Historic Inns & Hotels in Idaho

The regions

Where to stay, by region

North Idaho

Three of the inns we list are here: one in Coeur d’Alene and two in Wallace. In downtown Coeur d’Alene, the Greenbriar Inn at 315 E Wallace Ave is the brick house that general contractor and bricklayer Harvey M. Davey built in 1908. It is listed on the National Register as the Harvey M. Davey House, and the inn lists seven rooms. In Wallace, the Ryan Hotel at 608 Cedar Street dates to about 1903 and is rated Contributory in the Wallace Historic District inventory. A 1933 fire gutted it, and Spokane architect G. A. Pehrson redid it with terra cotta Art Deco trim. It closes for the season, and its site says it reopens in 2027. The Brooks Hotel at 500 Cedar Street is also inside the district, at Fifth and Cedar, on the corner the district inventory gives to the Day Building, begun about 1904. Its on-site restaurant serves breakfast, which isn’t included in the rate.

Southwest Idaho

Burgdorf Hot Springs is the only stay we list in this region. It is in the Payette National Forest, 32 miles north of McCall, and is listed on the National Register as Burgdorf. Guests sleep in log cabins; the old hotel still stands but isn’t rented. The resort says Fred Burgdorf built the Little Red Cabin about 1870, and it dates most of the others to the 1920s and 1930s. Some were rebuilt in the 1970s, and two were moved in later. The cabins have no electricity or running water, guests bring their own bedding and food, and reservations open 90 days ahead.

Central Idaho

The Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch is the only stay we list in this region. It stands in the Sawtooth Valley, 9 miles south of Stanley, and is listed on the National Register as the Idaho Rocky Mountain Club. Ellis Bjorling designed it, crews began in fall 1929, and it opened on June 25, 1930. The ranch lists 21 rooms in the lodge and cabins, and all of them are in the 1929–30 buildings except one duplex cabin built about 1991. Its 2027 season runs June 11 to September 9. The ranch says rates include breakfast, a packed lunch and dinner, and you should check the minimum stay before you plan dates. We could not verify a qualifying stay in Boise, McCall, Ketchum or Sun Valley. Sun Valley Lodge and Sun Valley Inn are open, but we found no historic credential for them, so they aren’t listed.

Eastern Idaho & Yellowstone Country

Three of the inns we list are here, from Lava Hot Springs to the Yellowstone road. In Lava Hot Springs, Riverside Hot Springs Inn is a three-story red brick hotel on the Portneuf River, completed in 1914 by Dempsey rancher William Godfrey and listed on the National Register as the Riverside Inn. Book a guest room or suite, not a Riverside Duplex unit, because we could not confirm the duplexes are in the 1914 building. In Island Park, the Railroad Ranch at Harriman State Park is listed on the National Register as the Island Park Land and Cattle Company Home Ranch (Railroad Ranch). Book the Ranch Manager’s House, standing by 1917, or the 1928 Bunkhouse, which is sold with the 1949 Cookhouse, because the house and the Bunkhouse are both contributing buildings. Reservations go through Idaho Parks. In Ashton, the Rankin Motel began as an auto court, which the Rankin family developed from 1920 and opened in 1924 for motorists bound for Yellowstone National Park. It was listed on the National Register as the Rankin Auto Court in 2022. Book a cabin, not a motel room, because the motel units came after 1967.

Before you book

Planning your stay

Before you book

At three stays, the unit you pick matters. At Riverside Hot Springs Inn, book a guest room or suite, not a Riverside Duplex unit, because we could not confirm the duplexes are in the 1914 building. At the Railroad Ranch, book the Ranch Manager’s House or the Bunkhouse through Idaho Parks, online or at 1-888-922-6743. The house sleeps 8, and the Bunkhouse and Cookhouse sleep 13 together. At the Rankin Motel, book a cabin, not a motel room, because the motel units came after 1967; its site shows Cabins 3, 4, 5 and 6. Burgdorf Hot Springs asks more of you than the others: its cabins have no electricity or running water, guests bring bedding and food, stays run two nights or more, and reservations open 90 days ahead.

Seasons vary. The Ryan Hotel closes for the season, and its site says it reopens in 2027. The Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch’s 2027 season runs June 11 to September 9, and its lodge rooms take no children under 10. Burgdorf closes for short periods in November and December and in April and May, and winter access is by snowmobile from the Warren Wagon Road lots. The Rankin Motel’s site speaks of a summer season. We could not confirm winter stays there, or which months the Railroad Ranch houses rent, so ask first.

Riverside Hot Springs Inn says it has no elevator and isn’t ADA accessible, with stairs to all guest rooms, and The Brooks Hotel has no elevator. Breakfast is included at the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch, not served at Burgdorf and sold at The Brooks Hotel’s restaurant; ask at the Greenbriar Inn, the Ryan Hotel and Riverside. The Brooks Hotel takes dogs for $20 a night but not cats, while Burgdorf and the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch take no pets, and pets aren’t allowed in the Railroad Ranch buildings. Parking is free on site at The Brooks Hotel and on the street at the Ryan Hotel. On a check for November 18, 2026, rooms started at $99 at The Brooks Hotel and $149 at the Greenbriar Inn, and lodging packages at $199 at Riverside, whose site lists rooms from $165.

