Idaho is Home to One of the Very Best Christmas Lights Displays in America

On November 1, two separate but equally vocal groups of people emerge. On one hand, you’ve got the people who will die on the hill that if it’s before Thanksgiving, it’s too early for Christmas anything. On the other, the folks who don’t care how dark or cold it is, they’re digging through their garage to pull out ALL of their Christmas decorations. 

If you most definitely fall into the second group of people, we found a Christmas activity that you might want to add to your 2023 Christmas bucket list! If you live in Boise, you’re familiar with Winter Garden aGlow at the Idaho Botanical Gardens and Winter Wonderland along Indian Creek in Caldwell. We’d venture to guess, you’ve spent a little time exploring the Boise Christmas Lights map, too. 

While they’re all incredible in their own right, they’re NOT the Idaho Christmas lights display that’s currently in the running for the title of “Best Public Holiday Lights Display” in America. The USA Today just launched their “10 Best” poll for that category and at press time the Holiday Light Show at the Couer d’Alene Resort is sitting in 11th place out of 20 nominees. The elves that put on the display are hoping to improve on their seventh-place finish in 2019. 

Each year, more than 1.5 million Christmas lights twinkle across 250 light displays around the lake. Lake Coeur D'Alene Cruises invites families to board their festive fleet and set sail for a 40-minute cruise where you get to marvel at all the gorgeous lights.

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You can grab a hot chocolate and see the lights from the upper deck or cozy up in the indoor lower level of the ship. Each cruise whisks guests off to see Santa and his elves at his waterfront toy workshop when he reads off the names of all the kids on the boat when double-checking his Nice list. (So parents, pro-tip: Include your child's name if you buy tickets!)

Right now, CDA Cruises is getting ready to kick off their "Santa's Sneak Peek Week Cruises" on November 15 which lets you preview the lights ahead of the official opening weekend at a discounted price. The official Journey to the North Pole Cruises run multiple times a day from Thanksgiving to January 2. The week two weeks before Christmas, the boats may go out up to nine times a day but some of those dates are already sold out. 

If you're looking for a cool idea for your office's Christmas party, they also offer private packages that include bottomless hot cocoa, cookies and an optional full-hosted bar for up to 25! We're fairly sure that if you treat your employees to this unforgettable lake cruise, they won't tell their friends how "lame the office party was" like they do every other year!

Editor's Note: If you can't make it during the holidays, they do a fantastic Hot Cocoa Cruise after the holiday season. You can read about our experience here. It wasn't just fun and relaxing, it was educational too! That’s where we learned about all the shipwrecks on the bottom of Lake Coeur d’Alene. You can read about those here!