BLEISURE BOOM

Interested in intermingling business travel with self-care, recreation, and sight-seeing? There’s a word for that now! “Bleisure” (business + leisure) is catching on everywhere and is in vogue and thriving in our beloved City of Trees and surrounding areas. With plush hotel options, beautiful and accessible outdoor beauty, and plenty of indoor entertainment, Idaho is a soft place to land for hardworking out-oftowners who want to make the most of their business travel.

Choosing a place where you can truly unwind and rest is key to a bleisure stay. There are a number of wonderful hotels to accommodate staying in and outside of our valley.

• Starting in Boise, just a short ride from the airport and in the midst of charming downtown are a few great lodging options, including The Grove Hotel. With great city views, a fitness club, spa, and a bar adjacent to a beautiful fireplace, this hotel is also home to Trilium, which offers an Idaho-inspired fine dining experience.

• The Inn at 500 is a boutique hotel offering beautiful and spacious guest rooms. At its base is Richard’s, which offers a legacy of menu items—Chef Richard Langston is known in Boise for his dishes, being a 2014 James Beard Nominee for our region.

• Hotel 43 has a contemporary flair and also offers pet-friendly rooms. The in-hotel restaurant, Chandlers, is notorious for its great steaks, seafood, and other food favorites, as well as a chic lounge offering smaller plates and signature cocktails.

• Head to The Avery, where you can enjoy modern accommodations and a classic French brasserie, which features a changing seasonal menu. Or, in the same building, sample classic English fare and libations at Tiner’s Alley, featuring Boise’s most celebrated historic Brunswick bar.

• In nearby Garden City is The Riverside Hotel, a hotel next to the lovely Boise River and the Greenbelt. This hotel offers multiple dining options and often hosts amazing local music both in indoor and outdoor venues. The Riverside is known for its heated outdoor pool and access to Garden City’s Live Work Create District, which is an up-and-coming cultural hub with a hive of inspiring artist studios, wineries, breweries, and restaurants.

If you’re traveling outside of Boise, there are plenty of exciting destinations. For a scenic Idaho experience, check out Stanley or Ketchum.

• The Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch offers a uniquely western experience with great food and modern amenities. Adventure, rest, and relaxation are all within view of the awe-inspiring Sawtooth Mountain Range.

• Ketchum is in the corridor of historic Sun Valley—the playground of celebrities and literary greats. Limelight offers sleek rooms, fine dining, and entertainment. You’ll feel both thrill and calm during your stay here. Outdoor recreation of a variety of types is easily accessible just steps away.

Speaking of the outdoors, Idaho is renowned for its natural beauty. Bleisure especially lends itself to outdoor enjoyment as getting into nature helps reduce the stress that work often carries with it. To make the most of your travels in scenic Idaho, check out:

• Sun Valley: Just a couple hours outside of Boise, Sun Valley is Idaho’s original resort town. Ernest Hemingway, Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe, Carole King, and others vacationed here and a couple even made it their home. The Sun Valley Lodge holds a subtle and glamorous mystique of a Hollywood golden age, with a spa, ice skating rink, bowling alley, and irresistible dining options. Bald Mountain is close by for winter skiing or hiking and biking in the warmer seasons.

• Bogus Basin: Just outside of Boise, a winding but relatively easy drive away, is Boise’s celebrated ski hill. Named after a miner’s fool errand (legend has it he only found fool’s gold), Bogus Basin is every local’s favorite ski hill and is enjoyed by visiting snow bunnies as well.

• Tamarack: Located near Cascade, Tamarack is Idaho’s newest ski resort. With a lodge and nearby condos and cabins, Tamarack is an ideal getaway just a little over two hours away from Boise. With numerous dining options, Tamarack is a great place to unwind even for non-skiers—in the summertime, there are great biking and hiking trails to explore.

• Hells Canyon: Deeper even than the Grand Canyon is Idaho’s Hell’s Canyon. Carved out by the Snake River, Hell’s Canyon is a natural wonder offering a variety of recreation options including camping, fishing, and boat tours. It is quite a drive from Boise, but worth the time if you can expand your bleisure adventures.

• If you need to stay in Boise and are a college football fan, you may want to visit Boise State University’s blue turf, the only one in the country. It was seen a lot on ESPN around the time of BSU’s fantastic Fiesta Bowl win, and draws crowds every fall during the always-energetic football season.

• Just across the Boise River from the blue turf is Boise’s zoo. Though small, Zoo Boise has a variety of animals and lots to explore. In the summertime, the butterfly exhibit is a particularly beautiful space to unwind and explore.

• Idaho Botanical Garden: One of Boise’s most gorgeous stops is its botanical garden. At the base of the Boise foothills and at the edge of Boise’s Old Penitentiary (now uninhabited—fascinating and stunning for an old prison), the garden offers an impressive amount of landscapes and plants within a small amount of grounds. The garden is also the home of Outlaw Field, which brings in some of the most amazing musicians the music business has to offer.

