Mycuppajava

60ish ladies, non skiers, looking for best area of Colorado for a few days. Scenery and something to occupy our time while there but with some but not extreme activity. Thanks much.

vjpblovesitaly

aspen

tekwriter

What time of year? If you don't want winter activities, then mid-summer or early fall are best for scenery and weather. Spring is not a good time since winter tends to hang on here and many mountain areas are very quiet in between winter and summer seasons.

Mycuppajava

I think September would work...only in very early stage of planning. Vjpblovesitaly mentioned Aspen, what does this area have? I do appreciate your input so very much. Mycuppa

sf7307

Aspen is a lovely town, great mountains for hiking/walking (Aspen Mountain is right IN town), tons of restaurants (some of which are outstanding) and shopping (running the gamut from a multitude of inexpensive silver jewelry shops to very high end leather, clothing and jewelry), excelent hotels (and some not so great). I loved it when I went in winter, even though I was not skiing. I'd love to go back in summer.

martym

Aspen has a lovely, very walkable downtown with shops and many wonderful restaurants. You can visit the Maroon Bells just outside of town for an easy hike and beautiful scenery. http://tinyurl.com/6zophs There is a walking path along the Roaring Fork River through town. Aspen has a very nice small art museum http://www.aspenartmuseum.org/

This website should provide you with all the information you would need. http://www.aspenchamber.org/

Take a look at the Limelight Lodge as a lodging possibility--it was recently refurbished and well located and is often less expensive than other places.
http://www.limelightlodge.com/

Gretchen

Breckenridge area. You could go over to Vail to "do", or down to Silverthorne to shop.

PeaceOut

Another vote for Aspen. September can be a very quiet month in mountain resort towns, so you might get good lodging prices then.

Two good condo/hotels in Aspen proper: The Gant, and Aspen Square. Be sure to tell Aspen Square you want a newly-remodeled condo, because they charge the same for the older units as they do for the brand new ones. The Gant has a price schedule which accounts for the age of the unit.

sf7307

We were just in Breckenridge. I really enjoyed our stay, but just wanted to point out two things -- 1) the town of Breck is much much smaller than Aspen (one main street, maybe 6 or 8 blocks long, with very little on the side streets, whereas Aspen is more like 6 blocks x 6 blocks), and 2) Aspen has some fabulous restaurants, which Breckenridge does not.

joto

There are some hot springs in Colorado. Steamboat Springs, Pagosa Springs and quite a few others. I haven't been to any of them yet as I'm a fairly new resident of Colorado. There is Rocky Mountain National Park which is beautiful, but give yourself some time to adjust to the altitude.

sf7307

Aaah, altitude. I was very worried about this before our trip to Breckenridge. As it turned out, we suffered very little, just a tiny headache for 2 out of 3 of us the first day, easily cured by Excedrin. However, a co-worker of mine went to Denver, Vail and Breckenridge two days after I got back, and she had some serious issues in Breckenridge (town of Breckenridge is at 9,500 feet, top of the mountain is 12,000+. Neither Aspen nor Vail is as high as I recall)

Barblab

Mycuppajava, all of Colorado is just beautiful in September. What exactly are you looking to do? That might narrow down the choices. Basically all the ski areas have quaint towns, hiking, resturants. Are you driving, flying, any restrictions on location?

Mycuppajava

No restrictions really. We have just begun our planning and possibly will fly. I don't know if we will rent a car or just hang around a certain area for the mountain views. Thank, you guys, so much for your input. It is certainly appreciated.

Melnq8

How about Durango? September is a good time to take the steam train to Silverton - good leaf peeping.

http://www.durangotrain.com/

You could easily incorporate the beautiful town of Ouray and Pagosa Springs too, getting a nice taste of SW Colorado.

http://www.ouraycolorado.com/

http://townofpagosasprings.com/

PeaceOut

If you don't want to rent a car, you could fly to Denver, take the bus to downtown, and take Amtrak to Glenwood Springs. It's a nice stop for a night or two, but from there I suggest you go to Aspen for the majority of your stay.

Aspen is just about 45 minutes away by car, and I imagine you could get a bus for that portion, or rent a car for a few days. I think once you are in Aspen proper, you can enjoy yourself without a car, but actually would want one so you can wander around on your own a bit.