The 28 Best Swimming Holes in Idaho

Sandpoint City Beach Park puts Idaho's largest lake two blocks from downtown. This city owned beach on Lake Pend Oreille combines six acres of sandy beach and mowed lawns with a roped, lifeguard supervised swim area in summer, all with views down the lake toward Schweitzer Mountain. It is a developed, easy access urban beach rather than a hidden swimming hole, and that is exactly its appeal for families.

The swim area gets real oversight: the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper samples the water monthly for E. coli and water quality from mid June through mid October. Come in summer when the lifeguards are on duty, and note the beach lot switches to paid hourly parking starting July 2026.

Dierkes Lake is Twin Falls' hometown swimming hole, a 24 acre lake in a basalt side canyon of the Snake River Canyon, less than a mile upstream of Shoshone Falls. It formed by accident in the early 1900s when irrigation seepage flooded a homesteader's orchard, and today it is a fully managed city park with a contained swim beach, floating docks for jumping and sunbathing, and seasonal lifeguards.

Visitors consistently describe the water as cold and clear even on hot summer days, and the city runs a monitored water quality program that has met standards through the season. Go before 9 a.m. in summer to beat the heat and crowds, the lot fills early on weekends.

Kirkham Hot Springs is the kind of place that makes Highway 21 worth pulling over for. A staircase drops from the roadside parking area straight to the edge of the South Fork Payette River, where small steaming waterfalls feed a series of natural rock pools, and hot mineral water mixes with the cold river current so you can dial in your own temperature.

It works as a soaking destination more than a spot for actual swimming, a hot-water riverside swimming hole about 3 miles east of Lowman in the Boise National Forest. The Forest Service warns that the rocks near the springs are uneven and slick when wet, and the pools sit right against a whitewater river, so watch your footing and your kids.

Banbury Hot Springs has been soaking swimmers since 1920, and it is a different animal from your usual swimming hole: natural artesian mineral water comes out of the ground at 138 degrees and gets cooled into a big 120 by 60 foot outdoor pool that runs roughly 89 to 102 degrees. There is a diving board at the deep end, shaded picnic grounds beside the pool, and five private soaking rooms where you can dial in your own temperature for a quieter soak.

The resort sits in Idaho's Hagerman Valley along the Snake River, in the Thousand Springs country where geothermal water pours out of the canyon walls. It runs on reservations rather than walk-ups, and it is closed Sundays, so book ahead before making the drive from Buhl.

Honeysuckle Beach is Hayden's official public swim beach on the east shore of Hayden Lake, and one of only two public access points on the whole lake. The city built it in 1992 with grant money and community donations, packing a designated swim area, boat ramp, volleyball court, and seasonal concession stand into one small waterfront lot.

For anyone near Hayden looking for a lake to swim in, this is the town's spot of record. Just know it is unguarded and swim at your own risk. A beach attendant is on duty Wednesday through Saturday in summer, but that person is not a lifeguard, and the city asks parents to supervise kids in the water.

Goldbug is the swimming hole version of a hot spring, about six boulder dammed pools terraced down a waterfall drainage on Warm Spring Creek, each one cooler than the last. The top pool runs near 113 degrees at the source, so soakers work their way downstream until they find their temperature, settling into sand and gravel bottomed pools with high desert canyon all around.

You earn it, the trail climbs about 1,350 feet over 2 miles, with a steep, stair assisted final half mile. It is free, signed clothing optional, and best in fall when the trail is dry and temperatures are moderate.

Jump Creek Falls packs a lot into a quarter mile walk, a waterfall dropping into a canyon plunge pool where the BLM officially sanctions taking a refreshing dip. The trail follows Jump Creek through a lush riparian corridor of water birch and red osier dogwood, a green ribbon through the country southwest of Marsing.

As swimming holes go this is a cool off spot at the base of the falls rather than a big open pool, and the BLM itself cautions swimmers to be careful there. Watch for poison ivy too, it grows thick along the creek and trail.

