Colorado in October
 

My husband and I are looking to travel to Colorado October 17 - 21. We are interested in seeing the fall colors and beauty and have heard that it's a good time to travel there because the snow hasn't come in yet and the ski resorts are less busy/expensive. We would like to visit Boulder/Denver/Estes Park and are trying to figure out the best itinerary for our visit. In addition to natural beauty and the mountains we would like to see some quirky downtown areas and visit a few breweries. Any recommendations on places to stay and visit are appreciated! We are young 30's no kids.

Your time is off along with your information sources. By the end of Oct there should be snow in the mountains. Most of the ski areas will be opening around that time depending on general snow conditions. The fall color peak will be late September in the mountains.

Along the front range, Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, will be closer to your Oct 17-21. Should not be but not guaranteed that there will not be snow around the front range. The average first day for snow in Denver is Oct 19th. Remember this is an average - half earlier, half later.

Nearly everywhere in Colorado is a brew pub. Plenty in the mountains so you will not have problems finding a brewery.

Not sure what you want in quirky downtown. But Leadville, Georgetown, Nederland, especially Nederland with the dry ice corpus, are quirky.

Yes, the aspen colors will be gone, but October is still a great time to visit Colorado. I had company for a week, last mid-October in the mountains, and we had glorious, sunny days in the high 70s. You just never know, but fall is a bit more predictable here than springtime weather.

Definitely, it is less crowded and lodging rates are lower in October. Some restaurants could be closed, but not all.

Check on Trail Ridge Road, and whether or not it will be open in mid-October. This would be important, if you wanted to drive from RMNP to Grand Lake, and explore from there. "Quirky downtown" could apply to Grand Lake, or even the Boulder Pearl Street Mall. Just depends on what you mean.

PS I always recommend Devil's Thumb Ranch, Tabernash, CO. They have good prices in October. You can get a Queen room w/private bath, in the bunkhouse, for $129/night:

https://reservations.devilsthumbranc...g/roomtype/BAR

Or a King Room in the High Lonesome Lodge for $229.