Day Trippin' › Idaho › From Boise › Within 3 hours
41 places are worth the drive within 3 hours of Boise, counted by road time from ZIP 83702: 7 under 1 hour, 17 1 to 2 hours and 17 2 to 3 hours.
The mix leans toward history, beaches & lakes and small towns, mostly to the southeast and northeast. Three hours each way makes a long day trip, or an easy overnight if you would rather not drive back the same day.
The headline places are Bruneau Dunes State Park, Perrine Bridge and Shoshone Falls, and the closest real day trip is Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge (35 min).
Under 1 hour 1 to 2 hours 2 to 3 hours
Photo: User:Tdferro, CC BY 3.0
Wildlife · 35 min west
A big lake refuge near Nampa where grebes nest in summer and huge flocks of ducks and geese gather from fall into winter.
Photo: Tamanoeconomico, CC BY-SA 4.0
Historic site · 54 min southwest
Idaho's only archaeological park, with petroglyphs on lava boulders and a walk across the 1897 Guffey railroad bridge over the Snake River.
Photo: Nroslm, CC BY 3.0
Waterfall · 55 min west
A short walk up a narrow rhyolite canyon ends at a 60-foot waterfall with a pool, with a second path to an overlook.
Photo: Unknown, Public domain
Town · 54 min northeast
An 1860s gold-rush town with boardwalks, the Boise Basin Museum in the 1867 post office and an old Boot Hill cemetery.
Scenic drive · 51 min north
Highway 55 follows whitewater north from Eagle past Horseshoe Bend, Banks and Cascade to McCall.
Winery · 36 min west
A cluster of small family wineries above the Snake River near Caldwell, about 30 minutes from Boise.
Photo: Steve Spring, CC BY 3.0
State park · 1 hr 13 min southeast
North America's tallest single dune, about 470 feet, over small lakes, with sandboarding by day and a public observatory on weekend nights.
Photo: Daniel Mayer, CC BY-SA 3.0
Landmark · 1 hr 43 min southeast
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.
Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0
Waterfall · 1 hr 53 min southeast
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.
Photo: NPS photo, Public domain
National monument · 1 hr 38 min southeast
A visitor center shows fossils of the Hagerman horse and other Ice Age animals; nine miles away, overlooks and a 3-mile trail follow the Snake River bluffs and Oregon Trail ruts.
Photo: Finetooth, CC BY-SA 3.0
Town · 1 hr 56 min northwest
A gold-rush main street and the Oregon Trail center on Flagstaff Hill.
Photo: Maitra, CC BY 3.0
Trail · 1 hr 44 min southeast
A paved path of about 7.6 miles along the canyon rim with views of the Perrine Bridge, Pillar Falls and Shoshone Falls; easy to walk just a piece of it.
Photo: BroMcjoe, CC BY-SA 4.0
National monument · 2 hr 38 min east
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.
Photo: HalcyonToast, CC BY-SA 4.0
Lake · 2 hr 51 min northeast
Mount Heyburn and the jagged Sawtooths rise straight out of the far shore, with sandy swim beaches, boat rentals and easy shoreline walks.
Photo: Karthikc123, CC BY-SA 3.0
Town · 2 hr 2 min north
A lake town on Payette Lake for a waterfront stroll, paddling and ice cream, with a Winter Carnival of snow sculptures in late January.
Photo: Charles Knowles from Meridian Idaho, USA, CC BY 2.0
State park · 2 hr 8 min north
A forested peninsula in Payette Lake with beaches, bike trails and the Osprey Point view, plus groomed ski trails in winter.
Photo: John-Luc Metz, Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington, Public domain
Museum · 2 hr 8 min northwest
Real wagon ruts and the story of the trail, on a hill above the Baker Valley.
Photo: USFWS Pacific, Public domain
Wildlife · 2 hr 44 min northeast
See how the hatchery helps Chinook salmon and steelhead finish a 900-mile return from the Pacific, and walk past the fish ponds.
Our picks, by drive time, include Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge (35 min), Celebration Park (54 min), Jump Creek Falls (55 min), Idaho City (54 min) and Payette River Scenic Byway (51 min). The full list on this page has 41 places, each with its drive time and direction from Boise.
24 places within 2 hours, 41 within 3 hours and 63 within 4 hours of Boise, by road from ZIP 83702.
18 of the 41 places need no pass or fee, such as Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho City and Payette River Scenic Byway. Fees and passes change, so check each place before you go.
37 places are marked good for kids, including Bruneau Dunes State Park, Celebration Park and Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge.
They are by real roads on a typical day, from the middle of ZIP 83702 to each place (OpenStreetMap data with the OSRM route planner). Traffic, weather and closures can change them. Places under 25 minutes from the city center count as in town, not a day trip, so they are left out.
Yes. Type your ZIP code into Day Trippin' and it shows everything by drive time. Your ZIP is used for that one search and is not saved.
Drive times are by road on a typical day from ZIP <class 'zip'> (OpenStreetMap data with the OSRM route planner). Facts checked against official sites; passes and hours change, so check before you go.