3 Beautiful Hot Springs in Idaho | Day Trip from Boise
Why don’t more people visit Idaho?? Maybe it’s the best kept secret in the U.S. It is the perfect place for outdoor adventures, drinking wine, or even just for potatoes. If you find yourself in the Pacific Northwest, you should 100% add Idaho to your list. Obviously, Boise is a great option to land. It’s the largest city as well as the capital of Idaho.
There is so much to do around Boise, but we chose to do a day trip to the hot springs. During our day trip, we had time to make it to 3 hot springs. These were all located on Ponderosa Pine Scenic Route.
This road is extremely curvy, and no matter how fast you think you can go, it requires going much slower than you might want. Even though it is only about 130 miles from Boise to the farthest one in Stanley, Idaho, it takes almost 3 hours. It is a scenic drive, though, so even though it can feel long, you get some good views.
We started with the farthest one from Boise and made our way backwards from there. This ended up working out so well. It was much less crowded when we got to these versus when we were leaving. Honestly, we hardly ran into many crowds at all. This was at the very end of May, in the middle of the week. All of the people we met while at the hot springs were people who were either full-time travelers or camping nearby for the week.
1. Boat Box Hot Springs
Located right off the road in Stanley, Idaho is Boat Box Hot Springs. After you drive through Stanley, make a left turn at the stop sign and drive about only a little ways down the road. You’ll be driving parallel to the Salmon River, with the most gorgeous mountains in the background.
Soon, you’ll see a small area to pull over your car. This doesn’t fit many cars, that’s why I suggest you get to this one on the earlier side. You’ll have to walk a little ways down from the road to the edge of the river, so make sure to wear good shoes.
Along the river, you’ll find little “pools” separated by rocks. Visitors put them together to trap the warm water and keep it somewhat separated from the cool of the river water. The hot water comes from the earth on the side of the river, so as it flows out, it would normally run straight into the river. Over time, at most of the hot springs you’ll visit, people created these themselves.
Now, that’s not what makes this place special. It’s the small pot that sits on the side of the river, with a tube that sends the hot water straight into it. The hot water continuously fills it up and it continuously overflows into the manmade pools next to it and into the river. Please be warned: this water is HOT. Like, boiling hot. It actually hurt to sit in it, in my opinion, but my friend was doing better than me!
It can only fit a few people at a time, so you might have to wait for a turn. If you’ve been hiking before this, hot springs are the perfect way to give your muscles some self care.
2. Sacajawea Hot Springs
I feel like this one often gets overlooked. And it’s a little farther off Ponderosa Pine Scenic Route, so people might just not know enough about it. If you’re coming from Boise, take a right onto Grandjean Road. If you are coming from Boat Box Hot Springs or Stanley, take a left onto this road.
The road to these hot springs turns into a gravel/dirt road pretty quickly. We had a pretty good SUV that we rented, so it was fine with that. Now, there isn’t a sign that tells you when you make it. We just measured it by seeing the other cars that were parked on the side of the road. The road gets quite narrow as you go on, so park as far off the road as you can. There will be a small, dirt/rocky path to get you down to the river.
As I mentioned above, this hot spring is sectioned off into different pools with rocks. These were formed from other people who visited and made the small pools. The contrast between the hot water and the water from the river is crazy. I mean, the river water is COLD. But, the hot water from the earth is SCORCHING. I could hardly stay in it for a long period of time, and I had to warm up to it.
Sacajawea Hot Springs only had about 5 other people there when we went. We had plenty of access to the pools and could have stayed as long as we wanted. Being further off the road, it was surrounded by trees with the beautiful snow-capped mountains in the background. Highly recommend this one!
3. Bonneville Hot Springs
We were contemplating between Bonneville and Kirkham Hot Springs. We ended up choosing Bonneville Hot Springs because of the people at Sacajawea Hot Springs! They regularly go to that area of Idaho, and they said Bonneville was definitely the one to visit. It was also super close to Sacajawea Hot Springs, so it was an easy choice.
Bonneville Hot Springs is located in Boise National Forest. This being said, make sure you bring cash! You will need to pay for your parking in drop box when you arrive. And yes, the park rangers do check. The hot spring is located along Warm Spring Creek. To get here, you’ll want to turn onto Warm Springs Road (Warm Spgs Rd).
This one is a little different from the others, because you’ll need to do a short hike to get to it, only 0.5 miles round trip. The hike is easy, and it’s through the Boise National Forest, so obviously it’s picturesque. This one was very aesthetically pleasing. It is situated into nearly perfect-shaped pools that almost descend down like stadium seating to lay in and look at the mountains peaking through the trees.
At the top, you’ll find a little house with a bathtub inside. Here, absolutely boiling water flows into the bathtub and down into the springs. Don’t even try to get in unless you want to burn your skin. Bonneville Hot Springs was definitely my favorite!
For More:
To read more about our entire itinerary, click here: Adventurous Pacific Northwest Road Trip | Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
To read more about national parks, and my most popular post, click here: Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons | 5 Day Road Trip.
For more about destinations all around the United States, click here: Domestic Destinations.
