Idaho Falls, ID

Located on Broadway in downtown Idaho Falls, ARTitorium on Broadway is a fun and educational family attraction that offers kids up to the age of 12 a way to experience art and engage their imagination. There are art classes, field trips, and a whole range of interactive, hands-on exhibits.

The kids can use a green screen studio, art-making software, and animation stations and can take part in making murals and, the kids’ favorite, noise making projects. Kids use imaginative unexpected materials for their art installations, such as scrapbook paper, pipe cleaners, and much more. For inspiration, kids can look at more than 300 artworks showing on six large touch-screens available to the little artists in the Virtual Gallery.

Address: 271 W Broadway St, Idaho Falls, ID 83402, Phone: 208-552-1080

The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho was opened in 2002 to promote the visual arts through a range of innovative exhibits that focus on art education. The museum is located along the urban Greenbelt walkway that runs along the Snake River in Idaho Falls.

It has five galleries, an art classroom and workshop area, a children's interactive art area, and a gift shop. Visitors are free to explore the museum on their own or join one of the tours, family days, studio classes, or art lectures. The museum’s exhibitions represent not only regionally, nationally, and internationally renowned artists, but also emerging local artists. It is the only art museum in eastern Idaho.

Address: 300 S Capital Ave, Idaho Falls, ID 83402, Phone: 208-524-7777

The Collectors Corner Museum is a product of the collection passion of Jim and Nida Gyorfy. They just love to collect and have 125 different, very eclectic collections of collectibles of all sorts.

They decided to share their passion and opened the museum in 2003. The Collectors Corner Museum is located in a former grocery store and it can go unnoticed unless you know where to look. Once inside, you will be delighted by the nicely arranged exhibits behind clear glass. There are Precious Moments figurines, coins, Ron Lee clowns, stuffed animals, hubcaps, commemorative plates, troll dolls, model planes, mechanical monkeys, and so much more.

Not all of exhibits were made as collectibles, but Nida and Jim found them interesting and added them to their collection. Sometimes total strangers bring their own collections to share with the public. For older people, visiting the museum brings back childhood memories, with Pez candies and other familiar and now forgotten toys.

Address: 900 John Adams Pkwy, Idaho Falls, ID 83401, Phone: 208-528-9900

Hell's Half Acre lava field is a lava plain located on the Snake River Plain, about 25 miles from Idaho Falls. This huge 2,000-year-old plain of hard lava flow is full of large open cracks, sharp jagged rocks, and other obstacles. The 68,760 acres of the site southeast of the National Natural Landmark has been declared a wilderness study area.

The site is popular with hikers and there are two trails marked by flags: A short half-hour one and a longer one that requires a whole day and which leads to the central volcanic vent – a dark, low hill, about 700 feet long and almost 200 feet wide. This is the spot where the lava broke through the surface of the land thousands of years ago. About half way along the trail is a gazebo and a lovely scenic overlook.

If you come in the spring, you will notice clumps of wild flowers, bright green lichens, and mosses, starkly contrasting with the dark volcanic rocks.

Address: Interstate 15, Mile Marker 101 on I-15, Idaho Falls, ID 83221

For a small zoo, Idaho Falls Zoo has an incredible diversity of animals. More than 330 animals belonging to 120 species from all over the world live in spacious, natural enclosures.

The zoo, which is considered one of the best small zoos in the country, is part of the popular, large Tautphaus Park, one of the largest and oldest in Idaho Falls. There are 28 African species, including penguins, zebras, lions, and lemurs. Snow leopards, sloth bears, and red-crowned cranes come from Asia, while pelicans, otters, and golden eagles represent North America and kookaburra, singing dogs, and wallabies can be found in the section on Australia.

There is also a children’s zoo with sheep, pigs, and goats that kids can feed and pet.

Address: 2725 Carnival Way, Idaho Falls, ID 83402, Phone: 208-612-8422

Idaho is famous for its potatoes the world over, so it is natural that there is a potato museum. It is located in the 1913 building that originally housed the Oregon Short Line Railroad Depot. Today, Idaho Potato Museum showcases the history and the importance of the potato industry for the region and the state through a range of exhibits.

These include the largest potato chip in the world, a Peruvian 1,500-year-old container made specifically to store potatoes, a timeline of potato consumption in America that includes the introduction of french fries to the White House during the time of Thomas Jefferson, and so much more. The renovated station baggage claim room has been converted to the Potato Station Café, offering potato-themed foods, including potato chips dipped in chocolate.

Address: 130 NW Main St, Blackfoot, ID 83221, Phone: 208-785-2517

The Japanese city of Tokai-Mura is a sister city to Idaho Falls. To celebrate this friendship, the city built the Japanese Friendship Garden on a small island in the middle of the Snake River near Broadway Bridge.

There is a footbridge that provides access to the island from both sides of the river. A few decades ago, Tokai-Mura donated to Idaho Falls a large traditional stone lantern, which was placed in the Friendship Garden. It was the beginning of a community project that had the goal of creating a Japanese pavilion. Clarke Kido started landscaping the area near the lantern, and was joined later by Judy Sydel and Mike Zaladonis and many other volunteers. They planted bushes and trees, built a path and a deck, and slowly built a beautiful pavilion in the true Japanese tradition.

The Japanese Pavilion was officially opened to the public in 2016 and is today a wonderful, peaceful oasis, reflecting Japanese gardening and building esthetics and celebrating the friendship between the two cities.

Address: Island in the river at Broadway, Sportsmans Park; the Friendship Garden, Idaho Falls, ID, Phone: 208-881-3569

The Museum of Idaho is a great place to learn about Idaho’s history and culture. The building in which the museum is housed started its life as a public library, built in 1898 by the Village Improvement Society with the help of the Carnegie Foundation. The Improvement Society was run by a group of local women who wanted to bring culture to then dusty, wild, little town. When the library moved to a new location, they collected funds to renovate the dilapidated building and turn it into a museum.The exhibits that can be seen in the museum today were collected by the society members and today reflect Idaho’s history and way of life with exhibitions.

Address: 200 N Eastern Ave, Idaho Falls, ID 83402-4029, Phone: 208-522-1400