colorado
 

I am a nature lover but not a skier, or interested in snow activities. what is a good travelling/soghtseeing season in Colorado?

If you are in good health, a classic challenge is to climb a 14er.

You need to tell us more about when you would like to go and your interests. There are some limitations in different seasons.

July, Aug, Sept are our favorite months-if not skiing

September and October. Southwest Colorado is grand - Durango, Telluride; Mesa Verde National Park are at their best in the fall.

Fall, for sure. Gorgeous weather, colors, everything is...gorgeous!

Thanks everyone. Fall it is.

Do make it early fall, snow starts in the mountains by October. Trail Ridge road was closed in the first week of October one year when we were there.

If you are coming from a warm state, colo can be a nice relief (cool) in august/september.

OP is coming from Australia

If you're not in the mountains, August can also be brutally hot. September-October is often glorious.

"Brutally hot"? Temperatures can reach 100 degrees but it does't happen that often and almost never in the mou tains. Now Phoenix in August gets brutally hot.

Oh, my, Sylvia. Puhleeze. LOL

I stand by my statement in reply to "colo can be a nice relief (cool) in august/september"

Colorado (the plains, not the mountains; note the caveat "If you're not in the mountains") can indeed be brutally hot in August, particularly if you don't stay indoors in, or have, air conditioning. Comparing it to, for example, Arizona, is pointless. Stating that August can be "cool" is simply wrong, unless you make it clear that 5000 feet elevation is very different from a mountain town at 8000 feet.

I guess it is how you define "brutally." Can there but a hot day in August? Of course, but on the whole Colorado is pretty mild with low humidity which makes hot days very tolerable.

On this one, Sylvia, you wrong. August can be cool and often is. There has been summer when the temperature was never over a hundred. And comparing to Arizona or other local where the temperature frequently climbs pass a hundred is exactly the point.

After 45 years of living here in Colorado, I can categorically state that I am not wrong.

Vail has a tremendous music scene in the summer.

The music/dance festival in Aspen is also world class; and many ski areas offer ride up/bike down or chairlift rides (along with alpine slides).

Thanks everyone. Can you tell me more about those music festivals? Now they are right up my street, especially if in a lovely environment.

They are all over the state. This is this year's calendar.
http://www.heyreverb.com/blog/2013/0...nd-more/67828/

http://www.aspenmusicfestival.com
The main venue is semipermanent, semioutdoors; walkable from many parts of town. Outstanding talent of all kinds, reasonable tickets, and of course the area is incredibly scenic. In the summer, Independence Pass (don't forget to visit the Grottos), the Maroon Bells, Castle Creek to Conundrum; outdoor recreation choices are innumerable, and there's a wide range of lodging types and prices.

Lets reset the question. You asked earlier when was the best time to visit. And the majority agreed it was the Fall, especially Sept. and you sort of agreed to that. The question of the music venues would change the recommendations. Most of the music/entertain activity is during the summer months with a couple of programs extending into early September. Most of the resorts are in a change over mode from summer activities winter activities in the months of Sept and Oct. So you will find most of those area fairly dead but offering great value for lodging and meals.

And don't afraid of August. As I posted earlier brutally hot is a personal perception. The temperatures averages for the past three years for Aug in Denver are --

High Ave Low
2013 94 78 52
2012 95 87 49
2011 97 75 55

Not a day over a hundred and a light jacket with some of the lows might be nice. IMO, hardly brutally hot. So draw your own conclusions.

And if you come from the hot humid southeast, that 90* and arid humidity feels like 70!! Don't forget the sunscreen no matter when you come!!
We have actually found early August to be a high season of travel to Denver based on the airport, and fullness of flights--people finishing up their summer before school starts back home.
With the exception of "mud season", Colorado is a great place to visit at any time IMO.

Hey - if it does get "brutally hot" - stay overnight at altitude - where it's cooler. :)

Travelbroadcaster:
No matter the childish fixation on an adjective, the upshot here is that autumn is a wonderful time of year to visit Colorado. Temperatures are cooler, skies are clear, if you catch the aspens changing, it's gorgeous. But,90 never feels like 70, no matter where you're from, and the plains ARE hot in the summer (sometimes too hot to do much outdoors). My point (reiterated more than once) is that summer in the mountains is much better than summer in the plains, so far as outdoor activities are concerned. My personal favorite is early fall.

Sylvia - are you a grade school teacher? :)

Well, I agree with sylvia that Denver can be very hot in the summer. We live here, and I hate hot weather, so am super-sensitive, though. It's MUCH better than humid heat elsewhere.

If you like music festivals, Aspen is the place. It is so gorgeous there. Room rates can be high, so you need to shop around and plan in advance. We like The Gant condo-hotel.

We were in Aspen last June and loved it, as always. It can be rainy in the early summer, but we had good weather.

July and August in Aspen are glorious.