Traveling to RMNP this summer and planning to make Boulder our home base for three nights. Where is a NICE place to stay for two adults and two kids (ages 7 and 12)?? Prefer somewhere with a nice pool.

thanks.

Why Boulder? That's going to be about an hour drive into the park each day.

Utahtea

You've got a few choices -

The Hotel Boulderado is very nice, a historic hotel right downtown (which is best), but I don't think they have a pool.

The new hotel, the St. Julian, is also right downtown, and does have a pool. I haven't seen the rooms there, but I think it must be nice.

There's a Boulder Marriott (not sure about the pool) about 1 mile from downtown (which is the Pearl Street Mall)- it's a nice place, but the location isn't as fine.

And lastly (and I think less expensive) is the Milennium Harvest House, also not downtown, (again not sure about the pool). The hotel is older, but it's okay.

St. Julien is more of an adults hotel, IMHO. The Marriott is nice but has an indoor pool. The Millenium has an outdoor pool and would probably be the best choice but not sure how nice the rooms are.

My recommendation would be to stay a few miles south at the Omni Interlocken (right off of hwy. 36). This is a destination hotel and your kids would love the pool area (no slides but there are actually two pools and at least one jacuzzi). Sometimes they have pool movie night in the summer and there is drink/food service around the pool.

Beautiful, kid friendly hotel--the last time we stayed there (two weeks ago), they offered my daughter complimentary hot chocolate and her mama comp. champagne when we checked in. A nice way to start the visit!

Boulder's a great town to visit, but if you are going to the park, there are probably more options motel/hotel/cabin wise (upscale, hot tub cabins). It doesn't usually take us an hour to the park (40 minutes), but why not stay closer to the action?
(By the way, if you're looking for newer motel chains, and really don't mind an hour's drive to the park, a good bet would be Louisville, which seems to have attracted every one of them in the past few years...Boulder's are by and large older, a little more run down, and usually right on the road.)

Just as a warning, there are cyclists EVERYWHERE in Boulder. We almost hit some because we aren't used to it. It was pretty scary, zipping in and out of traffic, all over. We were very nervous driving there the whole time. Nice town though other than that.

Boulder is great, but not for a home base to RMNP. That drive up and back can be very long, especially in tourist season, and you'd still have to drive into the park and see it's gorgeous scenery.
I'd say stay in Boulder if that's where you want to be primarily, and make one day-trip to and from Estes.
Or, stay in Estes/RMNP and stop in Boulder on your way to or from DIA (somewhat out of the way, but do-able with good timing).
Or stay two nights in one town and one night in the other.
Have fun planning. Both Boulder and RMNP are fun vacations.
The new St. Julien in Boulder is the nicest hotel there now. I think kids as old as yours would be fine there. Or the Boulderado is a nice old historic hotel. Both are set on either end of Boulder's pedestrian mall.
Don't go to Interloken, unless you want to be even further from RMNP.

Thaks for all the suggestions. We didn't realize that RMNP was that far from Boulder. We have six nights in the area and want to break it up between Colorado Springs, Denver, and RMNP. Let me know if you have had a good experience with accomodations in/near Estes. thanks.

Isn't Estes Park a little dull in the summer? I remember not being all that impressed. Breckenridge/Dillion might be a livelier choice for the family.
It is only 2 hours, gorgeous and very family friendly.

I believe summer is high season for Estes Park.

Summer is high season for EP. There are lots of B&B/Lodges - it's still pretty high altitude, so I'm not sure about pools up there. If you want a nice place to stay, the Baldpate Inn is pretty and very centrally located to the park. The Stanley is a famous historic hotel, but the rooms could probably use a little updating (at least from the last time I stayed there).

I think there a few places with heated pools--Fawn Brook Inn? comes to mind (those are like apartments).

re: RMNP being dull-- it's definitely not dull if you're interested in gorgeous scenery and wildlife, plus a small town (although Estes is definitely a touristy town).
I'd suggest a slight twist on your plan, to include Grand Lake. It's a breathtaking natural lake in the mountains, and it's a beautiful drive there from Estes over Trail Ridge Road. (In any event, don't miss Trail Ridge Road, to get above tree-line and see real alpine scenery.)
The Grand Lake Lodge is the grande dame of historic lodges-- not fancy, a tad rustic, but really an atmospheric old log lodge, with a great porch that overlooks the mountain vista and the lake. Even a cute pool with an amazing view of Grand Lake. If you spent a night or two in Grand Lake, you could rent a motorboat to go out on Grand Lake, Shadow Mountain Lake, and Lake Granby. It's a fun way for kids to spend an afternoon. Personally, I prefer Grand Lake to Estes.
You could arrive in Denver, go to Boulder to spend a night or two, then head to Estes and stay a night or two, then go to Grand Lake. Then head home through Winter Park, over Berthoud Pass, and down I-70.
IMHO, I'd skip Colorado Springs because there's so much to see on this one loop alone. And because you'll be here in the summer, Denver can be hot, so I'd head for the hills right away. Boulder isn't exactly in the hills, but it's right up against the Flatirons and it's pretty there. Chautauqua Park, above Boulder, is also a pretty place to hike.
There is so much to see and do in Colorado, it's kind of like Italy-- you can't do it all in one fell swoop! Have fun, and keep asking questions.