Sun Valley Resort is one of those places that quietly ruins other resorts for you, in the best way…read more It doesn't try too hard, doesn't announce its luxury, and somehow still delivers it effortlessly. Everything felt easy. The service was anticipated, the setting beautiful without being overproduced, and the overall energy refined yet deeply comfortable. It's really the kind of place that lets you slow down without ever feeling bored. One detail I loved and didn't expect? The on-site ice rink. There's something charming and nostalgic about skating right on property, a small touch that ends up becoming a core memory. Add in the heated outdoor pool, wellness facilities, beautiful dining options, and miles of scenic surroundings, and it's clear this resort understands how to create an experience, not just a stay. What truly elevates Sun Valley is how seamlessly they handle off-property adventures as well. Whether it's horseback riding through Idaho's landscape or arranging wine tours, the concierge makes exploring beyond the resort completely effortless, no planning fatigue required. I really felt well taken care of, and already plotting my return

The Sun Valley Resort was built in 1936 by the Union Pacific Railroad. It is located in the…read moreNorthern Rockies region of south-central Idaho & is open year round. There are many outdoor recreational activities. At the base of Bald & Dollar Mountains are scenic vistas, sports & activities. The grounds are meticulous, lush & serene. There are many shady places to sit & enjoy the landscapes. We are over 5,000 ft high so it's cool, breezy & dry. There is a camp with children's activities. The outedoor ice rink near the pool are luxurious. A racquet center with tennis & pickleball courts was busy. Bike rentals & horseback riding were popular. There are many dining & shopping options at various price points, however nothing here is a bargain. I did find beautiful unique gifts in the shops. The mountaintop dining options are closed for the season. Marilyn Monroe, James Earl Jones, Tom Hanks, Ernest Hemingway, Rosa Parks, Tony Curtis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Lucas, Candice Berger ... all stayed here & have fun photos in the lodge.

2 of the 3 Bartenders at the river run lodge are terrible, rude and disrespectful. I've never seen…read moreanything like it. The meanest is Claudia. So rude. She calls her friends in the back of the line and asks them what they want while 5 people are waiting In front of her friend. She's one True but awful example of a bartender running things without regards to hospitality or respect for paying guests. Nice lodge though. I hope new management cleans things up.

This review is for cafeteria in the lodge. By the way, the lodge itself is gorgeous - even though…read morethe architects's idea of placing the bathrooms upstairs is sadistic; in the afterlife Jim Ruscitto should be fitted a pair of ski boots and forced to climb some stairs. The cafeteria food is pretty good (as the mountain food goes), although the early morning selection is severely limited. The seating space is huge and accommodates the weekday crowd easily.

This born & bred Floridian has been pretending to "ski' the past decade mostly so my kids wouldn't…read morebe afraid to try it. They are all skiing pretty well now and on day 1 of our spring break ski trip I fell and twisted both knees...and decided my days of fake skiing were over. I've been wanting to try Nordic skiing for awhile now, but it's always closed due to warm temps when we arrive for spring break skiing. This year the West Coast, including Sun Valley, was blessed with snow so they stayed open til April 2nd. Lucky me! I booked a few lessons for classic nordic skiing with Kris. While some people can do it without a lesson, I tend to be uncoordinated so needed all the help I could get. I also got some great tips from Johnny at the rental desk. After 2 lessons I felt comfortable enough to hit the golf course nordic trails on my own, although I didn't venture very far...perhaps next year! Overall, I loved it so much more than downhill skiing. It's peaceful, a workout and I can't fall off a mountain! I'm hoping the Nordic Center stays open until April so i can go during Spring Break again next year. If not, I hear Galena also has great nordic skiing, but I found this location to be super convenient and look forward to visiting their putt putt course w/ my kids again when we return over the summer.

