Some beaches just feel like home from the moment you step onto the sand. Sandpoint City Beach is…read moreexactly one of those. I've visited lakeshores all over the Pacific Northwest, but this spot holds a special place -- and it's earned 5 stars without question. I arrived mid-day, blue sky overhead, with just a backpack and swim trunks, hoping for a chill beach day. The water at Lake Pend Oreille is clear, calm in places, rippling in others. There's a dock to walk out on, and I spent a few minutes just standing there, watching the sunlight dance on water, mountains hugging the horizon. The beach layout is smart: a grassy strip shaded with trees, picnic tables, and a sandy stretch for people to lounge or launch paddleboards. There were families building sandcastles, someone quietly strumming a guitar under a tree, kids splashing near the shore. No chaos, no stress -- just blue water, bright sunshine, subtle laughter in the background. Amenities are solid: restrooms aren't fancy but clean, the parking lot's right there, and I noticed a snack shack off to the side (open seasonally). The trail by the lake's edge continues past the beach -- perfect for a short walk before or after your swim. I saw birds diving, sense of nature very present. What hit me most: the transition from sandy beach into deep lake is smooth and gradual, so swimming felt easy and enjoyable. At dusk, the sky turned soft pink and gold, reflections echoed on the water -- that moment made me pause and breathe deeper. Final take: 5 stars, no doubt. Sandpoint City Beach balances comfort and wildness. It's perfect for relaxing, for light adventure, or for simply watching the sunset until the stars come out. If you've got time, linger -- come back at golden hour.

Nice little city park / beach area along Lake Pend Orielle (if you don't know, don't even try to…read morepronounce it). Plenty of grass and sand for kids to play (if not for the fowl gifts), and small swimming areas with boundaries for safety. Very peaceful place for a stroll when we visited in September, but I'd imagine it gets busier during the warm summer months. The park has a snack shack, but it's apparently only open during the warmer months. Plenty of free parking. The only negative was there was swan/goose poop everywhere! Had to watch where you stepped almost everywhere, including the sidewalks and grass. That was a real negative while trying to enjoy the park and get some fresh air.

Gold Hill Trailhead is a very well-maintained trailhead a little off the main drag going into…read moreSandpoint on the southern side of the lake. One of the best ways to see the lake is the drive to the trailhead along Bottle Bay Road. It's an incredible lake with houses hanging over the edge. Trailhead parking is a tad on the small side so I wouldn't attempt to drive there on a busy afternoon. There didn't appear to be much additional parking or road parking options unless people simply park on the road without any neighbor complaints. Another benefit to arriving early is hiking before all the noisy power boaters start racing across the lake. I have never asked any speed boat enthusiasts if they thought about the noise pollution they are bringing to pristine nature so they can race across the lake at 40 mph rather than 20 mph. Having been in multiple speed boats in my day, I see the appeal, but you are essentially telling everyone else on the lake, "Listen to this!" Even with this noise, I would still return to this trail. The trail is well maintained and is essentially a steady incline for at least two miles - this is where I turned around - with limited wide-angle views of the lake. The lake is visible through the trees, and I imagine has a great view at the top, but you will have to work for it if you want to see the entire lake. There was one experienced mountain biker on the trail while we were there. I would classify Gold Hill as essentially a hiking trail that can be done on a bike if you have a quality mountain bike and are very fit. There's tight turns and a lot of incline. The biker on the trail that day had a bell that would ring over regular intervals. This struck me as a genius idea to notify any bears and other hikers that you were blazing down towards them. The only con would be that, as the biker, after hearing ring number 785 for the day, "bing!" would you want to rip the bell off your bike and smash it with a rock?

A popular, easy-going trail with great views super-blue Lake Pend Oreille…read more There are only 1,200 ft of gain so you'll have plenty of time to stop and smell the wildflowers, or photograph bugs, or smooch your cutie, or...well, whatever it is you DO on easy trails. Great intro to hiking in Sandpoint.

I received a day of drift boat fly fishing as a gift from my wife who accompanied me this amazing…read moreday. Noah was our guide. He met us on time and conducted the entire excursion professionally. All along our 13-mile trip down the Kootenai river with Noah he guided the boat to exactly where we needed to be and pointed out the best spots to cast. Final score: Ten strikes, 6 in the boat including two white fish and four nice rainbows. Awesome! A light lunch of sandwiches made by Noah, himself, with chips, and drinks was delicious. I had a wondeful time, I got six fish, and memories that will last a lifetime.

Aaron runs a good operation. The scenery is beautiful and the fishing is very good…read more We caught lots of fish and had a great time.

