Boise, Idaho is a beautiful place, and photos are a great way to learn more about a city. If you just want to see Boise from a different point of view, here are some Boise and Idaho photos that will make you fall in love with Idaho’s capital city.
Click the links below to skip to any of the following sections:
Boise Foothills
Camping & Hiking
Boise Food
Boise Outdoors
Downtown Boise
Boise’s Freak Alley
Boise Arts
Boise Breweries
Boise State
Skiing in Boise
Boise’s Heritage
Boise’s Basque Culture
Boise Foothills
If you love the outdoors, there are so many options — both in Boise and within a few minutes drive of Boise. The Boise Foothills are within city limits and a great easy hike for any level.
You can start at Camel’s Back Park or in Hulls Gulch, you can walk a mile or 15 miles. The Boise Foothills are a great way to get exercise outside without making it a day trip.
Camel’s Back Park in Boise: Things to see and do
Camping & Hiking
Another outdoor activity that you can do within minutes of Boise is camping. There are a number of campgrounds throughout the state, whether you like background camping or nice and safe trailer camping in a busy area, there is something for everyone.
The rivers in Idaho are all beautiful and many are easily accessible, so picking a spot next to one of the Idaho rivers is the way to go.
If you are a hunter, there are also a number of opportunities throughout the state.
13 of the best day trips from Boise
Boise Food
Just as the Boise beer scene has grown in the last few years, so has the food scene. With a number of James Beard winning chefs in town, and plenty of others with amazing talent, you can find anything from bar food to five star quality in the city.
The Capitol City Farmer’s Market is a great place to find local food from local farmers, every Saturday for much of the year. It extends throughout downtown Boise and is full of amazing food and other items for sale.
9 Things to do in Boise, Idaho (for a first-time visitor)
Boise’s Outdoors
The outdoors is quite a vast category, but this is the reason many people come to Idaho in the first place. Whether you are looking to backpack through the Idaho mountains or just take a walk in the park, there are so many opportunities for experiencing the Boise outdoors.
You can take a run or walk along the Boise Greenbelt, hike the foothills, float the Boise River, or go skiing at Bogus Basin. There are also a number of great locations within a few hours of Boise as well.
Downtown Boise
Like the rest of Boise, downtown Boise, Idaho looks different than it did 10 years ago. Skyscrapers have popped up and hundreds of businesses have moved downtown.
Whether you are looking for food, drinks, clothing, or just walking around, you can spend all your time in Boise in the downtown area without ever having to leave. It is a beautiful city that is not yet too big, but no longer too small.
Boise’s Freak Alley
Freak Alley is a unique piece of public art in the middle of downtown Boise. Started by a nearby gallery, the alley right off 8th Street allows local artists to paint, but then changes up the art every few years.
Take a walk through Boise’s Freak Alley and see the diversity in the local art — just before having a bite to eat and beer at one of the many 8th Street restaurants.
Visiting Boise’s Freak Alley: An entire block of public art [photos]
The Arts in Boise
For a medium-sized city, Boise has a number of options for arts, including the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the Boise Philharmonic, Opera Idaho, and Ballet Idaho. There are also smaller ventures, like the Boise Rock School.
These run at different points throughout the year and will allow you to keep up with your arts education during summer or winter, and anything in between.
There is also a large amount of public art within the downtown Boise area. If you find one of these red kaleidoscopes scattered throughout downtown, make sure to look through — they will show you what Boise looked like in the past.
Boise Breweries
The beer scene in Boise has grown significantly over the last few years, and now there are more than a dozen local breweries located in town. Out-of-town breweries like 10 Barrel Brewing have also made their mark on the city.
If you are downtown, or really anywhere else in Boise, you will be able to find some local beer and a great vibe in one of the many Boise breweries.
11 Boise breweries: Your guide to beer in Boise, Idaho
Boise State
Boise State University is an important part of Boise because it’s located just off downtown Boise, and a vast number of Boiseans are alumni.
Boise State Football is a lifelong tradition in Boise, and football season is important to so many residents. All year round, you will see Boiseans in their blue and orange, and on game days, the city will be packed with viewers or those about to attend a game.
Visiting Boise State football field’s blue turf
Skiing in Boise
There is a joke in Boise that talks about how you can float the river and ski the mountain the same day. It’s not quite true (except in rare circumstances), but our climate really is perfect for so many activities.
Bogus Basin is a ski mountain just 16 miles straight up from Boise. Although there are more popular mountains within a two or three hour drive (Tamarack, Brundage, Sun Valley), Bogus Basin is a nice option for those who don’t want to leave town.
Boise’s Heritage
Although it may seem like a cliche, potatoes are an incredibly important piece of Idaho’s history. It all started with Simplot, the company that put Idaho on the map with their potato production.
We are proud of our potatoes and there are a number of places in Boise you can visit to share in this heritage, including the Idaho Potato Commission and Jack’s Urban Meeting Place — a new event space in downtown Boise that is owned by Simplot and named after JR Simplot, the founder of the company.
The Basque Culture
Speaking of heritage, there is a large Basque population in Boise and it shows. There is an entire Basque Block, full of (delicious) restaurants, museums, a market, a hotel, and the Basque Center — and plenty of events throughout the year to learn more about the culture.
Jaialdi is held every five years in Boise, and is one of the largest Basque festivals in the world.
