5 of Idaho’s Favorite Vacation Destinations Are Crawling with Bed Bugs

During the week leading up to Memorial Day weekend, how many times did you lose track of what day it was? Your body was at work, but your mind was already on the getaway you have planned for the long weekend. 

AAA is forecasting another record setting holiday weekend with 45.1 million Americans expected to hit the roads, sky or water to enjoy some well earned downtime. The local office estimates about 274,000 of those travelers will be Idahoans. 

READ MORE: The 10 Most Popular Vacation Destinations from the Boise Airport

The list of the most popular destinations for Idahoans this Memorial Day weekend is a healthy mix of destinations within driving distance like Seattle, the Oregon Coast and Salt Lake City and destinations you’d rather fly to like Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix and Nashville.  If you’re headed to those destinations, prepare yourself for busy traffic and full flights. 

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All of these destinations are fun places to spend a long weekend, but before you leave you should know that five of Idaho’s most popular Memorial Day vacations destinations also appear on the list of America’s most bed bug infested cities. 

If these creepy crawlies follow you home, you could be shelling out as much as $5,000 to get them out of your house, so here’s what you need to know before you go! 

How Dangerous are Bed Bugs?

You won’t find bed bugs on the list of most deadly insects in Idaho that we shared recently. They’re more gross than dangerous. The CDC explains that bed bugs produce an anesthetic and anticoagulant that they inject into their human hosts. That’s why it’s highly unlikely that you’ll wake up or see blood marks if you’re being enjoyed as a snack in the middle of the night. 

That said, it is possible that those bites may swell and become itchy within a few days.  More serious, non-visible symptoms of bed bug bites include insomnia and anxiety.  

Bed Bugs Can Be a Serious Travel Concern

If you’ve never seen a bed bug with your own two eyes, they have rather skinny and flat bodies which allow them to hide in a nearly infinite number of places in order to hitch a ride from your hotel room to your home. 

They can fit into the seams of your luggage, folds of your clothes or inside a pillowcase on that pillow you brought from home. These little vampires can survive anywhere from 20 days to over a year without feeding, so they’ll just hang out inside your stuff until they’re ready to emerge and snack on you again. Once they’re in your home, they can spread to your bedding, furniture and other areas of your home. 

That’s NOT a cheap problem to deal with. According to This Old House, bed bug treatments can range from $150 for one room up to $5,000 for a whole home. On average, people with a bed bug problem in their homes spend about $1,500 for one visit from a professional pest control company. The cost could continue to rise with follow-up inspections. 

How Can I Tell If a Room or Bed Has an Active Bed Bug Problem?

Bed bugs aren’t easy to spot with the naked eye and like we mentioned, they like to sandwich themselves into places you won’t see them waiting to feed. However, if you see rusty colored blood spots on mattresses or furniture, that could be a sign of an infestation. Experts say there may also be a sweet, musty odor in the air. Bed bugs are also known to leave their molted exoskeletons behind. 

It’s important to stay alert for signs of bed bugs everywhere you go, because they don’t discriminate. They’re just as likely to show up at a five-star hotel as they are in a college dorm room. 

5 of Idaho’s Favorite Memorial Day Destinations Rank Among America’s Most Bed Bug Infested Cities

And that brings us to Pest Gnome’s list of the Worst Cities for Bed Bug Infestations. They ranked 500 cities based on factors like the number of accommodations, multi-unit residential buildings, number of used furniture stores, population density, Google searches for bed bug related keywords and access to exterminators. 

The bad news? Three Idaho cities appeared on that list. The good news? They were nowhere near the Top 50. Here’s a look at how they rank:

• #326 - Boise
• #468 - Nampa
• #473 - Meridian

We can’t say the same for some of the destinations Idahoans are looking to travel to for Memorial Day 2025. Five of the ten most popular destinations ended up in the Top 50.

Nashville, TN

#10 most popular Memorial Day Destination for Idahoans, #28 most bed bug infested city in America

Phoenix, AZ

#9 most popular Memorial Day Destination for Idahoans, #26 most bed bug infested city in America

Seattle, WA

#2 most popular Memorial Day Destination for Idahoans, #14 most bed bug infested city in America

San Diego, CA

#6 most popular Memorial Day Destination for Idahoans, #8 most bed bug infested city in America

Los Angeles, CA

#3 most popular Memorial Day Destination for Idahoans, #2 most bed bug infested city in America

Headed somewhere else for the long weekend? Here's a look at the full ranking of Pest Gnome's Top 50 Worst Cities for Bed Bugs.