Entry I2 min walk
The Kneadery
260 Leadville Ave N, Ketchum
The best pancakes in the valley, and the last unironic ski-lodge breakfast counter in Ketchum. Order the huckleberry stack.
‹ BackThe Monarch Guidebook
Ketchum is a mining town that became a ski town without ever becoming precious about it. What follows is where our editors actually go — eat early, drink slowly, and give the mountain the whole morning.
Chapter I
Food
Entry II2 min walk
Pioneer Saloon
320 N Main St, Ketchum
Prime rib under a wall of mounted elk, poured drinks with no menu of their own. It has looked exactly like this since 1965, which is the point.
Entry III2 min walk
Rickshaw
460 Washington Ave, Ketchum
A nook off Washington pouring out Southeast Asian street plates — small, seasonal, and best ordered a few more than you planned. Dinner only, and it fills by seven; the bar seats turn over fastest.
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Chapter II
Drinks
Entry I1 min walk
Whiskey Jacques'
251 N Main St, Ketchum
A basement bar with the best whiskey list in Ketchum and a jukebox that hasn't been updated since 1998. Perfect.
Entry II1 min walk
Warfield Distillery & Brewery
280 N Main St, Ketchum
Gin distilled a staircase away from where you drink it, and a rooftop that faces Baldy squarely. Go at five, before the kitchen crowd.
Entry III1 min walk
Enoteca
300 N Main St, Ketchum
A narrow wine room with wood-fired pizza and a list that treats Idaho and Piedmont as equals. The bar seats are the good seats.
Entry IVThe Bradford’s Pick7 min drive
The Duchin Lounge
1 Sun Valley Rd, Sun Valley
The Sun Valley Lodge’s velvet-boothed bar, pouring the same martini it poured for Gary Cooper. Piano from six, no reservations, no hurry.
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Chapter III
Cafés
Entry I3 min walk
Java on Fourth
191 4th St W, Ketchum
Order the Bowl of Soul — half coffee, half Mexican chocolate, all of Ketchum in a mug — and take the window seat facing Fourth Street.
Entry II3 min walk
Maude’s Coffee & Clothes
311 1st Ave N, Ketchum
Espresso at the front, vintage denim at the back, records on all afternoon. The kind of place a ski town keeps to itself.
Entry III3 min walk
Hank & Sylvie’s
580 4th St E, Ketchum
A bakery that sells out of morning buns by ten and never apologizes for it. Get there at eight with the dog walkers.
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Chapter IV
Experiences
Entry I6 min drive
Bald Mountain, from River Run
River Run Lodge, Ketchum
Ride the gondola up and walk down, or earn it the other way around. Either direction, 3,400 vertical feet of why the town exists.
Entry II6 min drive
Ernest Hemingway Memorial
Trail Creek Rd, Sun Valley
A quiet bust above Trail Creek, ten minutes from town, with the epitaph he wrote for a friend and earned for himself. Go at dusk.
Entry III7 min drive
Sun Valley Ice Rink
1 Sun Valley Rd, Sun Valley
An outdoor rink that has run every summer since 1937, Olympic skaters on Saturday nights, hot chocolate regardless of the month.
Entry IVThe Bradford’s Pick32 min drive
Silver Creek Preserve
Kilpatrick Bridge Rd, Picabo
Spring-fed, glass-clear, and humbling: the trout see you first. Hemingway fished it, the Nature Conservancy keeps it, and an hour here rearranges your priorities.
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Chapter V
Shops
Entry I1 min walk
Chapter One Bookstore
340 Second St E, Ketchum
An independent bookshop that has out-stubborned every winter since 1970. The staff table is better than any algorithm.
Entry II2 min walk
Gail Severn Gallery
400 1st Ave N, Ketchum
Four decades of serious contemporary art, hung in a town of three thousand people, priced like it knows exactly what it is.
Entry IIIThe Bradford’s Pick1 min walk
The Gold Mine
331 Walnut Ave N, Ketchum
A thrift shop that funds the town library and dresses half the lift line. Cashmere for ten dollars if you are early; stories for free regardless.
Kinora
The Bradford Monarch Guidebook · Volume I · MMXXVI · Gold Monarch
The marker is The Bradford. Tap any entry for directions.
I. Food
The Kneadery260 Leadville Ave N, Ketchum2 min walkPioneer Saloon320 N Main St, Ketchum2 min walkRickshaw460 Washington Ave, Ketchum2 min walkII. Drinks
Whiskey Jacques'251 N Main St, Ketchum1 min walkWarfield Distillery & Brewery280 N Main St, Ketchum1 min walkEnoteca300 N Main St, Ketchum1 min walkThe Duchin LoungeThe Bradford’s Pick1 Sun Valley Rd, Sun Valley7 min driveIII. Cafés
Java on Fourth191 4th St W, Ketchum3 min walkMaude’s Coffee & Clothes311 1st Ave N, Ketchum3 min walkHank & Sylvie’s580 4th St E, Ketchum3 min walk