I’ll be honest, I never heard of Spokane, Washington, before planning this trip. Most people from our side of the country visit Seattle if they visit Washington. The original idea came from finding some part of the country to do a beautiful horseback riding tour. Our preferred trip together as a married couple is a mix of adventure and comfort. We love to stay in a city or town with plenty to do in the evenings and have great food and drinks. We also love the ability to go out and do something adventurous or enjoy beautiful weather. After a lot of research, we somehow settled on traveling to Spokane, Washington. Just for reference, it is pronounced SPO-CAN. We couldn’t have been happier with our choice, and it ended up being one of the best trips we’ve taken!
Things to do In Spokane:
Below is a list of activities/experiences we had that we would recommend to anyone visiting the area!
Explore Downtown Spokane
Spokane is the second-largest city in Washington and has a beautiful downtown area. So there are going to be plenty of activities to do, restaurants to visit, and bars to have a good time at. Spokane is unique because it is home to the largest urban waterfall in the United States, Spokane Falls. The pristine-looking Spokane River runs through the heart of the downtown area and has several waterfalls/rapids. It’s the biggest attraction in the city, and so you will find many shops, restaurants, and museums surrounding the area. A big focal point is the River Park Square, a several-story tall mall with an AMC theater sitting at the top.
You can check out the restaurants we ate at in Food and Drink section below.
Riding Scooters in the Riverfront Park
So if you have been to a major city within the past few years, you may have seen or tried one of the hundreds of rental scooters on the sidewalks. For those unfamiliar, you can easily rent a scooter parked on a sidewalk via an app such as Lime. There are no designated pickup or return locations, and all you do is find one, rent it, and pay a small fee when you park it.
Well, Spokane offers a perfect environment for this. Of course, you can ride throughout the downtown area, but the Riverfront Park provides the best paths. Riding scooters deserved their own section because we had an absolute blast on these. The Park offers miles worth of paved walkways that go around alongside the river and to and from local shops. This pathway also connects to Gonzaga University, so you have even more access to trails. This includes part of the Centennial Trail, 39 miles of paved-trailed connecting State Parks. The scooters are not designed to tackle 39 miles, but we did use this trail to create a loop from the Park to the University.
Lime seems to be the most dominant scooter service in our cities. If you download the app with my link, you can get a free unlock credit!
Hiking at the Riverside State Park
We love a good small hike when we travel. So we got on the AllTrails app and looked for some moderate hikes within the area. We settled on the Bowl and Pitcher Loop Trail inside of the Riverside State Park. There are several other trails to choose from, but this is a pleasant 2-mile hike.
The hike starts with a giant swinging bring hovering over the Spokane River. This river is the same river that runs through the downtown area. Even without the waterfalls, this river is gorgeous. After crossing the bridge, the “loop” begins. It starts with a gentle walk in the woods of Washington and then follows the river back towards the bridge. If the weather is warm enough, I would recommend hiking in swimwear. There are a few sections along the hike to take a pleasant dip. However, the water stays pretty cold! But the beautiful deep blue and clear water was too tempting for me to resist.
Horseback Riding
Spokane is a fantastic city to visit alone, but Horseback riding is what drew us toward the city. There are a few services to choose from, but we decided on Spokane Trail Rides. I am no expert in equestrians, but another key selling point was that they offered rides on the giant Draft horses.
Spokane Trail Rides is located within 15 minutes of the city. At first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted a trail ride so close to the city, and that fear quickly subsided by the time we got there. The area seemed rural and far removed from city life. Their trail rides take place in the James T. Slavin Conservation Area.
The James T. Slavin Conservation Area is a gorgeous 628 acres area full of seasonal ponds, wetlands, elevated forests, and grassy meadows. The site serves as a protected habitat for waterfowl and other birds. Its also known to be an elk calving area. Also an excellent spot for a hike!
Where to to Eat in Spokane?
I’ll spare you the details on every airport meal, room service, or a quick bite to eat we grabbed. Instead, I will share the restaurants and bars that we found unique, memorable, and practical.