Rooms old, minor disrepair. Most patch jobs are hack job repairs noted in room and throughout the…read moreproperty. Bed not comfortable and pillows thin. The hotel is ok...but missing several things I expect from a property billing itself as four stars: -some of the staff was kind, but more than one were short or rude. -hotel does not provide shampoo or conditioner. Unbelievable for a four star property. If you want it, you must go and buy it during regular business hours at the rec center. -New towels are provided only on Tuesdays at the towel exchange. Not very helpful when your stay is Thursday through Sunday. -You are fined if you do not wash the dishes and empty the dishwasher and take out the trash in your own room. this is buried in the checkout instructions (when was the last time you opened a room folio to even read the check out instructions at a hotel). Pretty draconian since it's very non-standard for other properties. See my pictures. This and many other rules are excessive and controlling. Cameras everywhere with staff coming to question your compliance with minutia -Felt on edge all weekend due to staff not picking at us and kids. Not a good place to relax.

My parents are timeshare owners here. We first visited 30 years ago and made it back this summer…read morefor a family vacation. The rates we paid were really reasonable, but not certain if these are available to everyone or not. Our family is 4 mini families and we were each able to get our own rooms of various sizes, all with kitchens. This allowed us plenty of privacy and time to decompress while still letting us utilize the amenities together. The rooms were nice and clean, no complaints there, all had balconies. We had a couple barbecues at the community picnic areas, made good use of the recreation center, toyed around with the driving/putting range and dined a couple times at the golf course restaurant. My Dad played the golf course but it seems that the other clientele do not enjoy having people on the course who are not skilled at the game. The rec center has a variety of things to do from net sports, to racquetball, to basketball, pool, hot tub, steam room, etc. We enjoyed the saltwater pool and hot tub, although it is very bizarre to me that you have to walk down a hall dripping wet and freezing to access the hot tub/steam room. The hot tub is big so at least you are unlikely to walk over there and find it too full to get in. We were able to do water aerobics one day, but these really should be offered more frequently. There is a mini golf course on site which does cost an additional fee, there are also bikes available to rent. A trail circles the resort, some of it paved, some of it dirt. I hear you can fish here, but none of us did that. Seems you can not swim in the lake. This is a bit of a drive from most things so if you want to go to restaurants and places like Silverwood, Courdelane, Sandpoint, etc be prepared to spend a lot of time in the car. I would have preferred to stay somewhere that was closer to things to do. There is not much to do here once it gets dark. Some of the staff were not the friendliest.

Great experience with AWS renting a Sea Doo. Great equipment, easy rental process, and Hunter was…read morefantastic to work with- professional, polite, and very helpful. Easy to find the location, pricy but on par with other businesses in the area, and convenient. Unlike the disgruntled reviewers below, we listened carefully to the very reasonable policies of the company and had no issues with just following their basic rules to ensure safety of the equipment and ourselves. We will definitely come back!

Rented jetskis and not told they needed to be returned 15 minutes before our time was up. Charged…read more75$ extra per ski. Then rented pontoon boat, brought it in 15 minutes before rental time was up, and told we had to pay for gas to fill it back up. This customer will not be using them again. Transparency is an easy process and it keeps your business running. They do not get my 5 stars.

Super fun outing with the family! We rented a Ranger ATV and had a great time exploring the…read morebackroads all around Priest Lake! Was fun during the winter, we actually went high enough to find snow, but need to come back over the summer to get some of the great views of the lake we could somewhat make out through the clouds!

We had a great time at Priest Lake adventures! We are a family of four and we drove up from Coeur…read mored'Alene (on vacation) to rent snowmobiles for the day. What an awesome time! The trails are beautiful, the snowmobiles were all brand new with GPS on them, and the staff were super friendly and helpful. It was the highlight of our trip. I highly recommend snowmobiling with Priest Lake adventures. One note: one competitor company, who uses older snowmobiles, had people stranded on the trails while we were driving around on brand new snowmobiles!

From the moment you call to inquire and then step in the front door you will be greeted by…read morephenomenally caring, friendly and helpful people. John and Rosie are the best faces for the YMCA Litehouse. Their personalities are so warm & welcoming. As a traveling medical professional, I have been to dozens of Y's throughout the country and there is no better YMCA than Sandpoint's Litehouse. Also, so appreciated are the sauna and steam rooms which hardly any other Y has. The Litehouse is Uber clean and the pool is amazing. I can't recommend this YMCA highly enough. Thank you so much for the greatest Y ever!

The building is old and not well maintained. The women's locker room has ancient carpet and the…read morelockers themselves are dirty. The aerobics machines are also not well maintained, for example 1 of 3 EFX elliptical trainers has been out of service for weeks. The swimming pool,is marginally available for lap swimming, every weekday afternoon 2.5 hours are for swim team training. Other times the pool is closed due to lack of life guards or when available there aren't enough lanes for lap swimming available. Management seems more interested in gaining new members rather than maintains the facility and the equipment.

Excellent marina. Kramers are so nice, courteous & professional. We've been thankful to have our…read moreboat at Kramer's for many years.