My family is travelling to Colorado in June, arriving late Thursday and planning spend Friday June 16 and Saturday Jun 17 in Denver area. I need help with the remainder of the itinerary. We want to see Sand Dunes, Ouray, Telluride, Mesa Verde and Durango. I would really appreciate help with the driving loop that would be the best in order to avoid too much driving. I thought about staying in Ouray Sun 6/18 Tues 6/20. Then Durango (to see Mesa Verde) on Wed June 21 to Friday June 23. We fly out of Denver on June 24th. I would really appreciate some help with a schedule...because now I am worried I have too much driving packed in to the trip.

Do you have your tickets already? It is closer to fly out/home from Albuquerque {ABQ} than Denver. If southwest flies from your home airport, they often have sales and 21 day advance prices that are reasonable. Also, if you have Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can transfer them 1:1 to Southwest and book on points.

If you haven't got tickets to Denver as DebitNM says check Albuquerque for the cost of both airfare and car rental.

If you are set on Denver you could easily do a loop from there, and google maps is your friend:

Denver to Great Sand Dunes 25 to 160 etc. then 160 Great Sand Dunes to Mesa Verde, this takes you right through Durango but I prefer to stay in the park at Mesa Verde if possible, then Durango to your other sites and back to Denver.


Since this is a loop it be done in the opposite direction if that works out better in terms of finding lodging.

If you wind up going into Albuquerque, you could also do a loop with some other possible interesting sites.

If you click my name and scroll down you can find some TRs that do loops from either of those cities.

Yes, we already purchased tickets to and from Denver. I have relatives in Denver that I want to visit the first weekend. I was thinking that I could do a few days in Ouray and then a night in Far View in Mesa Verde and then a few days in Durango and then back to Denver. Would that be reasonable?

https://www.mapquest.com/directions/...park-282027628

Here's my June trip!

Your plan will work just fine. Have a fantastic trip!

It is certainly doable - reasonable may be a matter of opinion. You stated -- the best in order to avoid too much driving --- You cannot avoid too much driving since you are headed to the far SW corner of the state. And most of it will be on mountain roads at moderate speeds. And some road construction since we tend to use our summers for road repair caused by the long winter months.

The best situation is to stay inside M Verde but may be too late for reservations. Part of the problem is that it is a long, slow drive into the park from the entrance. Could well be an hour and a half to two hour drive from Durango. It is full days drive from Durango back to Denver so you need to leave Durango at least a day earlier. Ouray is a very pretty area but three nights is excessive - two at the most and one may be enough.

You don't have enough for everything you have list. You are spending a lot of time in a car since driving in the mountains can be slow.

Here is what I would suggest --

16/17 - Friends on Denver
18 - Sand Dunes, staying in Alamosa. If you push hard and don't spend much time at the Dunes you might be able to make Durango but it would be a long hard day of driving.

19 - Durango - perhaps the train to Silverton.
20 - M Verda
21 - Quray
22 - Black Canyon of the Gunnison From the Canyon either head north towards Glenwood Springs or east through Geunnison to Leadville or via Aspen to Glenwood Springs. That is a much long and slower route but you could swing through Aspen over Independence Pass. Stay in Glenwood Springs with the huge hot spring pool.

23 Glenwood Canyon, Vail, Georgetown and the Georgetown loop railroad and silver mine, and Idaho Springs. Staying somewhere on the west side of Denver, maybe Golden. Relatively easy day of driving.

24 Denver and home.

Still a lot driving.

PS -- Ignore Ill nut, he likes to intrude on any posting relating to Colorado.

