Colorado

Best time to visit Colorado

Spring (March to May)
Spring in Colorado offers a beautiful transition from winter to summer. The weather starts to warm up, and the snow begins to melt, making it a great time for spring skiing in the mountains and enjoying blooming wildflowers in lower elevations.

Summer (June to August)
Summer is the peak season for outdoor activities in Colorado. This is the best time for hiking, mountain biking, and exploring national parks like Rocky Mountain National Park. Temperatures are generally warm, but higher elevations remain cool, and it’s a perfect time to enjoy festivals and outdoor events.

Autumn (September to November)
Fall in Colorado is renowned for its vibrant foliage, especially in places like Aspen and the San Juan Mountains. It’s an excellent time for scenic drives and hiking with cooler temperatures and fewer crowds. Fall is also a great season for fishing and enjoying local harvest festivals.

Winter (December to February)
Winter transforms Colorado into a snowy paradise, ideal for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. The state’s famous ski resorts, such as Aspen and Vail, are in full swing, offering prime conditions for winter enthusiasts.

Highlights of Colorado

When it comes to winter, it’s no surprise that skiing and Colorado are inseparable bedfellows. After all the state is home to some of the world’s best, biggest and most well-known resorts – Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge and Telluride - and it’s with very good reason that these fine ski resorts come with a large smattering of glamour, money and some of the world’s most famous celebrities. The reason? It’s all about the snow. Rocky Mountain snow is lighter, drier and more consistent and is the stuff skiers’ dreams are made of; that is if your dreams are to be the best skier you possibly can.

Away from the slopes, Colorado packs in no less than four national parks as well as six national monuments and forty state parks - an impressive set of stats and a testament to its quite extraordinary beauty and cultural heritage. Mesa Verde National Park is one of the world’s greatest man-made wonders with its towering city of cliff dwellings constructed by the Ancestral Pueblo people. Hiking, biking, bird watching and fishing are all popular activities in the gorgeous Rocky Mountain National Park, just north west of Denver. and few places feel a more exciting collision of earth & sky with its beautiful lakes and rugged mountains. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America while the Great Sand Dunes National Park hosts a dune field encompassing more than 30 square miles with the tallest dunes in North America.

For many, the first sighting of this stunning state is Colorado’s hip, mile-high capital city. Denver is proud to go miles above expectations, literally. From the vibrant theatre district to the modern-day cowboy culture, it’s a town full to the brim with diverse culture and a thriving culinary and craft brewery scene. It offers a wealth of attractions within the city limits – the Victorian buildings and speciality boutiques of Larimer Square, the State Capitol building, and the shops, bars and restaurants on 16th Street Mall and around vibrant Union Station and it also provides easy access to some of the state’s premier playgrounds and historical hot spots.

Things to do on your Colorado holiday

Denver
Denver, the state capital, at 5,280 feet above sea level is appropriately nicknamed “The Mile High City” and is known for its diversity, energy, and vigour. It boasts the nation’s second largest performing arts centre, an assortment of art and history museums, 300 restaurants, brew pubs and nightspots. It’s also a shopper’s dream! With the 16th Street Mall Cherry Creek Shopping Centre and not forgetting the neighbourhood boutiques, there really is something for every shopping basket. A must visit whilst in Denver is to the nearby Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre – one of the most epic and world-renowned live music concert venues set amongst towering red rocks landscapes which has hosted artists including the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen.

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Ski holidays
For winter sport enthusiasts there is no better place to go skiing or snowboarding than Colorado. The upmarket resorts of Vail, Aspen and Breckenridge arguably offer some of the finest skiing in the world. Set in the famed Rocky Mountains, the high climate offers perfect powdery snow, wall to wall blue skies, a great après ski scene with skiing and snowboarding available from November to late April.

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Things to do on your Colorado holiday

Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde, the Spanish for green table, is an 80-square mile plateau rising 2,000 feet from the surrounding desert and river valley in south-west Colorado between the towns of Cortez and Mancos. The park offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. In its heyday, in the mid-13th century there were more than 5,000 people living in the “pueblos” scattered around the Mesa. Today, Mesa Verde National Park protects over 4,000 known archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings and many of these are easily accessible from the six marked and paved trails.

Colorado Springs
Colorado’s second largest city is overlooked by the 14,000 feet tall Pikes Peak and once was a popular gold rush town and is now home to the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Centre. There are plenty of attractions to keep visitors busy including the Western Museum of Mining and Industry and the interesting Colorado Pioneer Museum, whilst striking rock formations await at the Garden of the Gods.

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
In continuous operation since 1882, the 45-mile railway was for many years the main connection between the towns of Durango and Silverton, carrying passengers behind vintage steam locomotives and rolling stock indigenous to the line. Today, it’s a family-friendly journey with fantastic alpine vistas through the lush Animas River Valley and the gorgeous San Juan National Forest otherwise inaccessible by highway. For details of the trips available visit: www.durangotrain.com/

Top tips for visiting Colorado

•  Dress for the weather
  As you’re packing your clothes, you’ll no doubt check the weather forecast for the Colorado spot you’ll be staying in, but keep in mind that the weather can swing dramatically. Plan on bringing plenty of layers so that you can be comfortable whether it’s 40°C or 0°C – you might actually see both extremes while you’re in town.
  
• Rocky Mountaineer
  One of the world-renowned trains the famous Rocky Mountaineer now offers a service from Denver, Colorado to Moab, in Utah (and vice versa) which is the gateway to the awe-inspiring national parks of Arches and Canyonlands. The two-day journey takes you past vast canyons, inspiring deserts and red rock formations and hoodoos. Available in Silverleaf service the train journey overnights in the beautiful town of Glenwood Springs and can be added as part of a wider fly-drive itinerary of America’s south-west.

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Top tips for visiting Colorado

• Visiting National Parks
  During May to October, visitors will be required to prebook their entrance into Rocky Mountain National Park in addition to purchasing a National Park pass.  Please also note if visiting more than three national parks on your holiday, it’s worth buying before you travel ‘The America the Beautiful’ National Park annual pass. Priced at $80 per vehicle and for up to four adults, the pass includes entrance to all of America’s national parks and selected attractions and offers a great saving for visitors.
  
• Events in Colorado
  Colorado’s towns excel at providing a full calendar of events and attractions throughout the year. From lighting ceremonies to visits with Santa, concerts, holiday markets, and even wine and music and food festivals, you won’t want to miss out on all the fun happening around you. Be sure to check online or call the visitor centre before you arrive to make sure you don’t miss the local signature event too.
  
• Visiting Mesa Verde National Park
  If you are planning a visit to the amazing Mesa Verde National Park, the first thing you should do is visit the Far View Visitor Centre which is open early June to the Labor Day Weekend (the first weekend in September) and features exhibits that focus on the contemporary American Indian cultures in the Four Corners area. You’ll also find rangers here who will be happy to help plan your visit and answer any questions you may have. To get a real insight into the life of the early inhabitants of the Mesa, you may want to consider a guided tour with one of these knowledgeable rangers.