Sandpoint Idaho is a great place to visit, live, and enjoy! There are so many different things to do in the outdoors, as well as awesome businesses to visit.

With so many different things , you may end up asking yourself “What is Sandpoint Idaho known for”. Well, in the end, I would say the main things are our well known Lake Pend Oreille, our tourism, and Schweitzer Mountain. However let’s dig in a little further!

1. Lake Pend Oreille

I personally feel like this is rather obvious! Lake Pend Oreille is the backdrop to our small little town. Most mountains you climb, you will see it sitting there! If you haven’t already, definitely recommend climbing Mickinnick Trail to see a ton of the lake.

Not only is the lake extremely large, it is also crazy deep! At around 1150 feet it is deeper than the Loch Ness, and we even have our own monster… which is likely one of the submarines being tested in the lake. Yep, that’s right, submarines.

2. Schweitzer Mountain

Schweitzer Mountain has plenty of winding roads

I don’t think most people in our area really appreciate how awesome Schweitzer Mountain really is. I spent some time away from this area a while back, and ended up skiing on a different well known mountain, only to find that I really really missed Schweitzer .

Our mountain has some of the best slopes from my experience! And again, you can’t discount our #1 selection being the backdrop to your skiing experience.

3. Railroads

If you have spent any time here in Sandpoint, you likely have run into a railroad…. or 10. We have a lot of them! In the end you get used to them, and don’t hear them anymore. However it is really cool to be able to see all of the different trains going across the lake.

Want to know why we have so many trains? This article details the main reason why.

4. Businesses

We may be a small town, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have some great businesses! Sandpoint contains the headquarters for Quest Aircraft (that makes the Kodiak Airplane), Litehouse Foods, and many other large and awesome businesses.

It is also home to many different small businesses like the Flying Fish Company, and restaurants like Trinity at City Beach.

5. Tourism

Of course with so many cool things going on here, tourism is something we are definitely known for! Tourists flood in during the summer giving much needed business to shops, restaurants, and more while they are here to visit our lake, and mountain!

6. Logging

Whether you agree with it or not, Sandpoint started off with with logging and continues to be well known for it! Do a quick drive out into the mountains and you will find plenty of roads meant for logging trucks!

Hint: Those roads are also fun for doing a little off-roading.

7. Hiking

Hiking! We have a lot of it. We have plenty of different hiking trails, some of them are extremely close to town like the Mickinnick trail we talked about earlier, or you can spend a couple hours to get to it like Roman Nose. Both of which are trails you should definitely look into at some point!

8. Warm summers, cold winters

Finally, we have warm summers, and cold winters! If you are someone that enjoys both the beach, and snow sports, this is the place for you!

Having both such a huge lake, and an awesome ski mountain makes it easy for many people to make it through the year having tons of stuff to do!

During the winter you will also find a lot of cross country skiers, and during the summer, a ton of boaters are parking their trucks and trailers throughout the roads.

Conclusion

These are the top things that I think Sandpoint Idaho is known for! Can you think of any others? Make sure to drop it in the comments below.

If you haven’t enjoyed getting to be here in Sandpoint, come over and visit! If you have lived here your whole life, that is totally awesome!