Things To Do Around Colorado

Denver has one of the world's most stunning backyards: the majestic Rockies and everything that Colorado has to offer. The Mile High City is the gateway to amazing locations, just waiting for you to explore.

National Monuments, Parks and Historic Sites

Rocky Mountain National Park

Location: 65 miles northwest of Denver
Driving time: 1 1/2 hours
Rocky Mountain National Park is Colorado's most popular attraction, with more than three million visitors every year. Trail Ridge Road crosses the park, forming the highest continuous highway in North America and reaching heights of 12,183 feet. Massive peaks, rugged canyons, flower-studded meadows, peaceful lakes and thundering waterfalls combine to offer a complete look at the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Activities include hiking, biking, camping, horseback riding, climbing, fishing and viewing wildlife. There are four visitor centers; two of the visitor centers and Trail Ridge Road are generally open from late May to mid-October and are closed because of snow the rest of the year. Estes Park on the east and Grand Lake on the west are two resort villages filled with shopping, dining and accommodations.

NOTE: During the high season (late May to mid-October), there is a timed-entry reservation system to access popular parts of the park from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. A specific reservation is required to access the Bear Lake Road Corridor from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

Don't Miss: While Bear Lake is extremely popular, Sprague Lake is an easy, half-mile level stroll.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

Location: 108 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 2 hours
This fascinating monument is a portion of an ancient lakebed that has preserved almost in its entirety an ecosystem that existed 35 million years ago. Leaf, insect and seed fossils can be found throughout the 6,000-acre Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Don't Miss: The Petrified Forest Walk, a one-mile trail that passes massive, petrified Redwood stumps, a historic excavation site and a geologic timeline exhibit.

Browns Canyon National Monument

Location: 120 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 2 1/2 hours
Recently designated as a National Monument, Browns Canyon defines Colorado's great outdoors with its exceptional recreational opportunities and natural beauty. This gem is also one of Colorado's most popular sections of whitewater.

Don't Miss: The ultimate Centennial State experience. Colorado Adventures is famous for its full- and half-day rafting trips down this beloved section of the Arkansas River.

Looking for Exhilarating Ways to See the West?

Rocky Mountaineer

Get a feel for the rails while seeing some spectacular scenery that only a train ride can provide by traveling from Denver to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, to Moab, Utah, on the Rocky Mountaineer. You'll go through Ruby Canyon, see Mount Logan and cross the Continental Divide and see deserts, arches and hoodoos. The spacious glass-domed train coaches let you take it all in.

Aspire Tours offers hand-crafted sightseeing adventures from brew tours to overnight hiking expeditions. Adventure Scenic Tours of Colorado operates all over from Colorado Springs to Rocky Mountain National Park. Go on a Jeep tour with Adventures Out West or Native Jeeps. Or try your hand at fly-fishing with Colorado Wilderness Rides & Guides.

Soar over the iconic Flatirons with a view of the University of Colorado in a sailplane with Mile High Gliding in Boulder. See Denver's biggest attractions from the seat of a helicopter with Mile High Rotors or Front Range Heli. Get an aerial view of the foothills, downtown buildings, Empower Field at Mile High, Coors Field, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre and more. Or channel your inner Wizard of Oz as you float above the Front Range in a hot air balloon piloted by Fair Winds Hot Air Balloon Flights & Rides in Lafayette.

Want to tour Garden of the Gods on a Segway? Or experience the gorgeous Pikes Peak area from a zip line or four-wheel-drive vehicle? Adventures Out West in Colorado Springs has you covered. They also provide hot-air balloon rides.

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Location: 181 miles southeast of Denver
Driving time: 3 hours
This painstaking reconstruction of an old adobe fort and trading post takes visitors back to 1845, when Bent's was an important stop along the Santa Fe Trail. Costumed interpreters demonstrate what life was like during the days of the mountain men. Visitors are free to walk the fort's ramparts or visit the blacksmith shop, trading post or the trapper's quarters.

Don't Miss: The fun living history interpreters who provide guided tours and demonstrations June 1 through September 1.

Curecanti National Recreation Area

Location: 217 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 4 hours
Explore Curecanti National Recreation Area, Colorado's largest water area. Curecanti is made up of three lakes (Blue Mesa, Morrow Point and Crystal), all created by dams on the Gunnison River. Enjoy the starkly beautiful landscapes and water sports all summer long.

Don't Miss: The amazing Morrow Point Boat Tours through the upper Black Canyon within Curecanti.

Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve

Location: 235 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 4 hours
This astonishing natural wonder contains some of the highest inland sand dunes in the world. Located at the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, the Great Sand Dunes rise to heights of 800 feet. The dunes change colors throughout the day, forming a dramatic and beautiful natural landscape, with the rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background. There is a visitor center and museum on the site, and you can walk, climb and even ski the dunes!

Don't Miss: The refreshing Medano Creek, where you can splash, swim and relax with the magnificent dunes all around.