The lovely Carol's Lodge is a great venue at the small family related Dollar Miuntain ski area…read more Named after Carol Holding, wife of Earl Holding and a co-owner of the Sun Valley resort for several decades, Carol's is a substantial structure holding a locker area for personal equipment, restrooms, a ski rental shop and a large dining room with an adjacent food service area. The food itself isn't quite up to par with some of the other Sun Valley resort venues, but they do have a large assortment of sandwiches, pizza, soups, baked potatoes and a bar which serves wine, beer and cocktails. It's much nicer than many other ski resort facilities and goes far beyond a burger, hot dog and chili menu. The dining room itself is a deluxe cavernous space with lots of tables and cushioned seats. Like most of Sun Valleys facilities, it is well thought out, with a professional staff and designed to provide a top tier experience.

As a nervous skier who didn't learn until adulthood this is my mountain. While it doesn't quite…read morehave the amazing energy and other perks of Bald mountain it's a great low-key mountain to learn to ski. The pros: - Minimal (if any) lines - Fabulous instructors (special shoutout to the amazing Clay who has taught all 3 of my kids to be amazing skiers...and even more importantly to love skiing) - Plenty of options for a day of beginning skiing here: 1/4 dollar, 1/2 dollar (when it's open) and full dollar for a challenge - The last day on dollar is super fun for families with music, costumes and the famous pond skim event (loved watching those risk takers try to get across the pond on skis) To be improved: -1/2 dollar seems to be closed all the time limiting us beg skiers to 1/4 dollar - 1/2 dollar chair lift is also pretty old and needs to be replaced - Dollar closes way earlier than any other ski resort I know, which impacts many spring break travels. Would love to see them keep it open an extra few weeks and close when they close Baldy - The very expensive food caters to kids, but could use some healthier and tastier options for us adults learning to ski Overall, I've become very fond of Dollar mountain during my trips to Sun Valley and would love to spend more time doing spring skiing there if they'll keep it open just a little longer in future years.

We chose to eat on the mountain but struggle to find affordable fare for us and our two kids (10…read moreand 12) that they will actually eat. Once we saw they had pizza, we bought a whole pie for $47 with tax. Each slice is $11 and still the cheapest option so we bought a whole pie and could customize with any toppings we wanted. We traveled all over Italy last summer and this was legitimately the best pizza we've had since then. It was so good.

Loved Seattle ridge lodge! Everywhere in sun valley is beautiful but this lodge was top notch. I've…read morenever had anyone clear my table for me in a ski lodge before haha. Variety of food, pizza station, soups salads, chicken tenders hot dogs baked potato's etc etc. you won't leave hungry!

Wow...oh Wow. This was a trip of a lifetime. If you're planning a trip to Sun Valley then plan a…read moreday Helisking with these guys. We did a beginner 1/2 day package that includes three runs (each with about 1500-3000 vehicle feet drop). Our guide (Alex) was incredible. He paced to the ski level of the group. It's expertly run and is a perfect way to experience the beauty of Idaho!

From the owner: Since its founding in 1966, Sun Valley Heli Ski has guided thousands of satisfied guest into the…read morespectacular terrain surrounding Sun Valley, Id. The current team of guides is unsurpassed in offering over 100 years of collective experience; a testimony to the level of dedication and professionalism that distinguish SVHS as the U.S preeminent heli-ski operation. Personal service is the trademark of SVHS. Groups are small with a guest to guide ratio of 4:1.

We have been here for 1 night with 1 to go. Here is our review…read more Amenities: Ice machine, washer/dryer, and an indoor pool. Nice to have these at your fingertips while staying in Ketchum. The room was clean, linens spotless and the carpet had a few small stains but it is expected from an older property. The room has fresh paint, pretty granite countertop sink but the room is older and if you look closely you'll see that in the details. Regardless of this the property is well maintained and no doubt the ownership is doing a nice job of making maintenance. Shower head is nice and clean towels. Like the liquid hand and shower soaps, they all smell excellent. Parking was no issue, which is a + from a property in downtown. One drawback, the 3 story property allows for you to hear anyone walking above you. We were on the second floor and could hear the little ones running on the 3rd floor. Location? We walked to restaurants, coffee, shopping, and a car show all in downtown. Tamaracks location is so good, we liked that a lot.

