5+ Fun Things to Do in Coeur d’Alene With Kids
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Looking for fun things to do in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho with kids? Coeur d’Alene is a great day trip from Spokane, but it’s also a wonderful place to bring the whole family!
Below, we have a guest post from Hannah and Wendy of Wander Coeur d’Alene, an Instagram dedicated to sharing all the fun things to do in Coeur d’Alene as a family! So keep reading for some of their favorite things to do in Coeur d’Alene.
Going with a smaller group, maybe friends or as part of a bachelor/bachelorette party? One tour of Coeur d’Alene that a friend really enjoyed was the 2 hour guided segway tour (click on the tour info below!) This is a great, fun way to explore CdA, learn from a local, and get a little exercise in too.
A cheaper option to explore Coeur d’Alene during your day trip is to do a scavenger hunt! With the scavenger hunt tour listed above, you’ll discover fun landmarks and hidden gems around Coeur d’Alene, all while answering trivia questions and solving challenges. Let’s Roam’s scavenger hunts are always a fun time, and a great thing to do if you’re visiting CdA with friends or competitive family members!
Hello! Our names are Hannah and Wendy, and we are the faces behind the travel and lifestyle Instagram account @wandercoeurdalene.
We are twin sisters and best friends, with three little ones between us! Hannah has a five -year- old and three -year- old, and Wendy has a nine- month-old. We began our account in June of this summer and have dedicated it to sharing all that Coeur d’Alene has to offer, from food to recreation and everything in between. As we have our children with us a large majority of the time, our account quickly became focused on family friendly outings and activities.
When Melissa approached us with the idea of documenting what we might do on a typical summer day in Coeur d’Alene with our little ones, we were so excited! We are so passionate about making moments and memories with our kids and have spent the summer experiencing everything beautiful Coeur d’Alene has to offer.
We are so delighted to be able to share some of these wonderful places with Everyday Spokane’s readers. In this post, we will share all of the details about a recent summer day spent out and about Coeur d’Alene with all three children! We’ll also offer some alternate ideas for restaurants and activities for those with older children.Looking for more articles on Coeur d’Alene, ID? Check out these posts:
Things to Do in Coeur d’Alene With Kids
9:30 AM- Find Parking
We knew we wanted to spend several hours downtown, and that a good portion would be spent at McEuen Park/splash pad. When this is the case, we park in the McEuen park parking area and pay for parking.
The hourly rate is only one dollar an hour, which is worth it for us. We like being able to make quick stops at our cars to get things we need/drop things off, and it’s an easy walk to anywhere we go downtown!
10 AM- Brunch
We have very early risers and tend to start our outings with them on the early side. They always have breakfast at home first thing in the morning, and then we work brunch into the first part of our day and treat it as an early lunch for the kiddos.
Coeur d’Alene has no shortage of cute coffee shops and restaurants to choose from, and all of them are wonderful.
On this day, we chose to eat and grab coffee at Vault Coffee. We are big fans of their seasonal coffee drinks (we got the Huckleberry White Mocha and Lakeside Latte), and the kids love their yummy pastries! We all love the cozy oversize chairs and chic decor, so this was a great place for us to start.
Other coffee shops located in the downtown are we recommend include:
- Woops!
- Coeur d’ Alene Coffee
- Evan’s Brothers
If you have children with a lot of stamina in the morning and are looking for a more traditional brunch experience, we recommend:
- Honey
- Dockside
- Le Peep
- The Garnet Cafe
*Le Peep and The Garnet Cafe are not located downtown but are more than worth venturing out!
11:30 AM Splash Pad
After our brunch, it was time to head back to McEuen Park and let the kids run off some energy! This park is huge and has something for kids of all ages, including a fabulous splash pad that opens at 11 AM every day. We started there, and the kids played happily for an hour in the splash pad, followed by another 45 minutes in the actual park itself.
*Have older kids who don’t love the idea of a morning at the park? We’ve included some ideas for families with older children at the end of this post!
