Winter is when Idaho hot springs turn magical: steam rolling off the water, snow piled on the rocks, and a hot pool all to yourself. This collection gathers the springs tagged for winter soaking, from plowed road resorts to natural pools that stay reachable in the cold months. Access is the whole game in winter, so check road conditions and daylight before you go, and never let a soak leave you driving an icy canyon road after dark.
In the unincorporated community of Paradise, near Featherville in Elmore County, Trinity Hot Springs is a private membership club built around one large outdoor pool on Grouse Creek, just off the South Fork Boise River. The pool is fed directly by the spring and kept untreated and chemical free, and the water behind it carries…
Challis Hot Springs is a developed, state-run soak on the Salmon River, about 8 miles east of Challis: two outdoor pools with natural gravel and river-rock bottoms, a riverside campground, and a soaking history that runs back to 1880. If the name is new to you, the place is not. For most of its life…
Deep in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest east of Elk City, Red River Hot Springs is a developed, year-round resort built around a set of natural hot springs: a large outdoor swimming pool, three soaking tubs, and a lodge where some rooms let you soak in private without leaving your bathroom. The resort runs on…
Most Idaho hot springs ask you to share. This one asks you to book the whole place. On Goose Creek between McCall and New Meadows, the Tibbs Family Mountain Retreat is a 10 acre off-grid property where two natural hot springs feed two private pools in the trees above the creek. There is no public…
Mountain Village Resort’s hot springs in Stanley, Idaho, have grown well beyond the single pool the old listings describe: today there are three soaking tubs along Valley Creek — the long-standing Osprey Hot Spring plus two newer private tubs, Sandhill Crane and Bluebird — all with astounding views of the Sawtooth Mountains, and all soaked by reservation only.
Loftus Hot Springs is a pair of user-built rock pools along the Middle Fork Boise River Road — famous, heavily used, and with a rough recent history: the pools were destroyed by vandals in 2011 and rebuilt by local soak seekers, in reduced form, later that year. The upper pool (102°F, mortar-reinforced) and lower pool (100°F) sit right off the washboard road between Boise and Atlanta, and usage here is extreme — this is a known party spot for hunters and ATVers, kegs and all. Two cautions from the listing itself: watch for broken glass in the pools, and poison ivy grows around them.
Slate Creek Hot Springs — also known as Hoodoo Hot Springs — is a sunken wooden soaking box at the old Hoodoo Mines site in the White Cloud Mountains, in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area northeast of Stanley, Idaho. A short hike at the end of a bumpy, unpaved forest road (FSR 666) reaches one of the most characterful soaks in the Stanley area: a plumbed, drainable wooden box fed by a mine-shaft source.
Elkhorn Hot Springs — better known to regulars as Boat Box — is an easy-access wooden soaking box right next to Highway 75 near Stanley, Idaho, in the Sawtooth National Forest. Fill the tub, temper it with buckets of cold Salmon River water, and settle into one of the most beloved roadside dips in the Stanley area — it’s usable all year.
Vulcan Hot Springs is one of Idaho’s most unusual hot springs: a short hike through the Boise National Forest, in the Warm Lake area, reaches a source so strong that the US Department of Energy studied its geothermal potential for years. Its main pool was once reputedly the largest natural hot springs pool in Idaho — but a wildfire-era cave-in filled it with silt and sludge, and today, per the latest update, only one small pool remains soakable.
Trail Creek Hot Springs is a hugely popular pair of mortar-reinforced rock pools in the Boise National Forest northeast of Cascade, in the Warm Lake area. A short but steep hike from the highway pullout — across a man-made bridge over the creek — reaches two pools whose temperatures soakers fine-tune with creek water and a valved PVC feed. Expect company: usage here is extreme.
Molly’s Hot Springs is a log-dam and rock-bordered pool in the Boise National Forest’s Warm Lake area, a quarter-mile from the forest road — the best-known soak of the Molly’s cluster, close enough to the road to stay popular but far enough to feel like a real find. Its temperature is adjustable via a hose-and-valve system fed from the source.
