Arco, ID

Arco is a small city in Butte County, Idaho, with a population of approximately 900 residents. It sits in the high desert of eastern Idaho along the junction of U.S. Highways 20, 26, and 93, surrounded by sagebrush plains, volcanic buttes, and the dramatic Lost River Range. The town carries a distinctive identity as the first community in the world to be lit by nuclear-generated electricity in 1955, an event tied to the nearby Experimental Breeder Reactor I. Today, Arco serves primarily as a waypoint and gateway for travelers heading toward outdoor destinations in central Idaho, sitting roughly 75 miles west of Idaho Falls and approximately 130 miles northeast of Twin Falls.

Just west of town, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve spreads across a vast ocean of black lava, cinder cones, and underground lava tubes. The monument's scenic loop road and short trails let visitors walk across otherworldly terrain, and it is reachable from Arco in roughly twenty minutes. The site draws hikers, campers, and stargazers drawn to the park's exceptionally dark skies.

In the hills above town, the Experimental Breeder Reactor I, better known as EBR-I, preserves a different kind of landmark: a Cold War–era reactor that in 1951 became the first in the world to produce usable electricity from atomic energy. Operated as a public museum by the U.S. Department of Energy, the site sits within the broader Idaho National Laboratory complex and offers guided tours that connect visitors to the region's atomic heritage and the story of how Arco came to be the first nuclear-powered town.

To the north and east of Arco, the Lost River Range rises sharply from the desert floor, including Borah Peak, Idaho's highest mountain at 12,662 feet. The range offers hiking, backpacking, and a handful of developed hot springs within about a thirty-to-sixty-minute drive of town, while Mackay Reservoir and the upper Salmon River provide fishing, paddling, and camping opportunities a short distance further north. Together with the lava fields to the west and the alpine terrain to the north, Arco sits at the meeting point of multiple very different landscapes within a compact radius.

For short-term rental owners and guests, Arco's appeal lies in its role as a quiet, affordable base camp near a National Monument and a major mountain range. Travelers who want to explore Craters of the Moon, attempt Borah Peak, or trace the region's atomic history tend to pass through town, giving well-placed rentals a natural fit for road-trippers, climbers, and families making their way into central Idaho.