See Why Boise, Idaho is a Perfect Family Destination

With our oldest quickly approaching his senior year of high school, we really started pushing to knock out our last few states.  We found flights and hotels on points so we decided to head out west to check Idaho (and even Oregon) off of our list!

I’ll be completely honest, no one was excited for this trip.  It seemed more of a requirement than anything.  However, we were surprised at how much we enjoyed Boise!

We have traveled to a lot of cities and the thing that stood out the most for us was how clean Boise was! The city was beautiful and walking around downtown never made us feel unsafe.  There was no homelessness that we noticed, and businesses were even cleaning their sidewalks! You can really tell that they make it a point to keep the area well-maintained.

It was also easy to navigate and didn’t feel overly touristy.  There were plenty of things to do as well as restaurants to try.  Check out the details of our trip:

Where We Stayed: Hyatt Place Boise / Meridian

We love a good Hyatt Place and this one was fantastic! One of the reasons we love Hyatt Place is that it comfortably fits our family of five!  Our room had two queen beds and a pull out sofa, which is perfect for us.  Plus, the hotel serves breakfast each morning for free.  Feeding a family of five adds up so having one full meal each day for $0, really helps save money!

The Hyatt was also newly built, had free parking, a nice patio with pool, hot tub and fire pit. Plus, it was within walking distance to Top Golf and restaurants.  Three nights at this hotel would have been around $620, but we used 24k Hyatt Points instead, paying $0.

Flights: Southwest

In 2025, we had two Southwest Companion Passes, which meant that both my husband and I could bring one person for free on EVERY flight we took.  Roundtrip flights to Boise would have cost our family around $1225, but we only paid $56 TOTAL for our five roundtrip flights!  We used points to pay for flights for my husband and I as well as our oldest son (18.5k Southwest Points each) and then used our free companion fare to pay for our two younger sons.  When booking on points or adding companion fares, we are required to pay just the taxes – which were $11.20 per person, totaling $56 for the five of us. If you want to learn more about how you can earn the Southwest Companion Pass, check out this post!

Airport Lounges

One of our favorite credit card perks is having access to airport lounges.  With this trip, we were able eat breakfast at the Priority Lounge in Pittsburgh before our flight and then the Capital One Lounge in Las Vegas on our way home on our layover. Airport food is never cheap, so lounge access saves us quite a bit of money!

Family Activities & Dining

Aquarium of Boise

Once our flight landed, we grabbed our rental car and headed to our hotel. We relaxed for a bit and then headed to the Aquarium of Boise.  This was a small aquarium, but everyone really enjoyed it!  There were several touch tanks that allowed us to interact with the sea creatures, making it even more worth the stop!  Most aquariums have a pretty hefty price tag, but this one was so reasonable! For $63, our entire family of five was able to enjoy it.

Freak Alley Gallery

After the Aquarium, we headed downtown and checked out the Freak Alley Gallery, which was so cool! It’s basically an entire alley covered in murals and street art — and not just one wall… every single surface. We all enjoyed walking through and checking them all out.  You don’t need much time here, maybe 20 minutes or so, but it’s worth the stop and gives some great photo ops!

There are also shops and restaurants nearby so you can get some exercise and get some retail therapy while you’re at it!

Westside Drive In

One of the restaurants that popped up as I was searching for places to eat was Westside Drive in.  This is more of a fast food restaurant with classic diner vibes, serving burgers, fries and shakes.  Our food was good and since we were in Idaho, we had to get their Baked Potato Ice cream!  It was an ice cream sundae made to look like a baked potato!  It was a sweet treat after our long day of travel!

Dave’s Hot Chicken: Car Show

We headed back to our hotel for the night.  Although it was still daytime, we had an early morning and traveled from the East Coast so we were pretty exhausted! Our youngest son wasn’t hungry when we ate earlier, so we walked to Dave’s Hot Chicken, which was right across from our hotel.  We grabbed him a meal and noticed that cars were beginning to line up outside the building – Ferarris, Mcclarens, etc!  My son (and husband) were so excited to check out all of these cars!

Oregon

The next morning, we drove about an hour west into Oregon.  With us being so close to another state, we figured why not drive over and check it off our list.  Unfortunately, there really wasn’t anything in this area to do (unless you wanted some weed)!  I don’t think you could stand on any corner without seeing a dispensary!  We decided to check out a Mexican Bakery and grab some snacks and pastries for the road!

Pool Time

We headed back to our hotel and enjoyed some time in the pool and hot tub.  Since Tyler got to try Dave’s hot chick the night before, the rest of the boys wanted to try it too so that’s what we ordered for lunch.

Wahooz Family Fun Zone

After lunch, we headed to Wahooz Family Fun Zone for some mid-day fun and we were not disappointed! We purchased the kids 4-hour passes, which included just about all of their activities and even an arcade pass.  The kids were able to ride go-karts, play mini golf, play laser tag, ride indoor rides, do a ropes course and more! While the kids played, my husband and I grabbed a drink from the bar and watched them have fun. When their passes were almost up, we started a game of bowling.  It was included for them and we just had to pay to add us on, which worked well. 

This place was a great mix of indoor and outdoor fun and the kids really enjoyed it! It was around $50/kid, but they have specials certain days of the week that will save you some money.  Unfortunately, we weren’t in Boise on those days so we paid regular price.

Lucianos Italian Restaurant

For dinner, we were in the mood for Italian so we headed to Luciano’s Italian Restaurant.  Living in an area with fantastic Italian food really spoils us.  We have a hard time finding food as good as we do at home.  But Luciano’s was fantastic!

Stella’s Ice Cream

If you prefer classic ice cream over crazy desserts, this was our favorite sweet stop. Simple, homemade feel, and really good flavors. If you’re ever in Ohio though (or other states that have it), give Handel’s Ice Cream a try – you won’t be sorry!

Top Golf

The next morning, we had breakfast and walked over to Top Golf for a late-morning game. We ordered lunch and enjoyed our family time.  And is it even a trip to Top Golf if your kids don’t order the donut holes?! The kids love Top Golf so it was a treat for them.  And being right across the street from our hotel was nice too.  We were there on a Monday morning, which gave us half-priced play, making it an inexpensive activity for our family.

Jaker’s Bar and Grill

For dinner, we had Jaker’s Bar and Grill.  The food was really good and we had to try the steak fingers as an appetizer.  These are breaded and fried steak bites are a big thing in Boise. Their menu had a variety of food, which I appreciate since I don’t always know what I’ll be in the mood for!

Yonutz Donuts and Ice Cream

For dessert, we stopped at Yonutz Donuts and Ice Cream to try their donut ice cream sandwich.  It was a good sweet treat to end the day.

Overall Thoughts

It was just a quick trip for us, but we all really enjoyed Boise! It was a fun weekend getaway that we would do again!

Next time we’d add more outdoor exploring because everyone we talked to said that’s where Boise really shines.

If you’re looking for a low-stress family trip where kids stay entertained and parents don’t feel exhausted, Boise absolutely deserves a spot on your list.

Looking for other family friendly destinations?

Check out some of our other favorite shorter getaways!

Aruba

Cambridge, Maryland

Key West

Las Vegas + Albuquerque, NM

San Antonio