AnnRiley

As stated in prev post we will be coming to colorado sept'08 for 9 days from UK.

I am do my research on where to stay/go etc and am anticipation some advice from fodors.

But from a different angle as i study the map are there any AREAS that one should avoid as a holiday maker that are rough/or not for tourists, i don't mean to insult anyone but every place has its 'grotty parts' and often as strangers we are ignorant of them.

For example we will be getting into Denver about 4.30pm after travelling 15 hours and our body clocks are 6 hours ahead, so we will want to pick our 1st night away from airport and in a nice area ready to start our hol next morn but, not that far a drive as we will be tired and want to enjoy the couple of hours before tiredness takes hold.

And looking at all the surrounding towns (to Denver) well were do you begin if you don't know the areas.

hope i make sense any tips for 1st night

sundown

You might want to re-post your entries under "Colorado." You'll get more responses that way. They only appear under "General Interest" right now.

You could make it to Colorado Springs within a couple hours and from your other post it appears you may be headed south, anyway? The other option would be staying somewhere in the mountains. You could make it up to the Breckenridge area within a couple hours, as well.

There aren't any really bad parts to Colorado and people are used to tourists and very much appreciate them.

AnnRiley

Bit of a divvy when it comes to computers, how do i re post?

But already not worrying so much if Colorado is such a nice state can't really go wrong wherever 'we lay our hat...'

Does anyone know of any towns that may interest someone (hubby) with an interest in all things Western?

lennyba

Hi AnnRiley -

I saw on another thread that your husband is interested in Tombstone. Are you coming to Arizona as well?

crefloors

Ann, you can't post in "Colorado". All the Colorado, or Arizona, or what ever does is allow someone to search for posts relating to those areas. What ever you post on the US Board just goes into the general postings. I think you'll get responses. It's evening here and on the west coast where I am, it's around dinner time or people are just getting home from work.

I can't help you, it's been so many years since I've been to those areas..I was about 13 or 14..but I knew from you post you were at least from Europe because you said "holiday" and Colorado is quite clear in the subject matter, so give it a bit of time.

Tess

You're going to be exhausted when you get to Denver. My advice would be to find a hotel downtown(since you don't want to stay by the airport), grab some dinner in one of the nearby restaurants and get to sleep early. Next morning you'll wake up refreshed and ready to start your vacation. Downtown Denver, along the 16th Street Mall area, is nice--and safe for a large city, as long as you use common sense.

The biggie to avoid in downtown Denver is Colfax Ave.--stay directly downtown and you'll be fine. Some hotels offer shuttle service from the airport if you're not renting a car--maybe someone can help you with that.

bigtyke

I have stayed on Colfax (Ramada Inn) twice in the past year and it was no problem.

I would stay somewhere in Denver downtown the first night. I would look at not renting a car at the airport so you don't have to pay the absurdly high fees that might be added on. ( I don't remember if the fee only applies to airport rentals - in some states, it doesn't matter where the tourist tax is applied)

Tess

wow bigtyke, you're a braver traveler than I am!

AnnRiley

Thanks for replies, need to clarify car thingy, we do intend to rent a car ( a convertable) so if we don't get it at airport were would we rent one?

Another conundrum is if we stay in downtown Denver would we have to got back next morning to airport for car and if doing a hotel search what areas do i look out for for my hotel.

And finally, yes we are from England (Merseyside/Cheshire area

We anticipate getting into Denver around 4.30 pm so its still afternoon and even allowing for tiredness etc we feel we still have a good 4 to 5 hours max left in us till we collaspe!!!
So could maybe get of of Denver if these place would be easier to find off motorway and maybe a bit cheaper...

BoniseA

Don't be discouraged when you land at the Denver airport. The countryside around there is flat and not scenic. Look toward the west and you can see the mountains. Denver is the gateway to the Rockies. If you don't stay the first night in Denver, you should try to get west of Denver so that you are in the mountains.

bigtyke

I checked with Avis on the web - they have two in town locations to pick up a car.

It was a real eye opener - the same car was a different rate at each location.

furledleader

Forget downtown Denver.

If you're going to be tired after your long flight, hasseling with downtown Denver isn't worth it - either driving your own car or using a shuttle. Besides, you're not coming here to experience the ambiance of a big city - you can get that in England.

Also, being tired you may not want to drive into the mountains your first evening here.

Depending upon which direction you eventually plan to start heading into the mountains, my advice is to rent a car at the airport then go one of 2 places your first night (both relatively short drives).

1) head west on Interstate Highway 70 and find lodging in the town of Golden, which is at the base of the foothills and will have some of the western flavor your husband is looking for.

or

2) head northwest on U.S. Highway 36 to the town of Boulder. Boulder is a college town also at the base of the foothills. Not as much western ambiance as Golden, but good restaurants and shopping along the Pearl Street Mall right in downtown Boulder.

Both are very safe towns to stay in.

The only real unsafe/unsavory areas in Colorado are in parts of Denver, just west, northeast, or east of downtown, as well as some of the northern parts of the city of Aurora. Downtown Denver is safe, but it's just a downtown area.

bear900

Away from Denver what are your plans?

Desitinations, sites, points of interest, preferences, kids?

I will start us off here. A fairly easy yet beautiful tour we did once was through Garden of the Gods on horseback.