Pros: the bed was comfortable and the a/c worked. Cons:…read morenoise. So much noise. There cannot be any insulation between the floors. If you are on the lower level, you will hear people using the stairs, quiet walking, stomping, pounding... if the people upstairs drop something it's so loud that we jumped from the surprise. Staying here for a week, I have learned last call is around 2 am because that's about when the intoxicated guests come back to this motel and stumble, fall, vomit, pass out, wake up, go to the bathroom.. over and over. If you have anything you need to do during the day and you need the sleep (as we did), this place is NOT for you. Find somewhere else. Another con.. dirty. This place was not clean. I've attached a photo of what my clean slippers that I brought from home looked like after our stay. I only walked inside the room. The wooden arms on the chairs were caked in grime and dirt. If you must stay here, ask and pray for a room on the top floor, wear slippers or shoes, and maybe bring a few wipes to clean it yourself. Their cute motto is Roam. Rest. Repeat. Good luck getting any of that "Rest."

The price might be a little bit higher then other mid-level hotels, but I think this is a great…read moreoption if you're looking for a place with easy access to the Sun Valley resorts and downtown Ketchum. We stayed during ski season and here are the things I was most happy with (in no particular order): * The said it was a continental breakfast so I wasn't expecting all they offered like fresh local bagels and pastries, fresh berries, cut up pineapple, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, a very high quality granola, oatmeal with all the fixings, a pancake machine, juices, coffees with syrups and milks, lots of high quality tea choices, scrabbled eggs allow and with some mix-ins sometimes cheese or veggie, hard boiled eggs, meat like bacon sausage patties or links, sometime or potato like hash brown patties or shedded hash browns, roasted veggies, and on the weekend days they offered salmon with capers and onions. Plus flavored yogurts in individual containers and whole fruit like apples, oranges, and bananas. * humidifiers in the room. The hotel is so dry. We live at elevation in Park City, UT but Ketchum is drier! We ran the humidifier on high constantly but it was so great they offered this in the room. * they have a parking garage. It is $30/day AND there are easy access free spots around the hotel, but I imagine during peak season the offered parking is best. And it's covered so your car will be snow-free! * the heated pool for year round enjoyment (and two hot tubs). The air was too cold for my liking (because you have to get out eventually). * pretty decent gym with peloton bikes. * oh and the restaurant happy hour seems to be a hit with hotel guests and locals. The one huge downside was because it's so dry and they don't have a humidifier installed for the hotel, we got static shocked every time we touched the elevator buttons or unlocking our room. And it hurt! And when you're in town, I recommend the city museum, the wolf museum, the library, and the cemetery. And if the pedestrian paths are snow-free then head down Sun Valley Road.

This evening me and my friend came into limelight to enjoy some desserts and a drink, we could not…read morebe more disappointed by the customer service here. first we sat down inside and the front desk said hi to us, however the actual servers did not even look at us. we then decided to go outside, we sat down and again were ignored for a while by the waiter, Lucas. he eventually came to our table and asked if we wanted a menu, of course we do, it's a restaurant. After he told us what time the bar and kitchen close, we quickly made our decision of what we wanted to order. When he came back he walked right past us and SAT DOWN with two other girls at a table to talk and flirt with them for about 10-15 minute. we decided to go to the bar to order becuase he was chatting away and there was no bartender. the cooks were very nice though. FINALLY he came over to us when we were standing at the bar I told him that we just wanted to order before the kitchen closed, and he awkwardly took our order. When my friend asked if they had decaf coffee, he said they "don't really have that" BOY what do you mean a hotel does not have decaf coffee?! so I ordered what I thought was a rhubarb crip pie. I thought it would be worth it, boy was I WRONG. I can handle bad service but after spending $15 damn dollars on a dessert my ice cream was old, we could taste the crystals and some was a little chewy, in case you don't know that's not how icecream sound taste. and when I looked at my "Freshly made" pie it was literally rhubarb filling with some soggy stuff on top. NOT freshly made, and I couldn't eat it, I was so sad. Also we never got an apology, so that sucked. as Gordon Ramsay would say, " apologies to your customers and shut it down." So limelight, I just want my money back or something because that was an awful experience. - Angry Customer!