1:30 PM Ice Cream
By 1:00 PM, it was time to find some ice cream! There is absolutely NO shortage of wonderful ice cream places in downtown Coeur d’Alene.
We popped into Abi’s Ice Cream, which offers not only ice cream, but also baked goods and espresso. They are also a nut-free shop and offer many non-dairy choices.
Abi’s has since closed since the publish of this article, but we also like the following choices for ice cream:
- Dockside
- Gelato by the Lake
- Mrs. Honeypeeps Sweet Shop
2:30 PM The Coeur d’Alene Carousel
At this point it was just about time to go home for a rest before dinner, but first we wanted to take the kids to the Carousel. The Carousel has a very rich history, which we had no idea about until visiting!
It was actually part of Playland Pier, an amusement park built on a wooden pier in Coeur d Alene from 1942-1974. It was closed down in 1975, and the Carousel ended up traveling around the country. It eventually made its way back and was reopened for business in 2017.
The kids loved this experience!
3:00 PM Home to Rest
After the carousel, we headed home to rest up before going back out for dinner. (If you have kids who don’t need to rest, see our suggestions for older children at the end of this post!)
Use the widget below to find the right location for you, or check out our recommendations below.
4:30 PM Dinner at Anthony’s
It might seem ambitious to take a five-year-old, three- year- old, and nine- month- old out to dinner somewhere that isn’t a fast food place, especially after such a packed day, and it IS ambitious! However, we love making these memories with them, so we have come up with some ways to help dining out as smoothly as possible:
- Eat early. When we go out with the kids, we plan to eat at 4:30-5:00
- Look at the menu ahead of time and order as soon as the server makes their first visit to the table.
- Bring activities that only come out when we go out to dinner.
One of our favorite places is Anthony’s in Riverstone! It’s beautiful, whether you sit inside or out. We are big fans of seafood, which is their specialty, but they have other items as well!
We love the ahi and the seafood fettuccine, while the boys gobble up the Kiddie Pasta like it’s their job. The five-year-old always gets a big steaming bowl of clam chowder with a side of French fries, which is essentially her favorite meal on this planet.
Other restaurants we love in Riverstone include:
- Vicino Pizza
- Bardenay
- Terraza Waterfront Cafe
If you prefer to stay downtown for dinner, some of our favorite places are:
- Crafted
- Tito’s Italian Grill
- Dockside
- Fire Pizza
- Seasons
- Collective Kitchen
- Moontime
After dinner, it was home for an early bedtime! The kiddos were totally wiped out (okay, okay, were ALL wiped out) in the best possible way.
*Fun in Coeur d’Alene with Older Children
As promised, we have many fun ideas for those spending the day in Coeur d’Alene with older children. Some great ways to spend the day with kids in the downtown area include:
- Hiking Tubbs Hill
- Finding a place on the beach and hanging out on the lake
- Window Shopping (and popping into the shops!) on Sherman
- Visit the Museum of North Idaho
- Escape Game CDA- Escape room fun!
- V Sports Arena (includes Virtual Reality, Laser Tag, Arcade games and more!)
If you’re looking to spend some time outside of downtown, Triple Play is the local Family Fun Park and features mini golf, an arcade, go karts, laser tag, an indoor water park, etc.
If you’re really up for an all-day adventure, Silverwood Theme Park is also a great choice for older kids! Silverwood features several rides, shows and attractions, and includes Boulder Beach, the outdoor water park. (Check their website for updated information on days/hours of operation, and to purchase tickets ahead of time for reserved days).
We feel so grateful to call the beautiful town of Coeur d’Alene our home, and to share some of our favorite ways to spend a summer day with the readers of Everyday Spokane. Many thanks to Melissa for giving us this opportunity!
Thank you to Hannah and Wendy for sharing such a fun day out in Coeur d’Alene with kids! If you’re interested in contributing to Everyday Spokane, email Melissa at info [at] everydayspokane [dot] com!
