Highly recommend the Macabre History Tour of Boise! The guide was hilarious, super knowledgeable,…read moreand really brought Boise's darker past to life. Walking through the old streets and hearing all the creepy, historical stories was fascinating. It was a great mix of local history and eerie legends that kept me hooked the whole time. Definitely something unique and worth checking out if you're into true crime or just want to see Boise from a different perspective.

From the owner: IdaHistory was founded by historian Mark Iverson, who believes that history doesn’t have to be dull…read moreto be educational. Combining meticulous research with captivating storytelling, Mark brings the past to life in a way that’s both informative and entertaining. Are you a true crime junkie who craves stories that keep you on the edge of your seat? Don’t miss out—reserve your spot today for one of our popular experiences: "A Macabre History of Boise Walking Tour" or the "Boise True Crime 1970s Motorhome Tour." Get ready to dive into Boise’s dark and fascinating past as Mark guides you through the scenes of the city’s most infamous crimes, weaving together the chilling tales that have shaped the city’s history.

I'll start by saying that you really can't beat the price for this tour. Any other type of tour in…read morethis city is likely going to cost you at least twice as much, so if you're looking to just get a quick look at parts of downtown on a dime, this is the tour for you. As mentioned, this is meant to be a fairly quick (1.5 hours) walking tour of part of downtown Boise to just get a brief sense of the city's history and culture. Our tour guide focused a lot of time and information on the Basque region and culture, and the rest of the time on some of the architecture and brief history of how the certain buildings came to be. The first half or so of the tour was very engaging and I definitely learned some interesting facts. But during the last half of the tour, I found my attention wandering off more than a few times as the guide shared stories that in my opinion ate up too much time, and weren't always related to Boise, which was a bit confusing. Don't get me wrong, it was an extremely friendly, upbeat, and clearly knowledgeable tour guide--I just would have liked learn a broader sense of Boise's downtown history rather than focusing in on facts and stories that don't necessarily help you appreciate the city. But with our guide we also got access to areas you might not otherwise see if you're only in town briefly, like a special Basque sports club and the Egyptian Theater. He also shared lots of valuable opinions on other places to go and things to experience. Overall, you can't beat the price, it's a leisurely walking tour, and you might learn some interesting history (perhaps more than you even care to learn!). It'd be a great tour for those who are unsure of what to do or where to go, and regardless, downtown Boise is a beautiful and entertaining area that you'll enjoy experiencing on foot.

This is an excellent tour of downtown Boise. I've lived in Boise for 3 years now and it was fun…read moreseeing/learning about buildings that I had not noticed before. It was a perfect compliment to our morning at the downtown market. I will definitely take my parents when they come to visit.

This was a wonderful tour! Julia really knows her history, and introduced us to Boise while…read moreentertaining us with a mixture of historical facts, anecdotes, and cool information. There was a 10K race going on, which blocked a main road, so she had to improvise and give the tour taking some alternate roads and looping back. There was only one other couple besides us, so it was luxurious, and she was open to questions. She really inspired me to learn more Boise history. She even dropped us off by our car, because it was " on the way". It was supposed to be 90 minutes, but it was 2 hours packed with all sorts of information! Thanks for the great intro, Julia!

Fantastic tour of Boise, really in-depth information of the city. Well worth the time to get the…read morehistory and lay of the land.

This #ThankYouThursday, I'd like to share some love and gratitude for The Bishops' House in Boise,…read moreId! My son recently had his wedding here. There were a couple small hiccups, but by and large a wonderful wedding made all the more wonderful by this historic gem in Boise. Their wedding was on Halloween, which is always a little bit of a gamble weather-wise. The wonderful thing about the Bishops' House is that we were able to decide the morning of the wedding whether we'd like to proceed with the wedding inside or out. Ultimately, the bride and groom opted for an inside wedding (who can resist a bridal entrance down a staircase?) with the reception taking place in their autumnally perfect basement (seriously, from the fireplace to low flickering lights--it was perfection for a Halloween costume party wedding reception. The event coordinator met with us to provide a tour of the venue, which included tons of fun historical tidbits. The bride and groom both had their own suites to get ready in, which was lovely. The bridal suite has a lovely balcony as well. The grounds are also beautiful and with cooperative weather they were able to get some amazing photos taken on the grounds. The place was ours for a full 12 hours which gave us plenty of time to decorate, have the ceremony, dine, have the reception, clean-up and go! The cost for the venue was roughly $3000. Given we had it for 12 hours and was the location of both the wedding and reception--it felt like a solid deal. And, of course the bride and groom absolutely adored the location and have beautiful memories to last a lifetime--can't really put a price on that.