Mile-16 Hot Springs — better known to regulars as Fire Crew (and sometimes Sugah) — is a single rock-mortared pool beside the South Fork Salmon River in the Boise National Forest, northeast of Cascade in the Warm Lake/Yellow Pine area. Not to be confused with the unrelated Fire Crew Hot Springs near Crouch: this one’s nickname comes from the Krassel workstation fire crew that built the soak in 1980–81, and “Mile-16” dates from when the road was unpaved and the spring sat exactly 16 miles down it.
Burgdorf Hot Springs is a historic, rustic hot springs resort and ghost town on private land surrounded by the Payette National Forest, about 30 miles north of McCall, Idaho. Founded in the 1870s, Burgdorf soaks visitors in three historic log-sided pools fed by two ~113°F sources — and today it runs reservation-only, booked online in advance.
Weir Creek Hot Springs is a crystal-clear forest soak in the Clearwater National Forest near Lolo, Montana, reached by a short but steep hike from the Highway 12 corridor. Its enlarged main pool runs 105–108°F and holds 8–10 soakers, making it one of the most popular wilderness soaks in North-Central Idaho — expect company, and pack out more than you pack in.
Banbury Hot Springs near Buhl, Idaho, is now owned by Miracle Hot Springs and reopened in 2026, offering a large general pool, individual private pools and lodging.
Riverside Hot Springs Inn & Spa is a historic 1914 adults-only inn in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, with three indoor private soaking tubs and one outdoor tub included with an overnight stay. Its 18-room hotel adds the Portneuf Grille & Lounge and a continental breakfast, at 255 East Portneuf Street.
Bear River Hot Springs (formerly Riverdale Resort) is a year-round natural mineral hot springs resort five miles north of Preston, Idaho, with four pools including a hot tub and a therapy pool. Lodging includes an 8-room hotel with in-room jetted Jacuzzi tubs, plus cabins, RV sites, and camping at 3696 N 1600 E, Preston.
Lava Hot Springs Inn & Spa is a historic inn in downtown Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, with 6 outdoor mineral pools ranging from 94 to 107°F plus a 44° cold plunge pool. Public soaking passes are $15 with pools open daily 7 AM to 11 PM, and lodging includes a full hot buffet breakfast.
Home Hotel Lava Hot Springs is a historic hotel in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, operating since 1918 and known for private in-room natural mineral hot springs in over-sized two-person baths in most rooms. Check-in is 3:00 PM and check-out is 11:00 AM, with a 24-hour front desk at 306 E Main St.
Downata Hot Springs is a family-run resort south of Downey in South-East Idaho, built around a natural hot spring flowing at about 109 degrees. Its 300,000-gallon recreation pool with slides, quieter hot soaking pools, restaurant, spa, and campground make it a full-service stop.
The Lava Hotel & Spa (formerly Aura Soma Lava Hot Springs) in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, has a large hot springs soaking pool open daily from 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM for overnight guests. Lodging spans 5 rental homes — 3 with private natural mineral pools — and 2 motels, with a conference center, the on-site Lava Spa, and Liège waffles at Lava Waffle in the lobby.
Sharkey Hot Springs is a BLM-managed soaking site just off Highway 93 near Baker, south of Salmon, Idaho, with two deep concrete pools, changing rooms, and picnic facilities. Visitors aged 16 and older need a Sharkey Hot Springs Pass from Recreation.gov.
Jerry Johnson Hot Springs is one of Idaho’s most popular natural hot springs, in the Clearwater National Forest along Highway 12 in North-Central Idaho. Three sources feed rock-walled pools at the end of a short hike; nude soaking is the norm and the site is day-use only, 6 AM to 8 PM.
Snake Pit Hot Springs is a small, primitive natural hot spring on the edge of Stanley, Idaho, near Valley Creek. Its single silty-bottomed pool is free to soak in, with no facilities, in the shadow of the Sawtooth Mountains.
