If your ideal vacation includes sitting in traffic or getting lost trying to drive around a new town, then Sun Valley may not be the right place for you. You see, we don’t like to waste a lot of time driving around when there’s so much fun and adventure to be had right out our front door.
While it can sometimes be a challenge to get to our winter oasis in the Northern Rockies, once you arrive in Sun Valley it’s easy to ditch the car.
From the slopes to the shops, from the airport to Sun Valley resort to Galena Lodge, it’s easy to get around without having to get behind the wheel of anything, except a bicycle. It’s nice to go someplace where you can leave the car behind and still easily get wherever you and your family want to go.
To help you get around, here’s a rundown of the local transportation options.
Enjoy a Mountain Ride
When some of us hear the phrase “take the bus to the lift” we have bad flashbacks to slow rides in yellow school buses at Heavenly Mountain. The Free Town Bus in Ketchum and Sun Valley is more like a clean, comfortable (and timely) van than it is a bus. Three routes from the slopes of Baldy and Dollar through Ketchum and Sun Valley loop every half-hour all winter long. The buses even have ski racks!
It’s easy to get you, your family, your skies, snowboards and even bicycles around our resort community. Mountain Rides also offers connections from the airport in Hailey.
Grab a Cab
Uber may be big in cities, but it isn’t quite as popular in seasonal resort towns like Sun Valley. Uber is, however, available locally for those who have the app. There are also two reliable cab companies, Wood River Taxi and Miller’s Limo, which also specializes in providing transportation for your dogs, too.
The airport in Hailey is also home to several national car rental companies (Avis, Hertz and Enterprise) as well.
Shuttle Around
Some local hotels, like the Limelight Hotel and Knob Hill Inn, offer shuttle service from the airport and even around to places like restaurants and the slopes. Reservations are usually required in advance for these services.
Bike It!
Fatbiking is the hottest winter sport going and our endless miles of groomed trails make them perfect for Sun Valley. The souped-up mountain bikes have tires more than twice as big as the normal “fat tires.” About 3” thick, fatbike tires require special forks and rims, but just about anyone who can ride a mountain bike can ride a fatbike.
Not only are fatbikes a convenient way to get around town in light or plowed snow, they are also good in mud, sand or on pavement. Besides the groomed Valley-long Bike Path, there are Fatbike-specific trails at Sun Valley Resort Nordic Center, at the Big Wood Golf Course and a 7-mile loop by the SNRA Visitor’s Center.
Several local shops rent and sell fatbikes, including Pete Lane’s Mountain Sports, The Elephant’s Perch and Sturtevant’s.
When the snow melts, Mountain Rides even offers a Bike Share program, which includes bike stations throughout the valley where cruiser-style bikes can be rented and returned.
Enjoy a Walk
Statistically speaking, the Wood River Valley is one of the safest places in the country. But who cares about statistics when you’re enjoying a nice stroll to grab coffee or dinner with some friends on a crisp winter’s day in the mountains of Idaho.
Ketchum is a very walk-able town with well-maintained sidewalks, while the Sun Valley Village offers lots of fun within a short stroll. The entire valley is also home to the groomed BCRD Bike Path, which is prefect for long walks with your pets.
