Stephie

How long a drive it is to Ouray from Aspen in September and which route you would take and which route is quickest.

Is there a destination in the SW portion of Colorado that is closer to Aspen than Ouray that is similar? Is Montrose similar or interesting? And is it a shorter drive than Ouray. I've looked at maps, but it's hard to tell just how LONG it would take to drive to these destinations and hard to tell which route - i.e. going up thru Glenwood Springs, or going S. from Aspen - is fastest.

Could we get to Montrose or Ouray in 3 hrs. from Aspen?

Any help is much appreciated!

lauren25

If you get onto mapquest.com you can get distances and directions.
You can figure about 3 and 1/2 hours to Montrose. And about 4 and 1/2 hours to Ouray.
I like both the little towns.
Glenwood Springs is about and hour and a half away from Aspen and I love it there...biased though..I have family there.

travellyn

If you drive as far as Montrose, you might as well drive to Ouray or Telluride. I drove this route last year, and I think it took about 4-4.5 hours to Ouray from Aspen. The drive from Aspen was very slow through Carbondale, etc, but it was scenic. It's too far for a day trip.

gb

It depends what time of year you are driving. Unless the traffic or weather are bad, the drive from Glenwood to Aspen is more like 45 minutes to an hour. Glenwood Hot SPrings is great any time of year. Is it late Sept or early Sept? Late Sept. is best to view foliage. There's not to see or do in Montrose, unless you visit Black Canyon National Park. I'd agree that it's at least 4 hours to Ouray from Aspen because there is no direct route. What you see on a state map is what roads there are. There really are no short cuts. How many days do you have? There is enough to visit around Aspen to keep you busy for at least several days.

Stephie

THank you all for your posts. We'll be in Aspen 3 days, and have spent a lot of time around there 6 yrs. in a row. My husband plays in a volleyball tournament there every Labor Day weekend. We have never ventured W. of there and are chomping at the bit to do so, but we don't have enough extra time for long drives. We've spent some time already in Glenwood Springs as well, at the hotsprings lodge and hiking to Hanging Lake.

Thanks for your advice so far. I thought it would be at least 4 hrs. Might be doable. We'll give it some thought!