard tower and trailside exhibits.
Drive times are by road on a typical day from ZIP 83402 (OpenStreetMap data with the OSRM route planner). Facts checked against official sites; passes and hours change, so check before you go.