Salt Lake to Telluride Road Trip
 

Driving from Salt Lake City to Telluride in July (16-22). Advice on route to take, interesting places along the way - Grand Junction, CO? It's a quick trip. Plan on staying in Telluride. Most interested in route ideas, things to do, and place to stay. I can find food on my own :)

Solo trip? Rental car? The Amtrak California Zephyr leaves SLC about 3:30AM every morning and gets to Grand Junction about 7 hours later (most days before 11AM).
It's 127 miles from Grand Junction to Telluride. Plan on 2.5 hours from Grand Junction.
What is the attraction to Telluride in late July.

"What is the attraction to Telluride in late July."

Really??

Telluride has wonderful festivals all summer long and the summer and early fall are spectacular in Telluride.

tom fuller: rental car. There are two of us. We are looking at Telluride, Mesa Verde, Durango, and Alamosa. We're just planning. Hiking and sightseeing.

As I mentioned above, there are festivals every weekend [except one] and most places have minimum stays and may be pretty booked up. Act fast to get a place. Lots of condo rentals and a good deal often can be had at: Hotel Columbia.

You can stay in Cortez and do day trips to both Mesa Verde and Telluride and Durango.

Kennebec Cafe is a great place to eat, between MV and Durango.

DebitNM Thanks, good to know

If you are going from SLC to Telluride via GJ, you might want to take a short detour to Ouray. It's a nice little Victorian town with good hiking, a box canyon wareterfall and a hot springs. While Telluride is popular in the summer, you should have no problem finding lodging this far in advance. Check Groupon, there are often hotel deals offered in Telluride. Personally, I get bored in Telluride after 2-3 days unless there is a major festival happening which I don't think will be happening around your visit so unless you are set on staying in one place, I would suggest you split your lodging reservations between Telluride and Durango. I wouldn't recommend Cortez; it doesn't have much attraction. Telluride, mesa Verde and Durango are all reasonably close (1-2 hours). Unless you have a specific reason to go to Alamosa, you might want to reconsider. That's a fair amount of additional drive time. If you are returning to SLC, I would suggest a route through Moab instead of returning through G.J. Are you interested in outdoor sports, entertainment, historic sites...? I could make more recommendations based on your interests