Riley Creek is the largest recreation area of the Albeni Falls Project, an Army Corps campground on the Pend Oreille River with a designated swimming hole that families genuinely rave about. Multiple visitor reviews call the sandy swim beach very gradual and perfect for young children, with a clean shoreline and a large play structure right at the recreation area.

This is river swimming, though, on the Pend Oreille as it drains one of the largest and deepest natural lakes in the western US. At least one paddleboarder found the current stronger than expected outside the calm swim area, so keep little ones in the sandy shallows.

Rigby Lake Beach is the local swimming hole for anyone near Rigby, a sandy designated swim beach on the natural lake at Jefferson County Lake & Campground. The lake is non-motorized and calm, there's a lake slide right at the beach, and the whole thing sits inside a tidy county park with campground loops and shelters on the Snake River plain of eastern Idaho.

It's built for families and casual swimmers rather than open-water types, and the county says the lake hits full recreational capacity by early July, so expect company in midsummer. There's no lifeguard, just a posted swim-at-your-own-risk policy, so keep an eye on the kids. The park runs May 1 through mid-October, 9am to 10pm daily.

Pink House is a BLM campground and day use area on the Clearwater River about 5 miles west of Orofino, built around a large sandy beach that doubles as the local swimming hole and a favorite put in for tubing the mellow rapids upstream of town. Swimming is an officially listed activity, and one camper review specifically calls out the gentle beach as a place to let the kids take a swim.

The water runs cold, per camper reports, and it is open, unsupervised river with real if mellow rapids nearby, so keep younger swimmers close. One nice bonus, the beach closes to vehicles June through September, so in peak season the sand is foot traffic only.

Hot Springs Campground is a Forest Service group campground on the Banks-Lowman Highway in the Boise National Forest, and its defining feature is right in the name. A natural hot springs pool forms at the edge of the South Fork Payette River, reached by a staircase directly across the road from the campground, where hot spring water meets the cold river.

Think of it as a soaking spot rather than a swimming hole. The river canyon sits at about 3,169 feet with Ponderosa pines and summer wildflowers, and this same stretch of the Payette is run as Class III to IV whitewater by local outfitters, so the current nearby is real. Stick to the shallow soaking pockets and keep kids close.

Priest River Recreation Area is an Army Corps campground and day use site on the banks of the Priest River, about a mile east of town and just upstream of where the river meets the Pend Oreille near Albeni Falls Dam. The day use side has a designated swim beach, an easy, no guesswork river to swim in, backed up by a picnic shelter, playground, softball field, and boat ramp.

The setting is classic North Idaho, riverbank shaded by firs, cedars, and pines. It leans family day out more than wild swimming hole, which for plenty of visitors is exactly the point.

Trail Creek Hot Springs, also called Samuel's Hot Springs, is a free, undeveloped soak about 19 to 20 miles east of Cascade on Warm Lake Road. Volunteer-built rock and cement pools sit right beside Trail Creek, fed by a geothermal source running roughly 120 to 125 degrees, and soakers use a PVC pipe to pull in cold creek water until the pools settle into a comfortable 100 to 110 degrees.

This is a hot-water twist on the classic swimming hole, rustic and do-it-yourself, with one pool reported at roughly 8 by 12 feet and about 2 feet deep. Winter is a popular time to soak with steam rising against the snow, but the short path down from the road gets icy enough to act like a slide, and there's a rope in place to help. No cell service out here, so plan accordingly.

Jerry Johnson is one of Idaho's most popular dispersed hot springs, part hot spring and part creekside swimming hole along Warm Springs Creek in the Clearwater National Forest. The 1.3-mile trail in starts with a wooden suspension bridge over the Lochsa River, then follows the creek upstream to a string of natural pools at different sizes and temperatures.

Soaking is the main event here, not lap swimming. The cliffside pools near the source run seriously hot, reported around 115 degrees, shallower pools sit right along the creek, and the Big Pool holds around ten people with cooler, clearer water and meadow views. Regulars point to late summer and fall for the best conditions, since spring runoff can submerge the lower pools.

