Start from 25 curated places around Pocatello, ID, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Portneuf Valley Brewing
Pocatello's original brewpub, open since 1996 and currently operating under a scaled-back model focused on brewing and fermented foods. Dinner service runs Friday and Saturday evenings, with the owner brewing her own beers and house-made fermented products. Check the schedule before going; this is not a full-week operation.
Off the Rails Brewing
A downtown brewery with seventeen taps and a kitchen built around homemade sourdough pizzas, with vegan options that aren't an afterthought. The gouda burger with bacon jam is a local order. Live music and a relaxed Old Town room make it an easy weeknight stop.
Trails & outdoors
City Creek Trail
The trailhead for a 50-mile-plus network of foothill paths that starts minutes from downtown, following a creek through a mix of shaded and open hillside. Routes range from short creekside loops to long climbs, so you set the distance. The most accessible hiking from the city.
Gibson Jack Creek
A creekside trail in the foothills southwest of town that climbs gently through aspen and conifer along Gibson Jack Creek. It's a moderate few-mile out-and-back with steady shade and water, popular with runners and dog walkers. A cooler option than the exposed City Creek routes.
Things to do
Idaho Museum of Natural History
The state natural-history museum on the Idaho State University campus, strongest on Ice Age mammals and Idaho fossils with hands-on areas for kids. It's compact enough for a focused hour or two and the staff genuinely like talking through the collections. A solid rainy-day stop for families.
Zoo Idaho
An outdoor zoo in Ross Park specializing in animals native to the Intermountain West, with bison, elk, bears, cougars, and raptors in large naturalistic enclosures. The whole visit is a walk on local terrain, so it doubles as a short hike. One of only a couple of zoos in the country with this regional focus.
Landmarks & sights
Fort Hall Replica
A full-scale recreation of the 1834 Hudson's Bay fur-trading post that was a key resupply stop on the Oregon and California Trails, built inside Ross Park. You walk through the company hall, blacksmith shop, and quarters laid out with period letters, maps, and tools. It runs as a summer-only living-history museum.
Old Town Pocatello
The historic downtown district built largely between the 1890s and 1940s when Pocatello was the rail hub of southeastern Idaho, with terra-cotta and Art Deco facades along the main blocks. It's a walkable stretch of independent shops, breweries, and restaurants rather than a single monument. The city publishes a self-guided architecture walking tour.