If you’re trying to figure out Boise in One Day, here’s the honest answer: you can see a lot without rushing, as long as you keep your plans centered around downtown. Boise is compact, walkable, and surprisingly full of good food, public art, and green space. A single day is enough to eat really well, wander neighborhoods that actually feel local, and get outside—without needing a minute-by-minute itinerary.
If you only have time to do Boise in One Day than Brunch at BACON is an easy win for sure. It’s casual, energetic, and fully committed to bacon-forward comfort food. We ordered the bacon sampler with five different types, and the Cajun blue cheese pantry flavor was the clear favorite—perfectly cooked with bold flavor. The scones with homemade raspberry jelly were a surprisingly great side note and worth ordering even if bacon is the main event.
BACON is popular for a reason. Portions are generous, and honestly, it’s a bacon-based restaurant—do I really need to sell that any harder? Being right downtown makes it an easy first stop before wandering the city. If you want more detail on what to order and when to go, see my full review of BACON Boise Review: A Fun, Bacon-Lover’s Brunch Spot in Downtown Boise.
Downtown Boise is one of those places that makes a one-day trip easy. You can walk almost everywhere, pop in and out of shops and restaurants, and still feel like you actually saw the city instead of just rushing through it.
Downtown Boise has a solid food scene—well-“seasoned” planning at work (gotta love a food pun). You could easily spend an entire weekend eating your way through the area and still have more places on your list. Some standout spots include Fork for farm-to-table comfort food, Alavita for handmade pasta, Juniper for a slightly more upscale Northwest-inspired meal, The Lively for date night energy, and Goldy’s Breakfast Bistro for classic breakfast plates that locals line up for.
And don’t skip dessert. The STIL is a must-stop for ice cream, especially if you like creative flavors. The walnut, goat cheese, and raspberry combination alone is worth the stop.
If you want to sample downtown without committing to a full sit-down meal at every stop, a guided Boise food tour is an easy way to do it. This downtown-focused food tour hits multiple local spots, gives you context on the city, and takes the decision fatigue out of choosing where to eat—especially if you’re short on time. You can check availability for the Boise food tour here.
Public art is one of my favorite parts of downtown Boise. Freak Alley Gallery is the most well-known stop—an outdoor alley gallery that’s constantly changing with colorful, sometimes quirky work from local and regional artists. It’s free, quick to walk through, and never looks the same twice.
Beyond Freak Alley, murals are scattered all over downtown. You’ll spot them on building sides, tucked into side streets, and wrapped around corners you might not expect. One of my favorites is on the side of the Re-Pop Gifts building, which conveniently doubles as a great shopping stop.
Shopping downtown Boise is a mix of local boutiques and independent shops that are easy to pop into and accidentally spend way too much time in. Rediscovered Books is a classic independent bookstore, Mixed Greens is great for Boise-themed prints that don’t feel cheesy, Idaho Made is perfect for local goods and food items, and Boise Co-op Mercantile is full of unique finds. Re-Pop Gifts is colorful, quirky, and full of pop culture items you didn’t know you needed, and Flying M Coffeehouse blends coffee, local art, and a very Boise vibe.
This part of downtown alone fills a big chunk of a Boise in One Day itinerary without ever feeling rushed.
One of the best parts of Boise in One Day is how easy it is to get outside without committing to a hike. Anne Morrison Park, the Boise Footbridge, and Julia Davis Park connect seamlessly and make for a relaxed riverside walk that fits naturally into a downtown day.
Anne Morrison Park feels open and calm, the Boise Footbridge offers a quick scenic crossing over the river, and Julia Davis Park adds a more cultural, downtown-adjacent feel with museums and pathways. Together, they create a simple loop that lets you experience Boise outdoors without overthinking it. For a deeper breakdown of this walk, learn more in my post about Anne Morrison Park, Boise Footbridge & Julia Davis Park: An Easy Downtown Walk.
Alavita is a great choice for dinner when you want a proper sit-down meal that isn’t overly formal. The menu is concise and focused on house-made pasta and seasonal ingredients, which makes ordering easy and keeps the experience relaxed. Our meal hit all the right notes, especially the pappardelle with spicy pork sausage and broccolini, which was filling without feeling heavy.
It’s best suited for dinner rather than a quick bite, and reservations are a good idea on weekends. If you’re planning a downtown Boise evening, Alavita fits in easily. For a full breakdown of what we ordered and why it works so well, check out my guide to Alavita Boise Review: Handmade Pasta & a Cozy Downtown Dinner Spot.
If your Boise in One Day visit includes an overnight stay, downtown is the easiest base. Staying central keeps everything walkable and saves time. You can browse where to stay near downtown Boise or if you are ready to book you can do that here to compare hotels by location and style, or use Hotels.com if you’re tracking rewards nights.