North Park sits on the northwest corner of C.J. Strike Reservoir, a roughly 7,500-acre impoundment of the Snake River out in Idaho's high-desert Owyhee country. Idaho Power built the dam and runs this 18-acre park at the end of the Strike Dam cut-off road, pairing RV and tent camping with a boat ramp and designated swim areas along the shoreline.

The swim areas make this a convenient swimming hole for anyone near Grand View or Bruneau, and day use is completely free. Expect calm, lake-style water rather than river current, but there are no lifeguards at Idaho Power parks and nobody has documented how the bottom slopes, so ease in carefully with kids.

Loftus Hot Spring is a soak, not a swim: hot mineral water pours off the hillside in a small waterfall and collects in two user-built rock pools at the edge of the Middle Fork Boise River, deep enough to sit chest-deep on a sandy bottom. The source runs around 129 degrees, so the pools depend on cold river water mixing in to hit a comfortable 100 to 105, and the river itself is right there when you need to cool off, making this more hot tub with a swimming hole chaser than either one alone.

The setting is a forested granite canyon at about 3,600 feet, ponderosa pine and Douglas fir all around, with steam rising off the rocks on cool mornings. Getting there means a rough, washboarded drive up Middle Fork Boise River Road, and the site has a reputation for heavy party use, with visitors reporting broken glass in the pools and poison ivy nearby.

Weir Creek Hot Springs is more soaking spot than swimming hole, and that's exactly why people pull off US-12 for it. A short trail leads to a cluster of volunteer-built rock pools holding geothermal water in the 100 to 105F range, with the main pool, big enough for about ten people, perched on a ledge looking down over the creek. Smaller, cooler pools sit closer to the water, and the creek itself runs warm and shallow here, good for casual wading between soaks.

The setting is a narrow cedar-forested canyon in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest along the Lochsa River corridor, and it's free, undeveloped, and popular. Late spring through fall is the recommended window; the pools are reachable in winter but the steep approach gets genuinely hazardous with ice. Expect crowds on summer weekends and no cell service either way.

Bumblebee Campground sits in an open meadow in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, right where Bumblebee Creek runs toward the Little North Fork Coeur d'Alene River. Recreation.gov officially tags it as a swimming site, with easy creekside access for floating, swimming, and wading straight from camp.

Think of it as a casual creek swimming hole rather than a deep plunge pool. One camper describes a shaded stretch of clean running creek water right behind a campsite, and short forest trails lead to beaver dams nearby. Prime trout water is only about half a mile away.

Beaver Creek Campground puts you on the western shore of Priest Lake, shaded by hemlock and cedar at about 2,500 feet, with views across the water to the Selkirk Mountains. Recreation.gov lists swimming among the official on-site activities, centered on a beach that is easy to reach right from the campground.

Priest Lake is noted by Idaho State Parks for its extremely clear water, fed by streams cascading off the high Selkirk peaks, which makes this a genuinely appealing lake to swim in. If you are camping here, the beach is your built-in swimming hole, no driving required.

Skookumchuck is one of a chain of small BLM river access sites strung along the Lower Salmon River south of White Bird, and it is one the agency explicitly tags with a swimming beach. Pair that with a shaded, grassy picnic area and you have a simple, no frills swimming hole right off Highway 95 at milepost 219.

This stretch of the Salmon is known for canyon scenery and white sandy beaches, but it is still a free flowing river. There are no lifeguards, so respect the current, especially with kids in the water.

Devils Elbow is a 20 site Forest Service campground right on the banks of the North Fork Coeur d'Alene River, with a designated swimming site listed among its official activities. That makes it a legitimate river to swim in rather than an informal find, though this is true moving water, the same stretch draws rafters and kayakers, with Class I to III rapids downstream.

Timing matters at this swimming hole. A visitor review describes the current as too fast for kids to play in early in the season, settling into calmer, more swimmable flows later in summer, so aim for the back half of the season for the mellowest water.

North Shore Picnic Area gives day visitors one of the easiest ways to swim in Redfish Lake, just 4 miles from Stanley in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. It's a Forest Service day-use site with a designated swim beach and two waterfront picnic areas, all sitting right on the shoreline of a big glacially carved lake at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains.