Colorado National Monument

Location: 255 miles west of Denver
Driving time: 4 1/2 hours
Colorado National Monument is an area of fantastic red rock canyons, monoliths, pillars and cliffs, with self-guided walking trails and a visitor center, as well as numerous pull-offs offering spectacular views.

Don't Miss: Rimrock Drive, which follows a scenic course around the canyon's rim, 2,000 feet above the floor of Grand Valley.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Location: 262 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 5 hours
Discover the most spectacular 12-mile section of a 53-mile-long gorge carved by the Gunnison River. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park offers many hiking trails, including one that takes you down the 2,000-foot-high gorge to the river at the bottom.

Don't Miss: The paved road that circles the rim of the canyon, offering many thrilling viewpoints over the lip, which at some points drops a half-mile down!

Dinosaur National Monument

Location: 297 miles northwest of Denver
Driving time: 5 hours
About 140 million years ago, this area of northwestern Colorado was a marshy lowland inhabited by hundreds of prehistoric creatures. Today, Dinosaur National Monument is one of the world's richest deposits of dinosaur and reptile fossils.

Don't Miss: The Dinosaur Visitor Center, where you can watch workmen dig away barren rock and expose fossil bone. Exhibits include one of the rarest fossil finds in the world — an infant Stegosaurus.

Curecanti National Recreation Area

Mesa Verde National Park

Location: 400 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 8 hours
Perched in the high plateau country of southwestern Colorado, Mesa Verde National Park is a designated World Heritage Site and contains some of the largest and best-preserved examples of the amazing cliff dwellings, built more than 700 years ago.

Don't Miss: The awe-inspiring Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde's largest cliff dwelling, which contained 150 rooms and 23 kivas (round, sunken rooms of ceremonial importance) and had a population of about 100 people.

Hovenweep National Monument

Location: 450 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 7 hours, 45 minutes
Hovenweep National Monument features the ruins of six prehistoric villages built between 1100 and 1300 AD. There are crumbling towers and pueblos among the cliff dwellings, all in beautiful southwestern canyon country.

Don't Miss: The easy, two-mile loop around Square Tower Group, which contains the largest collection of Ancestral Puebloan structures at Hovenweep.

Cool Mountain Towns

South Park/Fairplay

Location: 85 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Experience the best of Colorado's high country in South Park, including skiing, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, historic ghost towns and much more.

Don't Miss: South Park City Museum, a remarkable, "living history" restoration of a 19th-century Colorado mining town.

Vail

Location: 97 miles west of Denver
Driving time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Vail is a year-round playground with a pedestrian village lined with upscale shops and outdoor cafes, as well as the largest ski mountain in North America.

Don't Miss: The stunning Eagle-Bahn Gondola ride, which gives you unparalleled views of the Rocky Mountains.

Salida

Location: 142 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Located right in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, Salida boasts a hopping, historic downtown, with great restaurants, bars and shops, all just steps away from the peacefully flowing Arkansas River. Beyond downtown, enjoy great biking, hiking and rock climbing, among other outdoor pursuits.

Don't Miss: Whitewater rafting on the Arkansas — there are dozens of outfitters in the area who cater to all skill levels.

Aspen

Location: 159 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 3 1/2 hours
Known as a hotspot for the rich and famous, Aspen is actually a welcoming, authentic mountain town — with just a touch of glamour. It's a top destination for skiers in the winter, while in the summer, the area attracts mountain bikers, kayakers, zip-liners and other outdoor adventurers.

Don't Miss: The John Denver Sanctuary, an idyllic location with many of the singer's best-loved songs etched into the rocks — including "Rocky Mountain High," of course.

Crested Butte

Location: 229 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 4 hours, 20 minutes
Known as both "Colorado's Last Great Ski Town" and "The Wildflower Capital of Colorado," Crested Butte has just about everything an outdoor enthusiast desires: skiing, mountain biking, hiking, wildflower viewing, kayaking, fly-fishing, climbing and plenty more.

Don't Miss: Crested Butte Summit Trail, which takes you to the summit of Crested Butte Mountain through tall timber, across tundra and a screefield. If you don't feel like making the trip back down, you can take the chairlift!

Durango

Location: 339 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 6 hours, 20 minutes
One of the most legendary towns of the Old West, Durango is now a modern, cultural small city with all the amenities, but it still offers a taste of the frontier days with its Victorian architecture and historic attractions.

Don't Miss: The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which lets you relive the sights and sounds of yesteryear during a spectacular journey through the mountains.

Telluride

Location: 362 miles southwest of Denver
Driving time: 6 hours
Celebrated for its culture, heritage and spectacular scenic beauty, Telluride offers world-class skiing, awe-inspiring mountain views and world-renowned festivals, including the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride Jazz Celebration and Telluride Film Festival.

Don't Miss: The free gondola ride that links the towns of Telluride and Mountain Village, providing access to hiking and biking trails in the summer and the ski slopes in the winter.