I am surprising my wife with a 3 day trip to Estes Park at the end of May, and would appreciate suggestions as to resturants, bars, specific trails for hiking, that kind of thing. I have a place to stay. Thank you for your help.

Rgearding hikes, what is your ability level, from what altitude will you be coming, and how long do you want to spend on each hike?

Stewart,

I'm not sure if it's still there but a couple of years ago we ate at a little restaurant called Chaumiere or La Chaumiere. Nice little French place(for the mountains) with good and reasonably priced food located on the outskirts of Estes.

Davidcs

There is an excellent Italian restaurant in Estes Park called Sweet Basil. You will possibly need to call ahead for reservations as they have only about 9 tables. In Rocky Mountain National Park there are tons of trails. I would recommend looking at http://www.mtnds.com/hikes/faq.html to
get some ideas.

Stewart,

There's an Italian restaurant called the Dunraven. Very good food!

For breakfast, The Egg and I is a good choice.

If you're not staying at the historyic Stanley Hotel (where Stephen King wrote The Shining), take the opportunity to visit the grounds during your visit. They have really neat evening tours.

As for trails, there are nice ones near Bear Lake. We also like the Alleuvial Fan area.

Our ability level for hiking is moderate, and we are coming from the midwest-about 1100 ft. Altitude hasn't been too much of a problem in the past, but you never know. Thanks for your suggestions!

You might consider a ranger hike or two. My family enjoyed one that went across the tundra up around the top of Trail Ridge Road, then down the west side a mile or so. Just wandering around the top of Trail Ridge Road is a nice way to spend an hour or so.

We took a walk from the Bear Lake Trailhead up past Nymph and Dream lakes to Emerald Lake at the base of a cliff below the Tyndall Glacier. This is a popular hike; I liked the idea that you could gear how far you went to your ability level. The farther you go, the fewer other people are on the trail. Bear Lake itself is a nice, easy place to walk in the early morning, before a lot of people are there. It's particularly good as you're acclimating to the elevation change.

I particularly enjoyed a longer (8-9 miles?), more strenuous hike I took alone toward the end of a weeklong camping trip. It started from Bear Lake and went up past Odessa Lake around the Fern Lake Trail to end at the Cub Lake Trailhead. I think the Fern Lake trailhead would have been better. This hike took the better part of a day, and had quite a bit of elevation gain, but the scenery was beautiful and there weren't many other people on the trail. I think Odessa Lake was the prettiest spot.

Have fun!

I agree with the poster who recommended Sweet Basil--although I think the name is now Sweet Basilico. We also enjoyed a place called The Other Side--especially for Sunday brunch. Enjoy!