Check out the ars below, which may affect your arse below.

http://www.arsriding.com/

martym

Well, I'm probably going to give you more information than you would like, but here goes. I would not try to do both Steamboat Springs and the Ouray, Telluride area. I would pick Ouray and Telluride and I would add in Durango, Mesa Verde and Santa Fe. Skip Canon City--IMHO. So here's my suggestion.

For your first night, there are a couple of options. You could stay at a hotel near the airport. Check Orbitz, Expedia or one of the other booking sites. La Quinta, Embassy Suites, Days Inn, Sleep Inn, among others, are within 6 miles of the airport. Or if you feel you can drive to the west side of Denver--which would take approximately 45 minutes (non rush hour), you could stay in Golden at the Table Mountain Inn--http://www.tablemountaininn.com/?source=adwordsinn. They also have a nice restaurant with southwestern food.

Day 2 -- drive to Ouray (about a 5-6 hour drive)--take highway 285 south from Denver, through South Park (that's a high mountain valley surrounded by mountains--one of my favorite sights in all of Colorado is when you crest Kenosha Pass and see South Park spread out below you). As you come out of South Park--you get a fabulous view of the Collegiate Peaks--all of them over 14,000 ft in elevation. Turn left onto highway 24 just south of Buena Vista. Then take highway 50 west over Monarch Pass through Gunnison, past Blue Mesa Reservoir, though Montrose to Ouray. Stay in Ouray. http://www.ouraycolorado.com/ After your long day of travel, a visit to the Ouray Municipal Hots Springs Pool would hit the spot.

Day 3--do a day trip to Telluride-which is one of the most beautifully situated towns in the world--stay night in Ouray

Day 4--go to Durango--http://www.durango.org/ over highway 550 (the Million Dollar highway) - spend day 5 and 6 in and around Durango--visit Mesa Verde on day 5 perhaps http://www.nps.gov/meve/

Day 7---leave Durango and drive to Santa Fe, New Mexico (you mentioned wanting to go there on a previous post)- go by way of Taos http://taoswebb.com/and visit the Plaza and the Taos Pueblo http://www.taospueblo.com/.

Day 8 and 9--explore Santa Fe http://www.santafe.org/

Day 10--return to Denver via I-25 (takes about 5 1/2- 6 hours) and depart (or leave Santa Fe on day 9 and drive to Denver if your flight out is early in the day)

This itinerary will give you some fabulous mountain scenery. The San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado are very rugged and beautiful.

I also posted this under your other post.

TheWeasel

Ann - you would not need to head back to the airport to rent a car as there are rental locations for most companies scattered around the city. You would need to check on rates and verify that the in-town locations are cheaper - I've saved up to 40% by renting from a downtown location vs. the airport, but I've also had times when the prices were very similar.

A convertible will be more expensive, and some off-airport locations may have limited (or no) availability. Not sure that I'd rent a convertible anyway, but that's my preference.

Keep in mind that a 4:30pm arrival in Denver means you'll probably run into some rush hour traffic if you head to (or through) downtown.

sundown

"Ann, you can't post in "Colorado". "

That's not true. When you first start a post you select where you want it to go in the pull down menu. It's "general" by default, but you can scroll down and select whatever state you want.

furledleader

One quick question.

Do you want to travel a little each day and spend each night at a new location, OR, do you want to head to one spot and explore that area from a "home" base so you're not living out of a suitcase, OR do you want to do a little of both?

There's no wrong answer. Just that there are itineraries that can handle each of these scenarios.

Colorado is a big state, despite what it looks like on a map, and driving through the mountains can take longer than you think.

AnnRiley

Thanks everyone,

Furledleader, you are near the mark for after doing a bit more research Golden appealed to me for our 1st night.

We have decided to stay up NW/Range area as we have decided we don't want a whistle stop tour, blink and you miss it kind of holiday with loads of driving.

We want to see more of the towns, take a train ride, visit some western museums, maybe do a dude ranch and ride a horse.

We like to look of mountains with greenery, we know it will be too much (for us anyway) trying to cover too many places.

So its the bit above Denver (on Map) and NW for us.

Was quoted a convertable on a UK site for 10 days at $500 in CDW etc, i thought this was a good price? is it?
Also, we don't want expensive posh hotels nor too basic nice motels/lodges with outdoor pool would be nice so we can have some relaxing time as well.

Hubby does not want to do more than 50/60 miles a day he wants to savour the towns and sights more.

So does this info help in giving us advice. Ta from UK....

DebitNM

Ok, I know I am biased [I live here], but you will be missing out if you don't head down this way [southwestern CO] as martym suggested.

The San Juan Skyway and the Million Dollar highway stretch are simply amazing especially in Sept. Telluride, Ouray, Durango, Mesa Verde and then down to Santa Fe or over to Moab Utah would be perfect as an add on.

Think about it. Not to take away from NW CO, but we have it beat down here.

Deb

DebitNM

Oh, for the record - we have train, horses, ranches, lovely B&B's at reasonable prices or motels. We have mountains and we have Mesa Verde National Park too.

The entire San Juan Skyway could be done in a day, so driving 50 or 60 miles in a day is easy to do here.

http://www.telluridevisitorguide.com.../day-trips.asp

http://www.swcolotravel.org/drives.html

Deb