Our Fun 2-Day Itinerary in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene
A Perfect Weekend Getaway From Seattle
Coeur d’Alene and Spokane are around six hours away from the Seattle area, making it perfect for a weekend trip. This specific itinerary is best used during October when the nearby amusement park is running the annual Scarywood festivities although we do offer alternatives in case that’s not an option for you.
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Day One: Coeur d’Alene
Early Morning Coffee Accompanied by a Beautiful Walk:
Anyone else enjoy an early morning walk with a warm drink? Start off the day at Calypso’s Coffee, an adorable little café filled with local art and cozy vintage seating. It has incredible small-town charm and you’ll easily feel right at home here. After that, go for a walk on the world’s longest floating boardwalk. It’s only a block away from Calypso’s and it gives you a close look at the marina and the lake. We actually did this portion of the trip in the reverse order, but I wish we had stopped at Calypso’s first because a warm drink would have been nice on the windy dock!
Seven Stars Alpaca Ranch:
About 20 minutes away from Calypso’s is the Seven Stars Alpaca Ranch. It’s a beautiful family ranch and truly a one of a kind experience. You can get up close to some cute animals, give the happy cuties some scratches, and explore their gorgeous ranch. We got to meet alpacas, donkeys, llamas, goats, and more! The tours start promptly so try not to be late (like we were, oops!). We were so delighted with their story and the small-town farm life, they really made us feel like part of the family. They even served us some delicious coffee and homemade banana bread after the tour!
Tubb’s Hill:
2 miles, 291ft elevation gain
If you still want to do some exploring, I highly recommend Tubb’s Hill. It’s a great walk right in the heart of Coeur d’ Alene. The boardwalk I mentioned earlier pretty much leads right to the base of the hill, so you could even do these two back to back if you wanted. Tubb’s Hill was a last-minute decision for us, and it was a good one! We only had time to check out a small portion of the area, but there are plenty of trails and lake access spots to explore. We even saw a cute little deer family! It’s a great place to view some fall colors (if you’re around in autumn) or go for a swim (if you’re around in the summertime). During the more touristy summer months, there can be some trash lying around the lake edge. A good tip is to keep a trash bag in your backpack or car just in case so that you can easily pick up after yourself and some other less considerate people.
Scarywood:
Since we went in autumn, we were able to go to Scarywood at the end of the day! (Alternatively, you can enjoy Silverwood if you’re there during the spring or summer!) It was incredibly fun and well worth the money. You get five or six haunted houses and they change a few every year so they feel familiar and fresh all at the same time. The lines are worth the wait for their well-done haunted houses. The attractions felt like walking through movie sets. There were also haunting areas outside the attractions where actors would try and scare you between haunted houses. We didn’t get through every haunted house since we decided to go on a Saturday, however, you can strategically pick days that would be less busy.
Note: Instead of Scarywood, you could: hike Mineral Ridge, explore the small town of Coeur d’Alene (there’s a ton of cute shops to go to), go canoeing or paddleboarding on the lake, or hike English Point on Hayden Lake.
These are the hikes mentioned in this section:
Mineral Ridge: Length 2.5 miles, 649 ft Elevation Gain, Rated Moderate
Day Two: Spokane
Rockwood Bakery:
If you’re like me and you can’t help but visit a breakfast or brunch place with every trip, you should stop in at Rockwood Bakery! The storefront is incredibly cute and they have fresh-baked goods every day! It feels like you’ve been transported to a European bakery. The almond croissants and blueberry pumpkin spice muffins are to die for! Not only that but you can take it all to-go and walk right into Manito Park from there if you’d like!
Manito Park:
If you like going to a city and not actually feeling like you’re in a city at all, Spokane has multiple large parks that give you that exact feeling. Manito Park is home to the Gaiser Conservatory and lots of incredible gardens. There are plenty of excellent spots to stop and enjoy the sun. You can even eat at ‘The Park Bench’, a cute little outdoor food shop right in the park. We were not lucky enough to try it since it was closed for the season, but the menu looked like there were lots of good things to choose from!
My all-time favorite spots in Manito Park are the rose garden and the Mirror Pond, but there are so many it’s hard to pick. The Duncan Garden right outside the Gaiser Conservatory is usually what people think of when they talk about Manito Park. It was really crowded when we visited so if you want this spot to yourself, make sure you go early! I recommend taking a long walk here, getting a bite to eat, and enjoying the flowers since the gardens are all free!
Riverfront Park:
As for Riverfront Park, there is so much to see and do. It feels more like you’re in the city due to the numerous attractions, but you can easily find spots to yourself. One of the many interesting things about Riverfront park is all the sculptures throughout. There are an incredible amount, some of them being the ‘garbage goat’ that sucks up small pieces of trash, a giant Radio Flyer wagon, and the Beautiful Fountain that people can run through from May to September. There’s even an outdoor skate ribbon that’s used year-round, either for roller skating or ice skating!
The main attraction is the large collection of waterfalls leading down into Huntington Park. There’s a lot of ways to see them. You can get on the Spokane Falls Sky-Ride (more on that in a second) or walk around to different vantage points. If you have the time, you should walk around and find the viewpoints since there are several drops in different locations. There are also a variety of restaurants and shops surrounding Riverfront Park that are worth checking out if you want to do a little shopping and city exploring. There’s an activity wheel nearby that can help you figure out what to do if you’re not sure!
If you’re looking for a map of Riverfront Park, click here!
If you’re looking for more information about Spokane Falls and the Sky-Ride, click here!
Spokane Falls Sky-Ride:
I included this separately because this is a tourist attraction and not everyone likes touristy activities. However, it only costs about $8 and we really enjoyed it. You get up close and personal with the falls on this gondola lift. You get to see many different sections of the falls as well as multiple branches of the river. With a 15 minute ride, I feel like it’s worth doing at least once. There are plenty of other ways to see the falls though, so you could skip it if you don’t want to go.
For detailed information on the Sky-Ride pricing and availability, click here!
Quick tip: If you want to, you could even head to Scarywood for a second night in a row! It’s only an hour from Spokane and in my opinion the attraction is best experienced in two days rather than just one.
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Do you like visiting theme parks during the holidays? Tell me about your experiences and which theme parks you like to visit in the comment section below! I love hearing feedback from you so don’t hesitate to give me your thoughts on this itinerary and let me know if you think something should change. Thank you so much for your support!
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Stay safe and explore responsibly,
Happy Adventuring!
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Hello I’m Caryn!
I’m a Pacific Northwest based adventurer and storyteller. I take a lot of photos, Zack takes a lot of videos, and together we try to bring our fun adventures to life to inspire you to go outside and have meaningful, unique outdoor adventures for yourself!