Winter Activities

Wintertime is playtime. Bundle up and get out there

While Schweitzer ski resort towers as Sandpoint’s biggest winter attraction, our abundan snows also provide XC skiing, snowshoeing, fat tire biking, sledding and tubing, ice-skating and snowmobiling. Wintertime is fun time in Sandpoint.

Schweitzer Village

Our nationally recognized mountain resort is only 11 miles from downtown Sandpoint, with 2900 acres for skiing, hiking, biking and magnificent alpine views and a resort village featuring premium lodging, dining, bars, fine outdoor clothing and gear, shopping, artists studio, and seasonal activities.

7B Lanes

Family Fun Center, Bowling, Arcade, Good Food and Drink, and Pool Tables!

The Library

Discovery, connection, and lifelong learning through books and other resources; accepts library cards from around the world.

Creations for Sandpoint

Creations’ mission is to promote the arts, creativity, discovery and STEAM learning. 

Creations partners with families, businesses and local organizations to provide educational activities that support student learning.

Creation teaches educational art classes for adults and youth through our Creative Hands Expand the Mind Program. The program’s key component is to offer skills based art instruction classes that are accessible to all Bonner and Boundary County children and adults.

City Parks

Sandpoint has over 20 parks, public gathering spaces, or designated community locations. With a variety of amenities and activities available, City Parks have something to offer people of all ages year-round.

219 Lounge

At the 219 Lounge, we have been serving up the best drinks and live music in Sandpoint for over 80 years. Our full service bar offers a wide selection of liquor, beer, and wine, and we have the most beers on tap in town. Our outdoor patio and bar is the perfect spot to enjoy a drink with friends, and our live music every Friday and Saturday night is not to be missed.

Sandpoint Cinemas

Located at the East end of the Bonner Mall, Sandpoint Cinemas is a standard multi-screen movie theater with a full concession stand, showing new film releases. Check the website for showtimes and more info.

Art Works Gallery

We are a Sandpoint art gallery and cooperative of local artists practicing in a variety of mediums. We invite you to stop in, see our creations, and be inspired!

Museum at the Brig

This museum full of memorabilia reflecting military life and interesting photo opportunities is a must see for anyone who has served in the military or who has family who has done so.

The Brig stands guard over the grounds of what was the world’s second largest naval training facility. The Farragut Naval Training Station (FNTS) was a 4000+ acre land-locked seaman training facility. Built in response to the December 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the FNTS’s buildings and infrastructure were hurriedly constructed in 11 months by 22,000 civilian workers at a cost of $160 million. The Brig building served as a confinement facility for unruly naval recruits with its barred windows and gates, jail cells and support facilities. It houses a museum of boot camp, naval and war memorabilia dedicated to to the 293,381 naval recruits who received their basic training here.

Albeni Falls Dam Tour

Free, walk-in tours are available. These tours include the movie “The Power and Play of the Pend Oreille” and a walk with an interpretive ranger across the dam spillway and to the powerhouse generator viewing area. This tour takes approximately 1 hour and includes approximately 1/2 mile of walking up and down a paved trail. Tours of the dam and outdoor education programs are also offered year-round to community and school groups. Those interested may schedule a tour or program by calling a Park Ranger at 208-437-4617. 

Ranger-Led Activities

Interpretive Rangers from Albeni Falls Dam offer FREE outdoor education presentations, hands-on activities, tours or even a visit from Bobber the Water Safety Dog all school year long! Schedule a visit from a Ranger to your classroom or ask about field trips to the Albeni Falls Dam for a tour!

Programs Include:

  • Animal Tracks
  • Ants
  • Bats
  • Bears
  • Beavers
  • Birds of Prey
  • Butterflies
  • Fish
  • Flowers
  • Hydropower
  • Insects
  • Lewis & Clark
  • Moose
  • Native Americans
  • Owls
  • Orienteering
  • Pollinators
  • Rocks & Minerals
  • Trees
  • Watersheds
  • Water Safety
  • AND MANY MORE!!
Sandpoint Ranger District

The Village of Sandpoint was incorporated on February 7, 1901. On January 15, 1907 the Village of Sandpoint became the City of Sandpoint. The April, 1907 election moved the City onto a mayor/council form of government – the same form of government we have today.

Bonner County was originally part of Kootenai County, but separated from this larger unit on March 18, 1907. Eight years later, on January 23, 1915, the county was reduced to its present size when the northern half separated to form Boundary County. Sandpoint has been the county seat of Bonner County since 1907.

The Kalispel, Kutenai and other native peoples were the first inhabitants of this area. They lived along the waterways and utilized the area’s abundant natural resources for survival.

