You might be tempted to bypass Boise on your way to Sun Valley, but you’d miss out on one of the most vibrant cities in the Pacific Northwest—thanks in large part to its long history of welcoming refugees and immigrants. In 2025 that openness will be on full display at Jaialdi, a Basque festival held just once every five years and returning after a 10-year hiatus. Boise is home to one of the largest Basque populations outside Europe, and this nearly weeklong summer bash celebrates the diaspora’s rich culture with traditional food, drinks, music, and farm sports like wagon lifting and hay bale throwing. If you can’t visit during the festivities, you can still explore “Basque Block” in downtown Boise year-round. Plan your visit at lunchtime on a Wednesday or Friday, which is when the Basque Market prepares a giant pan of saffron-tinted paella on the sidewalk. Boise’s diversity has also given rise to a buzzy global food scene that’s delightfully unexpected in a state best known for its potatoes. In 2024, two local chefs were named James Beard semifinalists: Dan Ansotegui dishes out chorizos and other Basque specialties at Ansots, a casual eatery in Old Boise, and Salvador Alamilla serves a mash-up of SoCal, Michoacan, and Oaxacan fare at Amano, a five-year-old restaurant in the suburb of Caldwell. In summer 2024, Sunshine Spice Bakery & Cafe, owned by four sisters who fled the Taliban in Afghanistan the early 2000s, opened its second location in downtown Boise, where it doles out purple ube lattes, pistachio baklava, and saffron cookies each morning to streams of fans.
Downtown Boise is also having a boutique-hotel boom: Having debuted in summer 2024, The Sparrow is a hip new avatar of a 1960s motor lodge, while Hotel Renegade is a 122-key brick stunner with a rooftop bar and a Wisconsin-inspired supper club. And after more than two decades of bustling through top New York City kitchens, award-winning chef Cal Elliott returned to his hometown to open the 39-room Avery Hotel & Brasserie inside a lovingly restored 1910 building on Main Street. At this culinary-focused boutique hotel, which opened in the summer of 2023, guests can feast on upscale French classics like sole meunière and cassoulet, then wander upstairs and fall right into bed.
How to plan it: Fly to Boise Airport, then walk, bike, or ride-share everywhere—you don’t need to rent a car to get around these parts. Nicknamed the City of Trees, Boise is ideal for a fall foliage getaway, and you can take it all in from the Boise River Greenbelt, a 25-mile tree-lined riverfront path. Summer is a close second, but it’s also Boise’s busiest season. If you decide to rent a car, head into the mountains for a day trip to Idaho City, about an hour northeast of Boise along the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Route. This historic gold mining town has hot springs, backcountry yurts, hiking trails, and Wild West vibes. —Sarah Kuta
Cuba
Go for: the return of travel to an enduring favorite and its prismatic treasures
