6 Best Sights in South Central Colorado, Colorado

Once a separate, rowdier town where miners caroused, today the stretch of Colorado Avenue between 24th Street and 28th Street, west of downtown, is a quaint National Historic District whose restored buildings house galleries and boutiques as well as kitschy shops, sidewalk cafés, and restaurants.

This entire town is a National Historic District, and it's the most significant example of a turn-of-the-20th-century coal-coke camp in Colorado. As you drive through the area, note the telltale streaks of black in the sandstone and granite bluffs fronting the Purgatoire River and its tributaries, the unsightly slag heaps, and the spooky abandoned mining camps dotting the hillsides.

The Highway of Legends passes through the tiny, laid-back resort town of La Veta before intersecting with U.S. 160 and turning east toward Walsenburg, another settlement built on coal and the largest town between Pueblo and Trinidad.

Leaving the Rockies far behind, U.S. 50 takes you toward the eastern plains, where rolling prairies give way to hardier desert blooms and the land is stubbled with sage and stunted pinyon pines. One fertile spot—50 miles along the highway—is the town of Rocky Ford, dubbed the "Sweet Melon Capital" for its famously succulent cantaloupes.

Founded in 1851, San Luis is the oldest incorporated town in Colorado. Murals depicting famous stories and legends of the area adorn several buildings in the town. A latter-day masterpiece is the Stations of the Cross Shrine, created by renowned local sculptor Huberto Maestas. The shrine is formally known as La Mesa de la Piedad y de la Misericordia (Hill of Piety and Mercy), and its 15 stations with bronze statues illustrate the last hours of Christ's life. The trail leads up to a chapel called La Capilla de Todos Los Santos.

In a joint effort with neighboring Silver Cliff, this remote and picturesque town at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains became the state's first International Dark Sky Community in 2015. Nestled in quiet Custer County, mountains shade the town from light pollution to the east, preserving the dark nights that provide a perfect backdrop for stargazing year-round. Once a mining town, Westcliffe's 600 residents now thrive mostly on agriculture and ranching, but spring and summer festivals attract tourists from around the world to the charming Main Street, as does the access to outdoor activities. Westcliffe offers over 200 miles of hiking and biking trails in the summer and alpine cross-country ski routes in the winter. Rock climbing and fishing are also easily accessed from here.