Airports - Island Park Village Resort

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

We have a confirmed reservation in August 2009 for Island Park Village Resort in ID. Which airports should we consider as options as I start my search for flights?

[idahodude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close idahodude]

Well, if cost is a factor, I'd look in Idaho Falls (1-2 hr drive), Bozeman, MT (2-hr drive?, not sure as I don't drive in that area very often), Pocatello, ID (~2 hr drive), SLC (~5-hr drive), Jackson, WY (~1 hr drive). I believe there may be a small seasonal airport in West Yellowstone (~1/2 hr drive), but suspect that prices are pretty high there.

[susieq Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close susieq]

We have a confirmed reservation in August 2009 for Island Park Village Resort in ID.

Just wanted to say Congrats!! That's on our wish list of places to visit also ~ be sure and tell us all about it.

Sue

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

The closest airport with regularly scheduled commercial service is Idaho Falls (IDA) - it's probably about two hours from Island Park. Pocatello is three hours away - PIH is one hour from IDA and you have to go right past IDA to get to Island Park. Bozeman will be about two hours away. Jackson will probably be about 2-1/2 to 3 hours hours. IDA will probably be the easiest to get to - i.e., most frequent flights.

All of those airports are served by regional carriers, which means substantial air fares. I pay about twice as much to get from Boise to IDA as I pay to to get from SEA to BOI.

If you want to lower fares by renting a car and driving from a major airport, the closest large airports are SLC and BOI. I think it's about 2-1/2 hours to PIH from SLC, so you would be looking at almost six hours driving from SLC to Island Park. Boise is a bit more than four hours from IDA, so driving from BOI to Island Park would be about the same as SLC.

[btcctomtb Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close btcctomtb]

We have a confirmed reservation in August 2009 for Island Park Village Resort in ID. Which airports should we consider as options as I start my search for flights?

If flying from BNA Probably BOI or JAC as Frontier Flys to both locations. BOI about 5.5 hour drive but Car rentals are usually much less than JAC which is 2.5 hour drive. Watch JAC as many car rentals are not unlimited miles and in this area you will drive alot. Either way you fly in the drive will be Beautiful. Congrats on the great trade.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Thanks, for the information. We may be flying from Detroit if our two grandsons can go along.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

If flying from BNA Probably BOI or JAC as Frontier Flys to both locations. BOI about 5.5 hour drive but Car rentals are usually much less than JAC which is 2.5 hour drive. Watch JAC as many car rentals are not unlimited miles and in this area you will drive alot. Either way you fly in the drive will be Beautiful. Congrats on the great trade.

The drive from BOI to Island Park will have some beautiful stretches, but it will also have a lot of uninteresting terrain as well (unless you're a geology geek who doesn't travel anywhere without a Roadside Geology guidebook.) Between Boise and St. Anthony, there's not a lot of interest except for the stretch of canyon near Glenns Ferry and the area around Massacre Rocks State Park. At the rest area near Massacre Rocks, if you know where to look you can still see wheel ruts from the Oregon Trail. And Register Rock is interesting, where some of the travelers on the Oregon Trail carved their names into the rock.

Beyond St. Anthony the road to Island Park is quite nice.

If the OP does drive from BOI and wants a more scenic route, the better route is to exit I-84 onto US Hwy 20 at Mountain Home, then stay on Hwy 20 all the way to I-15 in Idaho Falls. That route goes through a very scenic grade up to the Camas Plain, then along the south end of the Sawtooth Range, through Picabo and Craters of the Moon National Monument, and across the Arco Desert to Idaho Falls. This routing would probably add at least one hour of drive time. But it would be scenic (except for the area through the Arco Desert lava flows).

[chellej Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chellej]

We generally fly into SLC, stop for a meal in Idaho falls, pick up groceries and then continue on to Island Park. You may want to price out tickets - last january when we went the air + Car was cheaper into Idaho falls than into SLC - It just depends on what specials you hit. That one turned out well because we would have gotten stuck in SLC because of heavy snow on the passes driving up.

There are several small grocery stores between Idaho falls & Island Park but if you do much cooking you will want to stop in Idaho falls or rexburg. I believe the last grocery of a reasonable size is in ashton.

When are you going in Aug? We have a week reserved for 8/22 and one for 9/12. We've been debating on whether to use one or both this year or deposit them. I also was thinking of moving the august week forward so we could have 2 weeks back to back. Early Sept is probably our favorite time of year there.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

The week we exchanged into is August 22, 2009.

[RESORT2ME Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RESORT2ME]

Fares and rentals

Compare Detroit to Billings with anything going into SLC.
Consider driving times and your arrival times at your TS.
Also think about the time it takes to catch that flight heading home.