We had our wedding at the Bishops house and it was amazing. Amelia and all the staff were great to…read morework with and we loved having our special day there. Couldn't have been happier .

My fiancé and I recently had a lovely holiday date night doing the Griswold Christmas lights tour !…read moreIt was a wonderful experience stepping into a luxurious 1947 convertible and getting snuggled up with plush blankets, classic Christmas songs playing and a cup of delicious hot cocoa! We had the opportunity to take pictures throughout, the light displays in the neighborhood we drove around were beautiful and our driver Tim was very pleasant. We almost did a trolley Christmas lights tour but I think it's worth it to pay more and do this for the extra special touches and extra room- especially if you are plus sized like myself or extremely tall like my fiancé. There was definitely quite a bit of confusion at first on where to meet our driver. The email mentioned a sears parking lot at Boise Towne Square but there dosen't seem to be a Sears there so they may want to make some updates with the directions. I called Carolyn who told me that the meeting spot was a parking lot behind a hotel that is across from the mall and she stated to look for the classic convertible stating the driver already arrived there... well, we found the hotel lot she mentioned but the car was nowhere to be found so I called the driver whose number she gave us and he said he was on his way and would be there in 5 minutes ..so must have been some miscommunication on their end lol Aside from that though, it was a great experience and we would do it again!

This was such an amazing experience for my daughters wedding! the perfect end to the evening! If…read moreyou are thinking about renting, do it!!! you won't regret it!

I went to Boise with friends, and pretty much did what the group wanted to do, because I had no…read moreclue what to do on my own. I had no expectations, well I wasn't really expecting much. I have to say I really enjoyed touring around here! I'm sure it's a lot more beautiful then when it was in operation. I loved reading the stories of the inmates, though a lot were sad stories. I spent a lot more time here than I was expecting to!

This was my first time ever visiting a penitentiary and it was one heck of an experience! As…read moretranquil, peaceful and even beautiful as it is, you can't help but feel eary and even emotional as you walk through the various cell blocks. It was built in the late 1800's and was operation through the 1970's! How wild is that?! I was even able to go inside of several solitary confinement rooms and have the door closed behind me. And the only light was a hole in the ceiling. According to the audio guide and plackards on the wall, some inmates were thrown in there for months at a time, some for even up to a year. The worst part was, they weren't even told beforehand how much time it would be. Even just for a few seconds, if felt pretty surreal hearing the door close. We spent several hours walking through the various cell block and yards, and probably an hour at least walking through the armory collection. The collection was quite vast and spanned by WW1 and WW2. All in all, for only $8, it's definitly a must-do when visiting Boise for the first time.

This historically significant and grand building is open to the public from 7 am - 7 pm, 7 days a…read moreweek. I was pleasantly surprised, that yes, I can just walk up the grand staircase and into the rotunda. The liberty bell is currently being restored so it's not there but the rotunda and statues are all there. You can take the free tour and if not, just walking around and finding pockets of history is inspiring. For instance, the mail tunnels/gold slots are active ones so if you plan ahead, you can mail something out from the capital building (sadly, it doesn't have a special postmark). Also, the Idaho treasurer's office hallway is worth a visit because Spuddy Buddy dressed up as American heroes is just so Idaho. If you start there, you can pick up a 250th year scavenger hunt for kids where they can walk into the house of reps and collect stickers, bookmarks, and other things from the offices there. Also, don't skip out on the historical room with the bank vault doors. If you are into old bank doors (e.g. the bank door and vault at 8 Horses Lounge), they have two here with great random facts. I don't know what parking is like but many people ride Lime scooters and bikes there.

We visited Idaho's Capitol building while on a trip to the Gem state, and it's located in downtown…read moreBoise, which is its capital city, and their capitol is really quite impressive, massive and grand. Lots of incredible ornate architecture, marble and other fancy stones galore are used in many opulent carvings and designs throughout the building. There are many historical sculptures in this capitol and there's also a small museum like exhibit at the basement inside that goes over the history of Idaho and important past, recent, and current events. Their legislature's meeting hall was also quite large and regal. All in all, it was an eye-opening tour of Idaho's capitol building, it really is worth a visit here to see some pretty amazing sculptures, paintings, architecture (especially the rotunda), and to learn about this state's history in a real life way.