Map view
Breckenridge Ski Resort
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Nov-Dec
Cost: $$$
- Alpine ski resort is in Breckenridge, which is recognized for acres of skiable terrain across five mountain peaks, where it welcomes thousands of skiers and snowboarders each season
- Just west of the Continental Divide, it is perennially one of the most visited ski resorts in the western hemisphere
#17 in Best Ski Resorts in the USA
Emerald Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Sept
Cost: $
- Park located within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains
- The eastern and western slopes of the Continental Divide run directly through the center of the park
- The main features of the park include mountains, alpine lakes and a wide variety of wildlife within various climates and environments, from wooded forests to mountain tundra
Telluride Gondola
Best time to visit: Jan-early April, mid June-Aug, mid-Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Telluride sits in a box canyon, where numerous weathered ruins of old mining operations dot the hillsides
- A gondola connects the town with its companion town, Mountain Village, at the base of the ski area
Aspen Highlands Ski Resort
Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, Dec
Cost: $$$
- Skiing mountain in Aspen, famous for the Highland Bowl, which provides what some people consider some of the most intense, and wild skiing in the state
- Aspen Highlands has become most famous for the Highland Bowl and other experts only terrain
Rattlesnake Gulch Trail, Eldorado Canyon State Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Established in 1978, the state park is located near the city of Boulder
- The park consists of two areas, the Inner Canyon (developed area) and Crescent Meadows (undeveloped area)
- Eldorado Canyon is home to one of the world's most accessible and comprehensive rock climbing areas
Sand Canyon, Mesa, Greenlee, Red Rock Canyon Loop, Red Rock Canyon Open Space
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- City park in Colorado Springs, consisting of a series of parallel ridges and eroded canyons
- The ridges include a continuation of the same sandstone rocks of the Fountain and Lyons formations that make up the Garden of the Gods a few miles to the north
Denver Botanic Gardens
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Gardens which feature North America's largest collection of plants from cold temperate climates around the world, as well as 7 diverse gardens that mostly include plants from Colorado and neighboring states
Palmer, Buckskin-Charley, Niobrara, and Bretag Trail Loop, Garden of the Gods
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Ancient sedimentary beds of deep-red, pink and white sandstones, conglomerates and limestone that were deposited horizontally, but have now been tilted vertically and faulted into "fins" by the immense mountain building forces caused by the uplift of the Rocky Mountains and the Pikes Peak massif
- The following Pleistocene Ice Age resulted in erosion and glaciation of the rock, creating the present rock formations
- Evidence of past ages can be read in the rocks: ancient seas, eroded remains of ancestral mountain ranges, alluvial fans, sandy beaches and great sand dune fields
Crater Lake, Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: July-Sept
Cost: $
- Wilderness area that contains within its boundaries 100 miles (160 km) of trails, six of Colorado's fourteeners and nine passes over 12,000 feet (3,700 m)
- The wilderness is named after the two peaks known as the Maroon Bells, and the Snowmass Mountain
Petroglyph Point Trail, Mesa Verde National Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: May-June, Sept
Cost: $
- National park and UNESCO World Heritage Site that protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites in the United States
- With more than 5,000 sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, it is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States
- Mesa Verde is best known for structures such as Cliff Palace, thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America
Vail Ski Resort
Best time to visit: Jan-March, Dec
Cost: $$$
- Ski resort located near the town of Vail, it is the third-largest single-mountain ski resort in the U.S., behind Big Sky and Park City
- Vail Village is modeled on Bavarian village styles, with pedestrian streets
Washington Park Loop
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Public urban park in Denver, which is a blend of historic and contemporary styles of architecture
- The park includes several trails, tennis courts, a lawn bowling/croquet field, a recreation center with an indoor pool, free weights, and other athletic facilities
Arthur's Rock Trail, Lory State Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-Oct
Cost: $
- State park whose more popular attractions include mountain biking, hiking, horseback riding and rock climbing
Montville Nature Trail, Great Sand Dunes National Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: May-early June, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- National park that conserves an area of large sand dunes up to 750 feet (230 m) tall
- The park contains the tallest sand dunes in North America
- Sediments from the surrounding mountains filled the valley over geologic time periods
- After lakes within the valley receded, exposed sand was blown by the predominant southwest winds toward the Sangre de Cristos, eventually forming the dune field over an estimated tens of thousands of years
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, Aurora
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Museum located on the former Lowry Air Force Base in Denver
- The museum preserves the history of Lowry AFB's operations from 1938 to 1994
- Features of the museum's collection include the USAF's B-1A Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress bombers and many other military and general aviation aircraft
Booth Falls, Eagles Nest Wilderness
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Sept
Cost: $
- Wilderness Area located in the Gore Range near Vail, that lies in the southern area of the Gore Range of mountains
- Numerous gold seekers left the slopes of the Gore Range pock-marked with diggings that remain part of the features of the landscape within the forest
South Platte Park and Carson Nature Center, Littleton
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Carson Nature Center is located in South Platte Park, which includes 880 acres of open space along the South Platte River
- Fishing is allowed in the five lakes and visitors can kayak through gentle water or rapids in the river
- There is a regional trail for biking and running, and miles of natural surface trails
- The Carson Nature Center museum contains exhibits about riparian ecosystems and their inhabitants, the South Platte Flood of 1965 which resulted in the construction of the Chatfield Reservoir, and wildlife in the park
Paint Mines Trail, Calhan Paint Mines Archeological District
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Park that has a diverse ecological system, with a combination of prairie, badlands and wetlands that attracts coyote, mule deer, song birds, horned toads, falcons, rabbits, and hawks
- It contains grassland and geological formations of hoodoos, colored clay and sandstone-capped spires
- The site is protected by law because of the geological and archaeological significance of the artifacts, rocks, animals and plants
Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Mountain park with rocks that were formed about 290-296 million years ago when the Ancestral Rocky Mountains were eroded during the Pennsylvanian epoch
- Later, uplift during the Laramide orogeny tilted the rocks to the angle at which they sit today
- Within the park boundaries is the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, a venue used since 1941
Denver Art Museum
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Art museum with encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world
- The DAM is one of the largest art museums between the West Coast and Chicago
- It is known for its collection of American Indian art
Warner Point Nature Trail, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: May-Oct
Cost: $
- National park that contains 12 miles (19 km) of the long Black Canyon of the Gunnison River
- The park itself contains the deepest and most dramatic section of the canyon
- The canyon's name owes itself to the fact that parts of the gorge only receive 33 minutes of sunlight a day
Loveland Pass
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- High mountain pass at an elevation of 11,990 feet (3,655 m) above sea level in the Rocky Mountains, located on the Continental Divide
- The pass is named for William A.H. Loveland, the president of the Colorado Central Railroad and a resident of Golden during the late 19th century
- It would be abandoned in 1906 and then restored for vehicle use in 1920 by the U.S. Forest Service