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U.S. state
Photo: Levieuxchiendetalus, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. Idaho is known for its wilderness; there are snow-capped mountains that reach 10,000 to above sea level. One of the whitewater rivers runs through the country's deepest river canyon. Most of the land north of Boise is national forest or state forest.
Northern Idaho is the northern part of Idaho's Panhandle that borders on Montana, Washington State and British Columbia.
North Central stretches across vast wilderness, pristine rivers, deep canyons, and rolling hills in Idaho.
Southwestern Idaho is in Idaho.
Central Idaho is in Idaho.
South Central Idaho is in Idaho.
Eastern Idaho is part of the state that borders on Montana and Wyoming.
Southeastern Idaho is in Idaho.
By car
Idaho is served by several Interstate highways:
By train
Amtrak's Empire Builder service stops in Sandpoint on the Panhandle in the middle of the night (just before midnight westbound, about 2:30AM eastbound) on its daily runs between Chicago, Milwaukee,…
By bus
By car
Other than the interstates, most main roads in the state are two-lane highways. In more remote locations unpaved roads are commonplace.
By plane
Flying is an expensive but wonderful way to get around and see the majestic scenery.
By bus
Information on transit can be found from APTA.
Choose an airport to see hotels, stations, taxi ranks and car rental desks around it.
Salmon · Regional · SMN
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Boise is the capital and largest city of Idaho. Boise offers numerous recreational opportunities, including extensive hiking and biking in the foothills to the immediate north of downtown.
Coeur d'Alene, often referred to as simply CDA, is the largest city in Northern Idaho. The city is a tourist haven for outdoor pursuits.
Idaho Falls is a city in Eastern Idaho. Idaho Falls serves as the commercial, cultural, and healthcare hub for Eastern Idaho.
Moscow is a city in North Central Idaho with a population of around 25,000 people (2020), an agricultural center and the home of the University of Idaho. The surrounding area is generally referred to as the Moscow-Pullman area -- Pullman is a city in Washington, that is fairly symbiotic with Moscow.
Pocatello is a college town in Southeastern Idaho. About 57,000 people lived there in 2021.
Sandpoint is a popular city and tourist destination in northern Idaho, on the shore of lake Pend Oreille (Pond-Orr-Ay). The population was about 8,700 in 2018.
Shelley is a town of 4,700 people (2019) in Southeastern Idaho known for its Spud Day festival.
Stanley, a town of barely over 100 inhabitants (2020) in Central Idaho, is the perfect Rocky Mountain small town. This picturesque community is squeezed between the Salmon River of No Return and the Sawtooth Mountains, often referred to as the American Alps.
Twin Falls is the largest city in South Central Idaho and the seventh-largest city in the state. The geology of the Magic Valley is also notable, considering that it once sat atop the hotspot that is under Yellowstone National Park.
Custer is in Central Idaho.
Sun Valley is a mountain resort city at 6,000 ft (1,830 m), in central Idaho. It was founded in 1939.
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a United States national monument in the Snake River Plain of Central Idaho. The park was created to protect a vast landscape of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush.
Yellowstone National Park is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was the world's first national park, set aside in 1872 to preserve the vast number of geysers, hot springs, and other thermal areas, as well as to protect the incredible wildlife and rugged beauty of the area.
City of Rocks National Reserve is a unit of the United States National Park System that is in South Central Idaho. The reserve is popular with hikers and rock climbing who come to wander through the maze of massive boulders (some over 100 meters tall).
The Lewis and Clark Trail is a United States National Historic Trail commemorating the journey of the 1804-1806 Corps of Discovery expedition that explored the U.S.A.'s newly acquired Louisiana Purchase and beyond. The 3,700 mi (6,000 km) trail extends from Illinois to the Oregon coast, following the outbound and inbound routes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
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