3 day stay in Coeur d'Alene (2 Adults, 1 infant)

Hi -

We (2 Adults mid 30%26#39;s, 1 infant) will be traveling for the first time to Coeur d%26#39;Alene to visit a relative at the end of July. I would appreciate some advice on where to stay. First choice was the resort, but it is booked solid. I prefer someplace safe and close to downtown for walking or near the lake.

Also, any suggestions on some easy hikes or places to see during the day?

Also2, I am toying with the idea of driving to Nelson, BC one day to look around. Is it worth the effort? I think it%26#39;s 3 hour drive.

Thanks,

T

3 day stay in Coeur d'Alene (2 Adults, 1 infant)

Hotels - very limited choice right downtown, other than the resort there are two older hotels downtown that have been reviewed on this site - Flamigo and Resort City. Some other choices not right downtown but a short drive or very long walk away from downtown include the Best Western Coeur d%26#39; Alene (owned by same owner as the Resort), Amertel (close to water park), the La Quinta on Sherman, and the Holiday Inn Express on Seltice (seems to be getting good reviews on this site). There are also a couple of B%26amp;B%26#39;s close to downtown - Roosevelt and the McFarland (reviewed on this site).

Hikes - great hike is Tubbs Hill right downtown, public natural park that has a 2 mile perimeter trail with great lake views and lake access. Free public parking lot at 11th street trailhead. Another hike less than 30 minutes out of town is the Mineral Ridge Trail at Beauty Bay on Highway 97, nice trail with great views of the lake. You take Interstate 90 east to the Highway 97 exit and proceed to the parking lot and picnic area at Beauty Bay.

Nelson - 3 hours one way at least probably closer to 4 hours, traffic in summer through Sandpoint, Idaho can slow you down. It can be a nice loop drive by driving up through Creston, BC and along Kootenai Lake to the free ferry across the lake to Balfour and on into Nelson. From Nelson you can go south to Salmo and cross back over to Creston via Canadian Highway 3. An all day trip for sure. If you want someplace to similar to visit without all the driving I would just go up to Sandpoint for the day, has a public beach/park on the lake, shopping in a nice downtown, nice local museum in city park, or go up to Schweitzer Ski Resort just north of town and ride ski lift to top of the mountain. Sandpoint is a 45 minute to 1 hour drive due north of Coeur d%26#39; Alene.

Have a great trip.

3 day stay in Coeur d'Alene (2 Adults, 1 infant)

Hi,

Dave answered your questions, but I thought I%26#39;d add my .02 regarding things to do during the day while in Coeur d%26#39;Alene.

Make sure you walk through the little downtown area near the resort. There are some nice shops and cafes all just steps from the resort. There%26#39;s also a city beach and park, which will be crowded, but it%26#39;s a fun atmosphere.

If you have time, you might want to take a short cruise on the lake. They pick up right at the resort and are usually very affordable. It%26#39;s a great way to see the area. You could easily combine a Tubbs Hill visit, a walk through downtown, lunch, and a day at the beach in one day. The next day, a cruise on the lake and if you%26#39;re feeling like driving at all, you could drive 35 minutes to the Silver Valley (east on Hwy 90) to Silver Mountain in Kellogg and take a trip up the world%26#39;s longest gondola and then drive to Wallace, which is a really picturesque old town with shops and a few places to eat.

I%26#39;d recommend a mine tour, but not sure an infant would be too happy -- it%26#39;s dark and cold and sounds echo....

In general Coeur d%26#39;Alene is very clean and very safe, you really can%26#39;t go wrong wherever you stay.

While you%26#39;re here make sure you take a walk around the Fort Sherman park by the beach and the floating boardwalk at the CDA resort. Also be sure to hike the nature trail around Tubbs Hill (right by the resort and the boardwalk). It takes about an hour (two at the very most) to walk around. Very pretty, the best views of the lake, lots of little secluded beaches for swimming or a picnic. You%26#39;ll probably see lots of locals jumping off the cliffs and rocks into the water.

Good local restaurants...

Tomato Street on Appleway has great Italian food and pasta, their smashed sandwiches are delicious and the atmosphere is really fantastic. This is probably my favorite local restaurant (they have a location in Spokane too) Good wine list and big portion sizes.

White House Grill in nearby Post Falls (only about 3 miles west just off I-90 on the corner of Seltice and Spokane Street) has amazing authentic Greek/Turkish/Mediterranean food…go at lunch time, for dinner you need reservations and even with reservations you will wait forever, but there is usually no waiting at lunch. Ask about the specials and the ';Spring Bowl'; it is not on the menu but always available…their Shepard%26#39;s Salad is great too

If you are wine lovers stop by Barrel No.6 on Sherman Ave. downtown. This local wine bar serves wine grown regionally and made locally by Coeur d%26#39;Alene Cellars, their basic red is great

For fantastic desserts go to the Dockside restaurant in the CDA Resort...their ';Gooey'; sundaes are the best (the sundaes are about $8 each, but big enough to feed 2 or 3 people, you can get a smaller ';personal sized'; sundae too, but that is not as fun) The food at Dockside is good too, but we usually just go for dessert (then take a walk around the boardwalk)