If you’re extending your stay or planning to explore beyond downtown, renting a car makes things much easier. Using Discover Cars is a simple way to compare rental options and prices without bouncing between sites.
For travelers flying in, checking Skyscanner ahead of time helps spot reasonable flight options, especially if Boise is a quick add-on to a longer trip.
For a compact, well-rounded visit, Boise in One Day works surprisingly well. You can eat extremely well, explore downtown on foot, enjoy public art, get outside along the river, and end the day with a solid dinner—all without feeling rushed or overplanned. It’s an easy city to settle into, even if you’re only passing through.
Sky Ranch Lodge, Sedona. Booked it for the location, stayed for the sunsets.
This is not a five-star resort with ten restaurants and a spa menu the length of a novel. It’s a family-owned boutique hotel on Airport Mesa that knows exactly what it’s good at: red rock views from basically everywhere and one of the best sunset spots in town, private, with maybe four other couples instead of a crowd.
We booked a Premier Rim Room and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Watched the sunset from our own patio one night and it’s still one of my favorite moments of the whole trip.
✨ Six acres of botanical gardens to wander morning and evening
✨ Pool + hot tub that hit exactly right after a day of hiking
✨ On-site food truck for easy breakfasts and lazy room service nights
✨ Complimentary shuttle so you’re not fighting Sedona parking
✨ Robes, slippers, and a staff that felt genuinely happy to help
Two stays in and I’d book it again without a second thought. This is where to stay in Sedona if you want it to actually feel like Sedona.
Thank you to @skyranchlodge for having us, link in bio for the full review 🌵
Four hours on a train through a canyon you can’t reach by car — such a fun experience! We picked the indoor seats with unlimited access to the open-air viewing car, which honestly felt like the only right call. You’re not stuck in an assigned seat the whole time we bounced between the two, snacks in hand, chasing the best light.
The scenery is the whole point. Red rock cliffs, the Verde River, a 734-foot tunnel, historic trestle bridges views most people visiting Sedona never see, because you literally can’t drive to them.
The charcuterie box that comes with your ticket is shockingly filling ✨ so skip lunch at the Copper Spike Café beforehand, save your appetite for dinner back in Sedona.
Four hours with no stops did start to feel long by the end, but the trade-off for scenery like this? Worth it.
Would I ride it again? Yes. Would I buy lunch first again? No.
Link in bio for the full review cost breakdown, what to pack, and exactly how early to arrive 🚂
I ate chilaquiles while a Cessna taxied past the window, and that’s just a normal Tuesday breakfast in Sedona.
@mesa_grill_sedona sits right beside the Sedona Airport Scenic Lookout, so along with your food you get red rock views stretching in every direction and a front-row seat to tiny planes lifting off. Chef Mercer Mohr runs the kitchen, serving up Southwestern comfort food from breakfast through dinner, chilaquiles, elevated diner classics, burgers, steaks, seafood, all of it.
The view is what pulls people in the door, but the food actually holds its own. Good enough that this place stays packed with locals, not just tourists passing through on their way to the lookout. It also picked up the 2025 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice and OpenTable Diners’ Choice awards, so it’s not just me saying it.
Indoor seating if you want the AC, a pet-friendly patio if your dog’s along for the trip. Either way, get there before plane-spotting turns into a wait for a table.
Link in bio for the full Sedona breakfast roundup ✈️🌵
Confession: my newsletter is where the good stuff lives. Not the polished, edited-for-the-grid stuff, the “here’s the hole-in-the-wall I almost skipped” stuff, the packing lists I actually use, the “don’t book this hotel” warnings before you waste your money on them.
The newsletter is basically me texting you before a trip instead of after one. Sign up and you’ll be the first to know where I’m headed next, plus a few things I’ll never post here.
Link in bio if you want in. ✈️
Yes, it’s only July. Start planning anyway. Fall books faster than people expect, and a few of these destinations are worth getting ahead of. Here are five places worth putting on your radar right now.
Ireland: Cooler temps, moody skies, dramatic coastline fall was made for it. Tourist crowds drop, the green stays, and the whole country feels a little more like itself.
Great Smoky Mountains, TN/NC: Fall foliage in the Smokies is the real thing. The color peaks mid-October and the views from the ridgelines are hard to argue with. It’s also one of the most visited national parks in the country, so going on a weekday makes a real difference.
New York City: Fall is NYC at its best comfortable temps, the energy of the city shifting into a new season, and every neighborhood doing something worth showing up for. It’s also just a great walking city when it’s not brutally hot.
Japan: Fall foliage season is as good as spring cherry blossoms and somehow less talked about. The colors are dramatic, the temples and gardens are stunning, and it’s worth planning around peak dates by region.
Mystic, Connecticut: Small, walkable, genuinely charming Mystic in fall feels like exactly what a New England autumn is supposed to look like. Easy to pair with a broader New England road trip if you want to extend it.
Full guides linked in bio 🍂
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