Sandpoint is famous for having recreational activities for every season. Some of our Forest opportunities range from, camping, fishing, hunting, berry picking, trail hikes, nature walks, horseback riding, bike riding, ATV/OHV trails, skiing.

Visually the Sandpoint area is hard to beat. Framed by the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains, Sandpoint is located on the north shore of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake. Travelers driving Highway 95 across the Long Bridge into Sandpoint have often reported a feeling of “coming home.”

SOLE

Selkirk Outdoor Leadership & Education (SOLE), Inc. is a licensed and credentialed 501(c)(3) non-profit led by professionals with noteworthy experience designing and facilitating intentional experiential education programming for youth and adult stakeholders in urban, as well as remote settings. In addition, our personnel possesses professional certifications in outdoor emergency response and outdoor technical skill proficiencies, as well as advanced degrees in the fields of experiential education, outdoor education, traditional education, and special education. This level of professionalism ensures that our stakeholders are well taken care of when out on course and the content delivered exceeds beyond the norm!

Priest Lake State Park

Priest Lake State Park lies just 30 miles from the Canadian border, nestled deep below the crest of the Selkirk Mountains. Surrounded by the natural beauty of Northern Idaho and mile-high mountains, Priest Lake State Park sits along the eastern shores of Priest Lake, a 19-mile long, 300-foot-deep waterbody.

Visitors to the park will enjoy the dense forests of cedar, fir and tamarack and will be able to observe the park’s year round inhabitants such as the whitetail deer, black bear, moose and bald eagles. Noted for its extremely clear water, fed by streams cascading from the high Selkirk peaks, the main body of Priest Lake extends north-south for 19 miles. A two-mile thoroughfare connects the main lake to the remote Upper Priest Lake that is accessible only by foot, mountain bike, or boat.

Priest Lake Ranger District

Priest Lake, which is often referred to by the natives as “God’s Country”, was originally called Roothaan Lake by Father Desmet in 1846 in honor of his Jesuit Superior in Rome. One of the prominent peaks in the Selkirk Range still bears the name Roothaan.

In 1865, Captain John Mullan designated this same lake as Kaniksu Lake on one of his maps. It is believed that “Kaniksu” was the Indian name of Black Robe, although this has never been authenticated. The name was gradually changed in the early 1900’s from Kaniksu Lake to its present name of Priest Lake, which refers to the early-day Jesuit missionary priests who had established a base camp at Kalispell Bay in the 1840’s.

The lake is one of three largest and most beautiful lakes in the Idaho Panhandle, and a very popular recreation attraction. The world’s largest Makinaw trout was caught here in 1963. Dolly Varden, Cutthroat, and Kokanee are also caught in the lake. It is now illegal to fish for Dolly Varden and they are to be returned to the lake when caught.

Upper Priest Lake is part of the Upper Priest Lake Scenic Area. There were five small parcels of private land totaling about 420 acres on Upper Priest Lake. The Forest Service purchased these tracts in 1967 with the assistance of Nature Conservancy. The entire shoreline of Upper Priest Lake is now in either the State of Idaho or Federal ownership, and is administered as a scenic area.

Upper Priest River, which flows into Upper Priest Lake, is one of the rivers to be studied for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic Rivers system along with the lower Priest River which was famous in the early days as a log-drive stream. The first recorded drive was in 1901 and the last in 1949. The greatest drive took place in 1931 when 50,000 cedar poles and 125,000,000 board feet or logs were herded down the river by the “river pigs”.

Priest Lake Chamber

Priest Lake is an ideal year-round family and adventure vacation destination.  Nature’s spectacular backdrop coupled with the myriad of recreational activities make Priest Lake an unforgettable experience. Discover Idaho’s crown jewel while enjoying bikinggolfingfishingrock climbing or snowmobiling and choose to stay in any of our hospitable resorts, cabins or vacation homes for an upcoming group activity, wedding, conference or seminar location for a vacation that will only tempt you to stay longer.

'A picture-perfect mountain town...'

We don’t like to brag, so…. we’ll let USA Today do it for us. See what they say about Sandpoint, and a dozen other media too.
Click to see all the raves.

More Activities to Explore

Schweitzer Village

7B Lanes

The Library

Creations for Sandpoint

City Parks

219 Lounge

Sandpoint Cinemas

Art Works Gallery

Museum at the Brig

Albeni Falls Dam Tour

Sandpoint Ranger District

SOLE

Priest Lake State Park

Priest Lake Ranger District

Priest Lake Chamber

Explore all that Sandpoint, Idaho has to offer! Get our takes on must-experience events, activities, attractions, restaurants, and lodging—as well as plenty of tips on visiting our town, parks and far more—all curated by those who know this gem state by heart.

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