Minidoka National Historic Site
Idaho, Washington
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
6 h fully dark
Crowds
low
Entrance
Free entry
During World War II, over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated without due process of law. Although little remains of the barbed-wire fences and tar-papered barracks, the Minidoka concentration camp once held over 13,000 Japanese Americans in the Idaho desert. Minidoka preserves their legacy and teaches the importance of civil liberties.
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
The Historic Site is open daily during daylight hours year-round for self-guided tours. Visitor center hours and ranger program offerings vary seasonally. Restrooms are only open during Visitor center operations.
Hours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 208-825-4169
✉ Miin_information@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 85°F
☀️ 97°/50°
☁️ 99°/59°
☁️ 103°/66°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
5%
Feb
3%
Mar
15%
Apr
15%
May
53%
Jun
83%
Jul
100%
Aug
87%
Sep
56%
Oct
8%
Nov
7%
Dec
5%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
View Exhibits at the Minidoka Visitor Center
Take a Self-Guided Walking Tour of Minidoka · 1.6 mi
Watch the Minidoka Film
Become a Minidoka Junior Ranger!
Visitor centers
Minidoka Visitor Center
Accessibility
5 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Minidoka National Historic Site — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Minidoka National Historic Site — each spans a cross-park journey.
John and Sumiko Kobayashi
— Japanese American History, Homestead Act, IdahoPassport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Minidoka Visitor Center
Places to see
Block 22
audio
Maritime Washington National Heritage Area
Minidoka National Historic Site Plaques
audio
The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial
audio
The Herrmann House
audio
The Swimming Hole
audioAudio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
This series will look beyond the historical facts relating to E.O. 9066 and explore the human side of the story. One incarcerate from each of the 10 camps with be highlighted in this year long series.
In 2020 Harpers Ferry Center (HFC) won eight awards at WorldFest Houston. Many of these can be viewed over the summer through our upcoming film festival in celebration of HFC’s 50th Anniversary. (Note: The Special Jury REMI Award is given for a ranking of A+ and recognizes the top films in each category.)
Anti-Asian laws and policies in the late 1800s and early 1900s
This is the exact wording of EO 9066.
Discover southern Idaho's hidden treasures, including Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, City of Rocks National Reserve, Minidoka National Historic Site, and Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.
Glossary of terms related to Japanese American Confinement
Overseen and operated by the National Park Service, the sites at Manzanar, Tule Lake, and Minidoka were examined by NPS archeologist Jeff Burton and his team between 1993 and 1999, along with the seven other camps and isolation and assembly centers associated with Japanese American incarceration and relocation.
Journalist and activist Kimiko “Kimi” Tambara was born in 1919, in Washington state to Seichiro and Kino Tambara, both of whom were first-generation Japanese immigrants.
How Minidoka National Historic Site connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
Park
Activity
Topic
State
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
Trail
ThingToDo
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