Modern Hotel

The City of Trees, capital of the Gem State (or, if you prefer, the Potato State) — Boise has been bashful about asserting itself as a cool modern city. There are signs, however, in the opening of the Modern Hotel, which revises a former Travelodge motel into a mod micro-oasis.

Rooms and suites at the Modern Hotel are tastefully retro with teak furnishings, Nelson lamps and some surprisingly bright colors. All come equipped with soaking tubs or rain showers, iPod hookups and William Roam products. Suites are outfitted with a kitchenette for extended stays. Rates are reasonable and there is a landscaped courtyard that doubles as a gathering space for guests and spill-over for the hotel’s Modern Bar, surely one of the slickest martini spots in the state.

Located in the up-and-coming Linen District, the hotel is proximate to a growing variety of shops, culinary hotspots and espresso haunts (this being, technically, the Northwest). Next door is the centerpiece of the Linen District, the Linen Building, nexus of Boise’s burgeoning creative class. And of course you’re surrounded by thousands of square miles of great outdoors — more than a few Modern guests are likely on the way to one national park or another. It’s no Portland or Seattle, not yet — but for the adventurous and pennywise, the Modern Hotel is likely the best vantage point for checking out a developing Boise scene.