Ways in

Themes in Idaho

Wallace’s silver-era streets

In the first years of the 1900s, Wallace was the supply and county seat of the Coeur d’Alene lead-silver district. Both stays we list there are on Cedar Street inside the Wallace Historic District, listed in 1979 and enlarged in 1983. The Ryan Hotel is in the 600 block. A 1933 fire gutted it and destroyed the frame Tabor building next door. G. A. Pehrson then redid the hotel for owner Sarah Gearon and designed the new Tabor block, and the nomination ranks the terra cotta Art Deco trim on both among the finest on commercial buildings in Idaho. The Brooks Hotel stands at Fifth and Cedar, on the corner the inventory gives to the Day Building, begun about 1904 for the Baker Dry Goods Store and extended in 1916 by the Day brothers for their mining operations. Lance Stanley bought the hotel business in 1994. His daughter Rachel Stanley and granddaughter Emily Nelson took over on August 21, 2019, and a ribbon-cutting on May 29, 2025, marked the finished lobby and the end of the first renovation phase.

Hot springs at Burgdorf and Lava Hot Springs

German immigrant Fred Burgdorf heard of the springs from a Chinese miner, settled on the land in about 1870 and named it Resort. He built a hotel and ran a post office during the mining boom, and his wife, a singer, changed the name to Burgdorf. The Thunder Mountain gold rush brought enough traffic to enlarge the hotel, which still stands but isn’t rented. Cabin and swim reservations are both made online, up to 90 days ahead. In Lava Hot Springs, William Godfrey, a Dempsey rancher and an early commercial claimant on the hot springs, built the Riverside between 1912 and 1914 as a hotel with individual mineral baths in the basement. It was planned as a U, but the west wing was never finished, leaving an L, with a two-tiered portico facing the Portneuf River. By the mid-1920s a state natatorium and sanatorium had opened across the river.

Ranches at Idaho Rocky and Harriman

New York Frigidaire executive Winston Paul bought the Idaho Rocky property in 1929 and commissioned Ellis Bjorling to design a private guest ranch. The club opened on June 25, 1930, with the main lodge, nine guest cabins, a hydroelectric plant, a fishpond and a hot springs pool. Paul sold to Joseph Lanz in 1942, Lanz sold to Idaho auto dealer Edmund Bogert in 1952, and Bogert’s daughter, Rozalys Smith, reopened it as a guest ranch in 1977. The Railroad Ranch began with Union Pacific-connected investors, who organized the Island Park Land and Cattle Company in Salt Lake City on July 8, 1902. The Guggenheim and Harriman families later became shareholders and used it as a working cattle ranch and private retreat. The Ranch Manager’s House began as the clubhouse of shareholder Silas Eccles. The ranch passed to Idaho on April 1, 1977, and Harriman State Park opened to the public in 1982.

Road trip

Coeur d’Alene to Lava Hot Springs, inn to inn

Coeur d’Alene

Start at the Greenbriar Inn, Harvey M. Davey’s 1908 brick house at 315 E Wallace Ave in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

Wallace

Stay on Cedar Street in the Wallace Historic District, at the Ryan Hotel of about 1903 or The Brooks Hotel at Fifth and Cedar. The Ryan Hotel closes for the season, so check its dates first.

Stanley

The drive south from Wallace is long. Stop at the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch, 9 miles south of Stanley, which opened in 1930 and runs a summer season, June 11 to September 9 in 2027. Check the minimum stay before you plan this leg.

Lava Hot Springs

End at Riverside Hot Springs Inn, a three-story red brick hotel of 1914 on the Portneuf River. Book a guest room or suite, not a Riverside Duplex unit.

Context

History and architecture

Fred Burgdorf settled at the hot springs that now carry his name in about 1870, two decades before Idaho became the 43rd state on July 3, 1890. Investors organized the Island Park Land and Cattle Company, later known locally as the Railroad Ranch, on July 8, 1902. In the first years of the 1900s, Wallace was the supply and county seat of the Coeur d’Alene lead-silver district, and the Ryan Hotel dates to about 1903. In Coeur d’Alene, Harvey M. Davey built his brick house in 1908 during a growth period driven by Idaho’s lumber industry and the consolidation of the Coeur d’Alene mines. William Godfrey completed his hot springs hotel at Lava Hot Springs in 1914. The Rankin family began developing an auto court at Ashton in 1920 for motorists bound for Yellowstone National Park and opened it in 1924, and Winston Paul’s private guest ranch in the Sawtooth Valley opened in 1930. In 1933 a fire gutted the Ryan Hotel, and G. A. Pehrson redid it with terra cotta Art Deco trim. The Railroad Ranch passed to Idaho in 1977, and Harriman State Park opened to the public in 1982.