• Basque Block: Per capita, Boise has the most people of Basque lineage, aside from Spain’s Basque country. This rich culture has given our city a richer culture with its art, food, dance, and overall heritage. With that, downtown Boise has the Basque Block with restaurants, historic boarding houses, and a Basque Museum. Be transported into a fusion of cultures by visiting this wonderful corner of the City of Trees.

• Sunnyslope Wine Trail: Luxuriate in Idaho’s wine country with a lush landscape outside of Nampa, Idaho. Old, green, and formerly volcanic, the rich soil provides for farms, orchards, and, of course, vineyards. You can get a ride with Snake River Wine Tours to experience the various wineries or take yourself, enjoying any of the 17 wineries that make up the trail. Find great music in the summertime, which makes for a pretty picnic in a bleisurely paradise.

• World Center for Birds of Prey: This site is also on the outskirts, but in more rugged terrain. With beautiful views and fierce birds, this non-profit is the headquarters for the Peregrine Fund and the home of various raptors. The center offers a lot to learn along with stunning views—overall, an amazing experience.

• Bear Valley Rafting: From the end of April through the beginning of September, Bear Valley Rafting has experienced guides who lead half-day and full-day adventures through the Main Payette, South Fork Payette, and North Fork Payette. With stunning scenery and exhilarating rapids, the Payette River is something to experience. Just about an hour outside of Boise, Bear Valley Rafting is situated in Banks, Idaho. If thrill is part of your bleisure, don’t miss this experience.

• For a local float right in the city, check out Boise River Outdoor Opportunities, a group that offers excursions down the Boise River and Snake River. Let them take care of shuttles, helmets, lifejackets, shoes, snacks, watercrafts, and even pictures while they expertly guide you through the current and straight into fun!

Idaho is also known for cold winters and tempestuous springs, so if you find yourself wanting to remain comfortable indoors, there are plenty of indoor arts and entertainment options to explore.

• S2 Pickleball: A new establishment in Boise, S2 Pickleball has augmented the pickleball craze by providing a great space for the sport, especially if outdoor courts are wet or slippery. Located in southeast Boise just minutes from downtown, S2 Pickleball offers a good outlet for fun and physical exertion.

• Throw it out: A bit closer to downtown is Base Camp Pong & Axe, which offers indoor physical recreation to an indoor arena. Housing spaces for not only axe throwing and ping pong, this venue offers lunch, dinner, cocktails, wine, and beer. Or try Section 37 Axe Room, which is the flagship location of the Treasure Valley’s largest axe throwing room. Get a few friends or co-workers together to decompress, and keep in mind that both cater to large and corporate events too!

• Discovery Center of Idaho: The Discovery Center is a family-friendly option with rotating exhibitions, a Classics Collection—which showcases hands-on activities—and also offers classes and camps. Just on the edge of downtown, DCI is a local favorite, bringing science, technology, engineering, math and art together—creating a memorable experience for all ages.

• The Boise Philharmonic: The Boise Phil calls the Morrison Center home. Located along the Boise River and on the Boise State University campus, the Morrison Center is an easy drive (or walk!) from downtown Boise. The Boise Philharmonic is led by music director, Eric Garcia, and its season runs from September to May. For an elegant evening out (or a matinee), consider this as music to your ears.

• Idaho State Museum: Located on the fringe of Julia Davis Park, not far from the heart of downtown, the Idaho State Museum holds artifacts, photographs, hands-on exhibits, and stories of Idaho’s rich, diverse, and wild background.

• Boise Art Museum: Directly across the street from the Historical Museum is Boise’s Art Museum. With rotating exhibitions and a wonderful permanent collection, BAM is worth an afternoon’s leisurely stroll through. It also holds a lovely little gift shop.

• Warhawk Air Museum: Outside of Boise in the city of Nampa is the Warhawk Air Museum. Celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, the museum showcases various airplanes and war memorabilia. Their mission statement is to “educate visitors about the cost of freedom and to honor those who paid its price.”

• Wahooz Family Fun Zone is located in Meridian, Idaho just outside of Boise, along I-84. Wahooz offers indoor and outdoor entertainment including bumper cars, bumper boats, laser tag, miniature golf, bowling at Pinz, an arcade and more—year-round fun for all ages.

• Topgolf: Also just off the interstate in Meridian, Idaho, is Topgolf, a venue that keeps golf enthusiasts happy all year long, offering climate-controlled hitting bays, and even miniature golf for a more light-hearted putting experience. Topgolf even has an in-house sports bar and restaurant for those who would like to take a break and take in sports of multiple types on their multiple televisions.

Whatever your form of bleisure— from hotel spas to outdoor recreation or indoor perusing—Boise and its surrounding areas have it all. For more information, take a gander at visitboise.com, which provides more information about the City of Trees and its pleasant amenities.