Hudson%26#39;s Hamburgers on Sherman is good for a simple lunch while shopping downtown…their burgers are famous and oh so good…but that is pretty much all they serve, burgers and pie, they have been around for literally about 100 years

Michael D%26#39;s just off Sherman on CDA Lake Drive serves a great breakfast, especially if you like a good omelet – they are not open for dinner, just breakfast and lunch

If you are a coffee lover there are tons of great Cafes here…Java on Sherman has a great drink called the Bowl of Soul (espresso and Mexican hot chocolate, a little on the sweet side, but soooo good) Java is a good place for breakfast too

Thanks....I%26#39;ll be printing all of your emails to save and review. With an infant, we are limited to what we can do. But I think the main items will be:

1. Lake cruise

2. Hiking

3. Explore the city itself (mainly downtown).

Questions:

1. We plan to take 1 day to go explore Northern Idado. What town do you suggest? We like to walk around, see Art shops, nice scenary etc....my wife was thinking Sandpoint. Is that ideal? Are other towns close enough to see more than 1?

2. Spokane - is there anything of note we should see? I was thinking of either leisurely taking CDA Sunday morning or going to Spokane to see stuff before our flight at 1:00pm.

3. Are there any Internet cafes downtown CDA or perhaps a library that has internet (broadband would be ideal).

Thanks,

T

1. Sandpoint is a good choice, great scenery, public park and beach on the lake, several shopping (Coldwater Creek) and cultural opportunities, it can be a little crowded in the summer, traffic getting in to town can be congested. Wallace to the east of Coeur d%26#39; Alene is another small town with interesting architecture but not as much to offer as Sandpoint in terms of culture and shopping.

2. In Spokane there is a nice downtown park (Riverfront) and also a nice museum just to the west of downtown (Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture - www.northwestmuseum.org ). If you want a thick sunday paper to read buy the Spokesman Review (regional paper out of Spokane) instead of the Coeur d%26#39; Alene Press or buy both.

3. There are several coffee shops on Sherman in downtown which offer wireless internet. The current city library is located in the midtown area on Harrison Ave. and does have internet access.

Hopefully it will cool off a little for your visit out here, its been in the upper 80%26#39;s to mid 90%26#39;s for the last couple of days. So far no major forest fires near the area so sky is still clear of smoke.

We just got back from Idaho thus my thoughts:

We mainly visited my wife%26#39;s grandmother to show off the new baby. But we wanted to do a relaxing trip to get out of Colorado.

Couer D%26#39; Layne - we stayed here and thought the town was quite nice. The downtown was decent, with lots of cafes, bars, etc. Most of the shops were closed at night, which was odd to us.

The setting with the lake and surrounding mountains with trees was very charming.

Hotel - we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, in a King bed Suite. It was a nice hotel and glad I picked this over Best Western.

Eats -

Tora Viejo - so so Mexican food.

Java on Sherman - nice coffee house. Went twice and had the bowl of soul. Very good.

Tomato Street - VERY Good! Baked Spag. was excellent and a good family setting.

Dockside - went for Gooey sundaes...good stuff.

Random:

- We did the lake tour via the CDA resort. That was nice and some of those homes were quite nice along the shoreline

- Sandpoint -- drove there and honestly was a little disappointed. The scenary was great, but the little town has flaws since the highway goes right through it. Walked the beach.

- Bay View - My wife%26#39;s grand mother used to have a lake house. This area was very nice as well. We ate at the floating retaurant thing in ';town';.

Anyway, we enjoyed the trip and can see why people live there. I actually would like to come back and try to snow ski in the winter at the two main areas.

Thanks for the tips....

Todd

Forgot to mention:

1. Hudson Hamburgers - tried to go but way packed. Plus seating was not good for infant%26#39;s stroller etc...oh well.

2. Ate breakfast one day at Bella ??? - this was good, but liked Java%26#39;s coffee better.

3. Had lunch at the Beacon. Good fish n chips.

Bars - would have been nice to have had a baby sitter (grandmother is too busy with sick husband) as there were lots of nice places I would have wanted to try out with the wife. The Beacon looked like fun as did two wine places (Wine Cellars, Barrel No 6) and Brix....among others.

- What%26#39;s that Eagles place? Looks like a private club that runs a bar?

5. Spokane - did not have much time to explore, just drove around downtown near Riverfront Park. It looked like parts of downtown was vibrant, but otherwise other parts seemed run down.

T

Ugh - forgot to mention...

We hiked Tubbs Hill. Good hike with great views. It must be nice for the locals to have something like this so close to downtown.

Todd

Glad you enjoyed your trip. You are right about the highway in downtown Sandpoint, the locals are divided on a bypass route that would take some of the traffic out of downtown, they have been fighting with each other and the Idaho Transportation Dept for the last ten years over the route. The Eagles in downtown Cda is a semiprivate club offering food and drinks similiar to the Elks. If you are a snow person winter is a great time to come to Coeur d%26#39; Alene - Sandpoint, its not as busy with tourists. There are actually three other ski mountains in the area other than the big two (Silver Mt. and Schweitzer), Lookout on the Idaho - Montana border on Interstate 90; Mt. Spokane just north of the city of Spokane; and 49 Degrees North, north of Spokane near town of Chewelah.