Summer At Sun Valley Resort, Idaho

A traditional family resort in Sun Valley, Idaho offers recreation during both summer and winter seasons.

Readers may remember my review of Sun Valley’s spectacular ski experience a few years back — and it remains one of my favorite places to take the kids for winter family fun. But once the snow melts, Sun Valley, Idaho is transformed into a summer playground with non-stop activities and a well-run daycare facility for parents who want time away from their tiny tots to sample white water rafting, horseback riding, mountain biking, and golfing on an 18-hole course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.

Plan to stay in the resort area itself, which consists of the glamorous Sun Valley Lodge where Ernest Hemingway, Gary Cooper, Judy Garland, and Marilyn Monroe once slept, an inn, and dozens of condominiums. Here, you can take advantage of the restaurants, shops, movie theater, ice skating rinks, 18 tennis courts, three swimming pools, bowling lanes, and bike paths, and the cozy childcare cottage which accommodates children ages 3 months-5 years.

The Sun Valley summer camp offers a childcare program for 2 to 12-year-olds. Five age-appropriate programs run mid-June through late August, then reopen for the ski season. It operates daily and offers outdoor playtime for all ages, hayrides, a wading pool for toddlers, swimming and paddle boating for children ages 3+, and ice skating for ages 4+. Spaces are limited; make reservations early, especially for the babies.

Anyone can skate on Sun Valley’s Olympic-quality indoor and outdoor ice arenas year-round. But each Saturday night starting in mid-June, the ice is turned over to Olympic champions such as Tara Lipinski, Brian Boitano, Katarina Witt and Nancy Kerrigan, who star in a Summer Ice Spectacular. Other special events such as twilight jazz and symphony concerts, an antique automobile auction, and arts n’crafts shows take place around the resort throughout the summer.