It makes a fine alpine swimming hole for families, with a shallow sandy entry an easy walk from the parking area, though there are no lifeguards and motorized boat traffic uses the Sandy Beach ramp about a quarter mile away. Parking is the one pinch point here, so carpool if you can.

Valley Creek Hot Springs, also called Snake Pit, is that rare hot spring you can reach in a five minute stroll from the edge of downtown Stanley, across a footbridge over Valley Creek with open views of the Sawtooths. The pool is about 20 feet across and 2 to 3 feet deep, more soaking spot than swimming hole, with warm to lukewarm water and a few noticeably hotter bubbling areas near the source, measured up to 111 degrees.

The bottom is fine silt that clouds the moment you move, so don't expect crystal water even though it emerges clear from the ground. It is free and undeveloped, and it sits beside a separate, privately operated paid hot springs in a barn, so mind the property line.

Sandy Point Beach is the swimming unit of Lucky Peak State Park, a 34-acre developed sandy beach at the base of Lucky Peak Dam on the Boise River, about 8 miles southeast of Boise. It has earned its reputation as one of the best places to swim near the city: calm, clear, cool water, a big sandy shoreline, and plenty of cool grass and shady trees to retreat to between dips.

The whole area is managed as a swim beach first. Fishing is prohibited in the swim area and only inflatable watercraft are allowed inside it, so the water stays clear for swimmers and waders. The gently sloping sand makes it a genuinely kid-friendly swimming hole, though no lifeguards are documented, so supervise your own crew. You can even skip the car and bike out from downtown Boise on the Greenbelt in about 30 minutes.

Orval Hansen Point Beach is a designated swimming beach on the north end of Redfish Lake, a glacial lake sitting at 6,547 feet at the base of the Sawtooths, with Mount Heyburn and Grand Mogul framing the far shore. For a mountain swimming hole it's unusually well supported, sharing the north-shore complex with Point Campground, Redfish Lake Lodge, and the Sandy Beach Boat Ramp.

The swimming is sandy-beach easy but genuinely cold. Surface temperatures peak around 62 degrees in late July and early August, so this is a lake for confident cold-water swimmers and waders rather than long lazy floats. There's a dock, paved parking right next door, and flush toilets at the adjacent campground, which is about as comfortable as alpine swimming gets.

North Beach is the quieter half of Ponderosa State Park, a sandy day-use beach about six miles north of McCall where the North Fork Payette River flows into the top of Payette Lake. Because it sits apart from the main peninsula unit near town, this sandy swimming hole tends to draw fewer people than the rest of the lake.

The setting is what sells it: conifer forest at around 5,000 feet, with the river braiding through wetlands just upstream before opening into the lake. Swimmers get lake-calm water right at the beach and moving river current just upstream, so small kids can wade near shore while you keep them clear of the river mouth. Expect cold water; Idaho's state parks flag average water temps around 52 degrees even in summer.

Carlin Bay Public Beach is a small county run swim spot on the quieter east shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene, a few minutes north of Harrison along the Highway 97 scenic route. The water is the draw, calm, clear, and snowmelt cold, lapping a sand and pebble beach tucked into a forested bay.

Kootenai County operates it as a combined boat launch and swimming area, so you share the shoreline with a public ramp and dock. It is a casual place to swim rather than a wilderness swimming hole, with restrooms on site and the privately run Carlin Bay Resort next door.

The Forest Service does not hand out the phrase lightly, but its own page calls Big Hole a day-use site popular for its swimming hole, right on the South Fork Boise River in the Sawtooth National Forest. It is about as bare-bones as river swimming gets: a free, unstaffed spot along Forest Road 227, roughly 6 miles downriver from the Big Smoky Guard Station, with a vault toilet and not much else.

That simplicity is the appeal if you like your swims remote and quiet, but do your homework on access. One aggregator reports large washouts on Forest Road 227 that have limited vehicle access at times, and the Forest Service asks visitors not to block the road or bathroom with the limited parking available.