If Reno and Portland had a love child,

it would be Boise!

Boise, Idaho has a little bit of everything from bike lanes, great pubs, restaurants, food trucks, history, nice people and great recreation. It also has the largest Basque population in the United States and the drive is only 6.5hrs from Reno.

Warning – LOTS OF PHOTOS!

Day 1 – Saturday

Drive time: 6:00am -12:45pm (pit stop in Winnemucca)

We started our journey by checking into the Modern Hotel. This is an updated motel with fire pits in the courtyard and live bands during the summer. We chose this hotel due to the proximity to downtown (walkable), free parking and free bikes to rent for about 4hrs.

After checking in, we walked over to Freak Alley to see all the interesting graffiti artwork before heading over to Idaho Made for some Boise/Idaho made souvenirs from local artists. Another great place to visit is Banana Ink for some awesome graphic shirts and hats that are all Idaho inspired.

My FAVORITE place to shop at was Mixed Greens!! This place has such fun gifts, hilarious socks, jewelry, beer cozies and more! I posted some of the fun items on my Instagram Story:

We walked over to Bittercreek Alehouse and grabbed a bite to eat. The service was fast and the food was tasty. 

With all the walking we had to get a little treat at STIL (Sweetest Things In Life) for their booze-infused gelato! I tried the Caught in the Rain (coconut rum with cashews) which was vegan and it was delicious! They have american gelato, vegan and gluten-free options as well. I didn’t try the wine or beer floats that they make yet it looked really interesting. 

For the last part of our day, we walked over to Prost! for a beer and to reminisce about our Oktoberfest trip in Munich. This place had all the beers we experienced in Munich so it was really fun. It does get really busy/packed, so anticipate standing unless you go early. 

Day 2 – Sunday

We started our morning at BACON for some breakfast. Luckily we arrived at 9:00am as by 10:30am onward, the line was out the door for ordering food. This place was featured on Travel Channel’s Bacon Paradise for their Bacon Lasagna which was too heavy for us that early, so we opted for the bacon sampler which was really tasty. 

Next, we set off on bikes to the Old Idaho Penitentiary  via the Greenbelt. The Greenbelt is Boise’s 25 mile long bike route that takes you along the Boise River which is lined by trees, several parks and more. There are even bike pumps along the route and stop/yield signs for when other routes intersect the Greenbelt. Even if you bike ride for 10mins, it is beautiful scenery. You can walk this route as well. 

 

After all this exploring, we rode our bikes back down the Greenbelt to Payette Brewery for some tasters. They have different food trucks in their parking lot every day, so check out their website to know ahead of time. This place was lots of fun with GIANT Connect 4 and other lawn games. They have ice cream from STIL, peanuts from City Peanut Shop and other non-alcoholic beverages. My favorite was their Copper Lager while my husband like the Recoil IPA.

After Payette, we biked over to Barbarian Brewery while also grabbing a bite to eat from Calle 75 which delivers to the brewery . Their tacos were delicious! I would eat here again. 

Our last brewery for tasters, was White Dog Brewing before heading back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner.

We chose to go to  Barbacoa Grill for my birthday dinner and were NOT disappointed. This place was an experience! Everything you look at was interesting, including the pictures on the wall that move like in the Harry Potter movies. And the best part was they had a vegan/vegetarian menu!

Afterwards, we had to make one last stop at visit STIL for dessert before going back to the room for a nightcap and tea by the fire pits.

We can’t wait to return to Boise for another trip!

If you have been to Boise,

what is your favorite thing to do there?