Any way you look at it, you are going to have a 6+ to 7+ hour drive between Denver and SW CO. I agree with fmpden, unless you take I-70 to or from Denver, you are dealing with smaller roads, much of which is in the mountains and construction and RVs can slow your drive in the summer. That being said, I prefer the mountain routes to taking I-70, much more scenic. Closer to your vacation you may want to check cotrip.org for up to date construction and road conditions and plan your route in and out of Denver accordingly. Since you are not spending nights anywhere but Denver and SW CO, you have flexibility on which route to take. With only 1 week and 2 days of it in transit, I wouldn't recommend any areas except the ones you have mentioned; limiting to just Denver, the sand dunes, Durango, Ouray, Telluride and Mesa Verde is very doable. I would limit Ouray to a few hours, not days. Using Durango as your base, you can drive the loop from Durango to Silverton to Ouray to Telluride and back to Durango easily in 1 day and see a lot in the drive. If you want to break up the drive, you could spend the night in either Ouray or Telluride. I would recommend Telluride over Ouray. Mesa Verde is an easy day trip out of Durango ( about 35-40 miles to the entrance to M.V.). I would suggest Durango as your base in SW CO because there is so much to do and see in and around Durango and is an easy trip to most items on your list. The drive between Denver and Durango that is the most scenic and preferred by locals is through Pagosa Springs. To see the Sand Dunes either on your outbound or return, you will need to take a different route but you are still avoiding I-70.

Thank you soooo much fmpden and bailey123!! I already do have 1 night booked in the hotel in mesa verde, so will see if I can switch around my hotels to match this loop. I think I am going to try to determine a home base for a few nights..as mentioned...and 1 night in Mesa Verde. I need to try to arrange a jeep excursion and white water rafting....so please let me know if you think Durango, Ouray or wherever would be the best for that.... I really am worried about too much driving...oye.

Now you want to add a jeep excursion AND white water rafting. You need to add a couple of weeks. Don't know about white water around Durango but some of the best in the state is around Salia - Brown Canyon on the Arkansas. But that is closer to Denver and not near Durango. Years ago we had a jeep excursion out of Ouray that went on Engineer Mt (I think). But both of those activities are full day activities so I think you need to begin to pick and choice.

There are numerous options for 4 wheeling around Durango, ouray and Silverton. You can take a tour but I personally like the rent a jeep option then you can set your on schedule. One very easy option is rent in Silverton and take off from town, trail heads out from the north end of town, nice scenery, old mining town with a lot of old mine structures. Plan on this being 1/2 day or if you want to pull over and take a hike, you could expand to most of the day or continue 4 wheeling and make it a full day of jeeping. Durango to Silverton is a very quick and easy drive.

Rafting is an excellent choice. We have a river ( Animas) running right through the middle of Durango with class II and III rapids. It only takes a half day. Most rafting outfitters also give you the option to paddle your own inflatable kayak ( they provid the kayak), no experience necessary that paddles along with the raft. I recommend 4 Corners Riversports. With our great winter mountain snows and because you are pretty early in the season, the river should be running nicely.

If you still plan on staying at mesa verde overnight, that can be worked into your San Juan Byway loop trip with a minor detour.

If I am understanding the number of days you have allocated to SW CO, all of your wish list is very doable with room to spare to include other options such as hiking, mountain biking, window shopping, horseback ride, hot springs, riding the train...

I love my little corner of the world and enjoy sharing it with others so if you want more suggestions or have logistics questions, just ask.

Just a word of caution - we have seen our fair share of inexperienced people renting 4WD vehicles and getting themselves into predicaments that were really not safe.

We are experienced and conscientious 4WD people and use our own vehicle and during the 5 years we lived full time in the Durango/Telluride area, there were some scenes we still talk about regarding folks how got themselves into trouble with the potential of involving others.

Take a tour and sit back and let the experienced guides do their job.

Debit has a point, there has been 4wheel stupidity from time to time. This is most often a result of people being wreckless or taking a trail that is beyond their ability. This is why I suggested the trail out of Silverton to Animas Forks. Another easier trail is La Plata Canyon. In my 30 years of living in Durango and 4 wheeling all over the area, I have seen that common sense and careful driving is the key. If you feel uncomfortable with renting your own jeep, there are some good tour companies that will handle the driving and if you get a good tour guide, you will learn a little about the area as well. Google the two trails I mentioned and decide if you would rather leave the driving to others. If you choose the tour, be aware that there are good companies and bad companies in Durango.