P.F. Chang's
P.F. Chang’s is a large franchised Asian bistro. I know you probably want unique places to dine, and so do we. But there used to be one in the city we live in, so we were missing it. This was the nicest P.F. Chang’s I’ve been to. For those who have never been to one, they do have good food, from my experience. Plus, this P.F. Chang’s was located right in the heart of downtown. It is part of River Park Square, but it’s not in the main building; it’s located right across the street from it.
River Park Square
There are a few restaurants like P.F. Chang’s in the River Park Square, but I wanted to include the whole mall area. Like any mall, you can expect your typical food court items, plus it has a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream stand! This mall is an easy choice for a quick lunch or an ice cream break.
9th Street Bistro - Huckleberry's Natural Market
9th Street Bistro is probably as local as you can get. Our random need for a laundromat leads us to discover this little gem. So if you do need to do laundry and get lunch, then this is the best place to be, as they’re both located in the same plaza. The bistro/deli is situated inside the Huckleberry’s Natural Market. The 9th Street Bistro has breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, wraps, plus a coffee and juice bar. Plus, you have access to the entire grocery store. I wouldn’t be sharing this if I didn’t think it was special, but I was highly impressed. I ordered a thick turkey sandwich with apple slices and cranberry cream cheese. It sounded strange, but it was delicious! Bethany got a cheesy chicken and spinach wrap that was excellent as well.
Eating here really makes you feel like a local. As a bonus for reading this far, there is a beautiful old historic park called Cliff Park near the marketplace. It has plenty of grassy areas, shade, and even a volcanic outcrop that you can climb up and see stunning city views. Great location for a picnic!
Clinkerdagger
Clinkerdagger was our date night choice of restaurant. It had a rustic kind of vibe and plenty of seafood options. They offer a classic American menu, so there are plenty of choices for the landlubber. Again, I will share my meal choice because it was unique to me. I got the Steelhead Trout. I’ve never eaten that fish before as it’s native to the west. I am not a big fan of Salmon, but the texture and taste were very similar. Oddly enough, I became a huge fan of Steelhead.
What made Clinkerdagger special was its location. It sits right beside the Spokane River and across from the River Front Park. The restaurant is part of the Spokane Flour Mill. This mill is an older building that has been revitalized with a few shops, the Clinkerdagger, and historical displays.
Flatstick Pub
I wasn’t quite sure where to put this. Flatstick is a pub so you can get food and drinks here, but what you will remember is the games. Inside Flatstick, you will find a 9-hole mini-golf course and a 9-hole Duffleboard course. The mini-golf is self-explanatory, but it was a whacky course. It is a small and cramped course, but a lot of fun! The Duffleboard course is what’s unique. It’s a combination between shuffleboard and mini-golf. It is wise to book a tee time for the mini-golf course.
lodging in Spokane
So far, we have only stayed at one hotel in Spokane, but if we visit again, we probably will stay there again.
The Davenport Tower
Not to confuse you, but there are three Davenport hotels. I’m sure all three are great, but we stayed at the Davenport Tower. Our criteria for the hotel are clean, safe, centrally located, and reasonable. In the Davenport Hotel, we got all four of those plus luxury. Any hotel with valet parking I consider luxurious. Usually, I avoid those because I’d rather park my car. Luckily the valet was not in service, and they have a parking garage. Despite being luxurious, this hotel was very reasonable to emphasize again.
The Davenport Tower offers standard hotel amenities, such as a large indoor pool, hot tub, and fitness room. Overall, the hotel has a classy African safari theme. So downstairs in the lobby, they have the Safari bar and grill. We did try the room service for that. This hotel was the first I stayed at that included a Starbucks instead of a self-serve coffee bar.
The location of the Davenport Tower was a big selling point for us. It’s located centrally downtown. We felt very safe the whole time and were able to walk to almost everything in the Downtown/River Park area. It’s easy to find a Lime scooter parked outside the hotel too.
SUmmary
In short, I would recommend Spokane for an extended weekend trip. This is a great city for couples to have fun on date nights and enjoy plenty of outdoor activities. If you have any questions, please leave us a comment, and we will do our best to respond!
