Hot springs in Idaho

An old-fashioned family resort in the Marsh Valley, Downata pairs a 1929 spring-fed swimming pool (chlorinated, with three slides including the 351-foot Dragon Slide) with quieter soaking pools at 99 to 102 degrees. Those hot pools are unchlorinated and flow-through, and they're for soaking only: no swimming, no splashing. A $12 Hot Pool Pass gets you in; the $22 Everything Pass adds the slides. In summer the hot pools close on Sundays. You can sleep in a cabin, a yurt or a Conestoga wagon, but pool admission isn't included in lodging rates, so budget for both.

Down in the Hagerman Valley near Buhl, Miracle has four big outdoor pools kept between 96 and 106 degrees by season, plus private pools for four and VIP pools for six where you set the temperature yourself. The water is alkaline at pH 9.6, unchlorinated, and the pools are drained and refilled every day. Everything is by reservation, so book before you set off, and note it's closed Sundays. A single-visit price isn't posted; if you'll be back, a ten-visit package is $135. You can sleep over in a geodesic dome, and Twin Falls is about 40 minutes away.

Up Highway 21 from Boise, just past mile marker 37 near Idaho City, The Springs is a polished, reservation-only soak. A two-and-a-half-hour general session is $30 for adults and $27 for children; private tubs are $70 an hour for two. Check the calendar before you bring the kids: Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays are adults only all day, as are weekend evenings from 7:30pm. It's closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The steam room was temporarily closed for improvements, so don't count on it. To stay over, Inn The Pines is a third of a mile down the road.

Log-sided pools with gravel bottoms, 32 miles north of McCall in the Payette National Forest, and the kind of place that rewards planning. There are no walk-ins. Day soaks come in two-hour blocks between 10am and 6pm, bookable 90 days ahead, and it's closed Wednesdays. The two small source pools reach 113 degrees, the big pool runs 96 to 113 by season, and there's a shallow pool for children. From December to April the only way in is by snowmobile. The rustic cabins have no running water or electricity, which is rather the point. Leave the dog at home; pets aren't allowed.

Right on the Salmon River outside Challis, this is a simple, welcome pool stop on the long haul up US 93. The big pool is 100 by 30 feet and kept near 96 degrees in summer and 98 to 100 in winter; the hot pool sits around 105. The odorless water bubbles up through the pools themselves at nearly 3 cubic feet per second. RV and tent sites make it an easy summer overnight. In winter the campground closes, the pools go 18-and-over and they shut Mondays and Tuesdays. Admission prices aren't posted, so call ahead on 208-879-4442.

Gold Fork, near Donnelly, is a family-friendly developed spring that keeps its rules short: $15 a person, two hours maximum, cash only. Stop at an ATM in town before you head out. It's closed Tuesdays, and children under 13 have to leave by 4pm, so plan family visits for earlier in the day. Winter hours begin on October 1, 2026, and the owners may change hours in high wind, lightning or blizzards. They don't list pool temperatures, so you'll find out when you step in.

A town-centre soak owned by the state: the springs were deeded to Idaho in 1902, and the Lava Hot Springs Foundation runs them today. Five outdoor pools with gravel or rock bottoms step down from 112 degrees to 102. The water is untreated, has no sulfur smell, and more than 2.5 million gallons pass through in a day. Come midweek if you can. Adults pay $8 Monday to Thursday against $12 at weekends, and Wednesday's family pass covers four for $26. It's open until 10 or 11pm most nights. There's no cold pool, and alcohol and glass stay outside.

Pitch a tent and walk to your soak. Bonneville Campground sits on a bluff above Warm Springs Creek, 19 miles east of Lowman just off Highway 21, and a quarter-mile trail leads from camp to the hot spring's soaking pool. Non-campers pay a $5 day-use fee. The campground runs from the end of May to the end of September; off-season access isn't described, so treat winter as a maybe. On holiday weekends there's a three-night minimum and bookings close four days out, so reserve early on Recreation.gov. Nobody publishes a water temperature, so test it with a hand first.

A natural soaking pool on the South Fork Payette River, just east of Garden Valley on the Banks-Lowman road, with a Forest Service campground directly across the street. To reach the water you cross the road and take a staircase down to the river. The campground has 8 single sites and 3 group sites at about 3,200 feet, open from the beginning of May to the end of September. Rafting, kayaking and fishing are right there, so a soak makes a fine end to a day on the river. No day-use fee or water temperature is posted; bring a thermometer if you're particular.

Little steaming waterfalls spill into riverside pools here, on the South Fork Payette just east of Lowman on Highway 21. You pass a locked gate, cross a bridge and follow a trail down to the water. It's day use only, 7am to 9pm, with no camping. The rocks around the springs are uneven and slick when wet, so wear shoes with grip and take it slowly. There are vault toilets and changing rooms. A paid day-use pass is sold on Recreation.gov, which doesn't show the price, so check there before you go. Leashed pets are welcome but must stay out of the pools and runoff.

A quarter-mile nature trail from Pine Flats Campground leads to a natural soaking pool on the bank of the South Fork Payette, a few miles west of Lowman. The campground has 26 sites under ponderosa pines at 3,700 feet, open from the end of May to the end of September at $15 to $30 a night, and no day-use fee is posted for the spring. This road, also called the Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway, has plenty of other natural pools along it. Book a site on Recreation.gov and you've got a base for a weekend of soak-hopping.

The source water here comes out at 169 degrees, so this is a soak you build yourself: pools at the edge of the Salmon River, where you move rocks to let cold river water in until it's bearable. Test with a hand before you climb in. It's roadside on Highway 75 east of Stanley, with a short scramble down to the river, and no fee is posted. The stone bathhouse beside it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937 and once held pools and tubs. For a bed, Upper O'Brien Campground has 9 first-come sites about 3 miles east and closes September 21.

A free hike-in soak south of Salmon, with the trailhead on BLM land and the springs themselves on the Salmon-Challis National Forest. Head 23 miles south of Salmon on Highway 93, turn east just past Elk Bend, and drive 0.3 miles on the county road. The first quarter mile of trail crosses private land on a public easement: keep dogs leashed there, stay on the path, and be a good guest, because courtesy is what keeps that access open. Nobody publishes the trail length, the number of pools or a water temperature, so bring water and decent shoes and give yourself plenty of daylight.

Just over Lolo Pass on the Idaho side, Jerry Johnson is a forest soak you walk to from the Warm Springs Trailhead at milepost 152 on US 12, beside the Lochsa Wild and Scenic River. The rules decide the visit. It's day use only, 6am to 8pm, with no overnight camping at the springs, and officers patrol and write citations outside those hours. If you want to stay, Jerry Johnson Campground nearby has 20 sites with no fee and no water, open June 6 to October 31. The trail length isn't published, so leave daylight for the walk back. Lolo, Montana is about an hour away.