Colorado holds so much appeal for outdoor-loving families. Endless outdoor adventures, cosmopolitan cities, an old west heritage, 28 ski resorts, and 300 days of sunshine await. But where to go in Colorado? We have found the best destinations for families in the cities, national parks and mountains.
Glenwood Springs is a small city surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. Located along the Colorado Hot Springs Loop between Aspen and Vail, it’s one of the best spots for family adventures in Colorado.
Glenwood Hot Springs Resort is home to the world’s largest mineral hot springs pool. For kids, it has a river ride and Sopris Splash Zone with water slides and a kids’ pool. Iron Mountain Hot Springs is another great spot for soaking, with more than two dozen mineral pools terraced along the bank of the Colorado River.
Hanging Lake is a vividly hued lake suspended on the edge of a cliff in Glenwood Canyon in the White River National Forest. The 1.9-kilometre trail to the extraordinary lake and falls is steep, rigorous and rocky, but your first sight of the National Natural Landmark will make it worth the effort. Note that this is a permitted hike and reservations are required from VisitGlenwood.com/hanginglake to visit.
Take the gondola up Iron Mountain to Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. America’s only mountain-top theme park, you’ll find heart-stopping thrill rides. The park is also home to Colorado’s largest natural display of cave formations. Thrill-seekers will also love a whitewater rafting adventure along the Colorado River.
Colorado Springs is a city bursting with natural beauty sitting at 1,839 metres above sea level. At the Garden of the Gods, grassy Great Plains join the woodlands of the American Southwest. It’s the home of Pikes Peak, a majestic 4,302-metre mountain. To view it up close hike up or catch The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway which is the world’s highest cog railway.
Then go wild at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, howl with the wolves at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Centre and Marvel at Seven Falls’ natural beauty. And take time to enjoy the interactive exhibits at the one-of-a-kind US Olympic & Paralympic Museum.
Afterwards, don a hard hat and delve 100 stories deep below the earth’s surface in a skip elevator to explore a real historic gold mine on the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine Tour.
One hours’ drive from Denver, Loveland is a quintessential family community and one of the most kid-friendly towns in Colorado. The Benson Sculpture Garden is a beautiful park crammed with magical and mystical sculptures – kids will love uncovering the army of animal sculpture hidden in its midst. For some real animal action, saddle up at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch, an authentic working horse and cattle ranch that offers a selection of exciting trail rides through gentle terrain as well as tougher rides with ridge-top views. Then visit Carter Lake for a dip.
An hour from Denver, Fort Collins is the town that provided the picturesque inspiration for Disneyland’s Main Street USA.
Stunningly restored buildings, museums and inspired local cuisine set the scene. But the main attraction here is adventure. Spring Canyon Park is a must for kids with its Inspiration Playground. It’s designed to make differently-abled kids feel right at home.
You’ll also find skate and hockey parks and endless mountain biking fun. Speaking of bikes, The Corral Center Mountain Bike Park is Colorado’s first officially state-sponsored dirt pump track and offers trails for riders of all levels.
Looking for more Fort Collins thrills? Whitewater rafting at Cache la Poudre River is guaranteed to get the heart pumping.
You can head to Horsetooth Reservoir for some of Colorado’s best summer activities for families. There is boating, fishing, swimming, stand-up paddle boarding, water skiing, sailing and picnicking. Trails surround the reservoir for mountain biking, horseback riding and hiking. There is also epic rocks for bouldering on the east side of the reservoir.
The capital of Colorado is also its capital of cultural fun. More than home to the states international airport, Denver is home to many art, science, children’s and historical museums. You can catch major sporting games here too. There are also many opportunities for outdoor activities with Denver Botanic Gardens and kilometres of bike trails. Denver is known as the Mile High City because of its 1609-metre elevation. Denver is also within a short drive of many other cities and attractions so the perfect base for family day trips in Colorado.
Denver Airport is your gateway to Colorado. Once you land you can jump straight on the speedy ALine from the airport to LoDo Downtown Denver. It’s only $10.50 per person for the 37 min trip to Union Station and runs every 15 minutes.
The interactive Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus has an enclosed three-storey climbing structure, a kids’ kitchen with hands-on cooking classes, an art studio, a life-size marble run and a huge outdoor playground. Exhibits have been designed for kids learn through play and storytelling.
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science has a kids’ Discovery Zone, space museum and dinosaur exhibit. You can see an allosaurus and stegosaurus battle and discover Leonardo da Vinci’s incredible inventions.
Meow Wolf is a museum of immersive art. Convergence Station is a four-storey gallery packed with 70+ unique installations, rooms and portals into imaginative new worlds. You don’t look at the art here, you immerse yourself in it.
