voyager61

We're traveling to Spokane, WA for business and would like to spend a week or so in Idaho enjoying scenery and hiking, plus proximity to some good restaurants. We would like to take our dog, but if we can't figure out a nice place for all of us to stay, she may not be able to come. Budget can be generous for the right place. We were thinking a place with a lake view, walking nearby and within 10 or 15 minutes to restaurants. Appreciate any and all ideas!

voyager61

Forgot to mention that the trip is the first week of June. Thanks again.

Dayle

voyager,

The only part of Idaho I am very familiar with is the Ketchum/Sun Valley area. It does meet most of your requirements. Lots of excellent restaurants, great hiking and biking. Very hard to find dog friendly lodging however. It did find a small condo in the Elkhorn Village on vrbo that accepted my dog. Beautiful scenery, especially if you drive north to the Sawtooth range and Stanley, Idaho.

You might do a search here for a report by cmcfong. She did a great trip report about Stanley a few years ago. I think it was called "Let me tell you about my trip to Idaho".

Hope this helps a little

beanweb24

It's pretty easy to recommend the Coeur d'Alene area from you. It's a short drive from Spokane, and a really pretty area. I stayed at the Coeur d'Alene Resort which is right on the lake. It's a gorgeous setting, and there are a lot of amenities that the resort offers (including being walking distance to everything available in downtown Coeur d'Alene) but I thought it was expensive for the quality of the rooms itself. Can't remember if it's dog friendly or not.

kureiff

You could also head north of Couer d'Alene to Sandpoint. It's beautiful and is a fun resort town in the summer! It's smaller than Couer d'Alene and very beautiful.

It would take a while to head south to Sun Valley. The trouble is that most of the middle of Idaho is wilderness area, so you'd head east from Spokane on I-90 until you got to Missoula, MT, and then you could cut south from Missoula, go over Lost Trail Pass to Salmon, Idaho, and then work your way along the river to Stanley and Sun Valley. It'd probably take about 12 hours.

I think you have to decide whether you want to be in the southern or northern end of the state. It's too time consuming to see both the northern part and southern part.

voyager61

Thanks for all this. It seems like Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene are our easiest prospects, and if we end up having more than a week, the Stanley area sounds intriguing too.

Connie

Another vote for Coeur d'Alene.