Two-billion-year-old Black Canyon is the highlight of Gunnison National Park. The Gunnison River runs inside the deep, steep and narrow gorge. It is best explored via a scenic drive some 600 metres above, showcasing a vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky. Drive along it for one of the best family adventures in Colorado. The Vista Trail to Exclamation Point is a great kid-friendly walking option and follows the rim past rocky outcrops and pink-hued stone.
The Colorado National Monument is an 8,093-hectare protected natural area in western Colorado, home to the Rim Rock Drive. It is famous for its towering red rock formations and deep canyons.
The stunning landscape has mighty monoliths and deep canyons inhabited by bighorn sheep, bashful lizards and soaring eagles. And it’s an absolute jaw-dropper. The most famous rock formation is the Book Cliffs formation, which dramatically rises from the valley floor.
Rocky Mountain National Park is Colorado’s most beloved national park. It is also the most-visited destination in Colorado. The sheer magnitude of the Rocky Mountain National Park makes it one of the best places to visit in Colorado. It has soaring mountain peaks, beautiful wildflowers during spring and pristine high-altitude lakes that are home to elk and moose.
Activities for families abound, including horseback riding, the park’s excellent Junior Ranger program and 570 kilometres of hiking trails including kid-friendly trails such as the Bear Lake walk, the Coyote Valley Trail or the round trip to Alberta Falls. You can also visit Holtzman Historic Site, a homestead from a working ranch established in the 1900s. Rocky Mountain National Park acquired the Holtzman Homestead in the 1970s and designated its original homestead buildings as a historic site.
Mesa Verde National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site and International Dark Sky Park, is a highlight for history buffs.
More than 800 years after its inhabitants disappeared, Mesa Verde still has an air of mystery surrounding it. It’s an Indiana Jones-inspired wonderland and one of the best-preserved archaeological sites in America. The ancestral Pueblo people left over 4,000 archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, that can be explored today. The remarkable cliff dwellings were built into alcoves high on the canyon walls. You can explore the largest, the Cliff Palace with a guide or as a family.
Join a tour so the kids can climb ladders to carved-out dwellings, inspect the rock art and try to solve the mystery of the Puebloans.
Great Sand Dunes National Park is home to the tallest dunes in North America. Its highest peak, Star Dune, rises 230 meters above the San Luis Valley.
Hike up the sand to slide down by sandboard or sled. Then hike in the surrounding mountains, play in Medano Creek, and stargaze at night. Watch for elk, bighorn sheep, black bears, and pika.
Colorado is home to the largest ski and snowboard resorts in the world. Fluffy Colorado snow is one of the state’s biggest drawcards between late November and April. Of its 28 major ski areas, Telluride, Aspen Snowmass, Crested Butte, Steamboat, Copper Mountain, and Breckenridge are amongst the best for families. All offer incredible runs and oodles of amenities including epic kids’ terrain parks, adaptive skiing programs and plenty of activities on and off the snow.
Check out a guide to Colorado’s best ski resorts here.
Tucked away in the western San Juan Mountains, Telluride is a former silver mining camp dazzling visitors with its beauty.
Telluride Ski Resort is world-renowned for all things skiing and snowboarding and receives on average over 7.6 metres of snow a year. On top of this, the area sees 300 days of yearly sunshine so you can easily explore over 2,000 skiable areas for all ability levels. Adrenaline junkies can test their skills on expert ski runs that offer stunning views on the way down, while beginners can give Galloping Goose, a 7.4-kilometre trail that ends at Mountain Village, a go for a gentler descent.
This ski resort is famous for the driest and fluffiest snow in the world, which they’ve trademarked as “champagne powder”.
Steamboat offers free mountain tours with former Olympians. Not only do they show you the mountain but they also give you pointers and teach you to ski moguls. Fun fact: Steamboat has produced more winter Olympians than anywhere else in North America.
Head to Rough Rider Basin for fun little buildings and teepees that the kids can ski through. There’s a mini sheriff’s office, general store and a saloon. Cute.
Steamboat also has a roller coaster at the base of the mountain that is open year-round. It’s family-friendly activities include free snowshoe tours, bumper cars on ice, hot springs, horse rides in the snow, snowmobiling, night skiing and tubing. At night, Steamboat has a hop on a horse-drawn sleigh ride to dinner.
Vail is one of the best places to visit in Colorado in winter. When it comes to skiing, it is the third-largest ski area in the US and the original resort of the Epic Pass.
Vail is so big that it has three separate trail maps to cover it all. The trails on the ‘Front Side’ offer mostly long, sweeping, family-friendly runs. Then head over the back to the seven legendary Back Bowls for some serious skiing.
There are also many other family things to do in Colorado in winter. Try snowmobiling, snowshoeing, ice skating, and tubing for piles of family fun.
This article was created in partnership with Colorado Tourism and is a Holidays with Kids digital exclusive. Be the first to see more exclusive online content by subscribing to the enewsletter here.
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