I'm new at this so if I miss something, please let me know.

I would like to plan a 3-4 day trip to Colorado, but I don't know where the best place to go. We'll be flying from Gulfport, Mississippi. Any suggestions?

My husband and I want to go whitewater rafting and see any type of history in the state.

Thanks

This is a pretty big state, and places tend to be pretty far apart which may require more than 3 or 4 days.

There are national parks, ancient pueblo ruins, and much more to see. If you want to go rafting, you need to consider the time of year you visit. Water runs best in spring and early summer, by mid summer it may have slowed down a lot and makes it more like a float.

I live in the SW corner of CO and we have wonderful towns here {Durango, Telluride, Silverton, Ouray} and Mesa Verde National Park. But it is a 7 hour drive from Denver, which really makes it hard to see in that short a time span. you can fly into Albuquerque and drive up this way and it is much shorter [3 hours].

I am sure others will post about info in other areas of the state.

Just wanted you to realize that its a big state and lots of distance to cover.

Hope this helps...
Debi

I didn't think about the water running slower. We were planning on late August, so we may need to reschedule for next spring. Thanks for pointing that out, it would have been disappointing.

Traveling is a new thing for us so I'll have to keep searching. My husband is interested in towns with history, so I'll keep yours in mind.

Thanks again for the posting.

Theresa

That part of the state has some of the older ruins on the continent. That's history!

Could you stay longer than 3 or 4 days? With two of them travel days, that doesn't leave you much time to see Colorado, especially the SW corner. Maybe you could fly into another city in that case? Try to get more days, though, if possible. So much to do in Colorado. Good thing you inquired about whitewater rafting, because you'll want to do that in May or early June. There are many, many places to raft in the mountain areas. We've had great whitewater rafting near Winter Park and near Aspen.
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This question is asked often with many good recommendations. Putting both Colorado and Denver in the search box above will pull up those discussions (not both at the same time).

With three or four days fly into Denver and do a driving loop. Won't cover the state but there some terrific historical places -- Leadville, Georgetown and the railroad - an engineering marvel, Breckenridge, Glenwood Spring with the world's largest outdoor hot tub, and even Denver is worth a day, etc. August is a very pleasant time in the mountains. True white water rafting is over by mid June but you can still get some very nice float trips.

Anytime of year is great in Colorado. Breckenridge is about 2 1/2 hours from the Denver airport, so you would not waste your trip driving a long way. And the drive is gorgeous! Coming from Mississippi, Colorado would feel fabulous to you in August as there is no humidity or many bugs! it would be a nice reprieve from the sultry southern heat. As for whitewater rafting, we went on the Arkansas River in Colorado near the Royal Gorge in early June and it was one of the absolutely most incredible things I have ever done. Definitely, do this at some point.

you could fly into denver or colo. springs. then drive west about 3 hours to the leadville, buena vista, salida area. leadville was once the largest city in colo, now one of the smaller. has great mining history museum and old headframes still stand in the hills nearby. also HAW Tabor lived there and was umm interesting. molly brown came from leadville - there is a tiny museum. the town is full of victorian architecture. do not miss the original bar in the silver dollar bar. all but one of the mirrors are still the original gold dust.
20 mins south is the town of twim lakes. all old buildings. you could drive up independence pass. the view at the top is magnificient. then back down and another 20 mins down the highway is buena vista. rafting continues on the arkansas until mid-sept. so i don't think you need to change dates. check out http://www.whitewater-rafting-colorado.com/ find the browns canyon trip on their site map. i've done this run and it is FUN! not to mention the yummy lunch they fix you on the trip. also its much much warmer in the mtns in aug. it can be quite cool at high elevation in june.
in leadville try the mexican food at 'the grill' on elm street.

Just because the water isn't running fast isn't a reason not to come to Colorado. There is a LOT of beautiful things to do other than that.
In fact, think about NC to go white water rafting in beautiful surroundings all the year round.
We went to the Grand Tetons one time and that is what the guide told us--stay home and do that there.

Thanks for all the information. I appreciate it. I think I'm going to change gears and visit St. Augustine, Florida first (ease my husband into this traveling thing) I'll keep the information posted for my Colorado trip next year.

No one mentioned Rocky Mountain National Park. It has gorgeous scenery and is my favorite NP in the U.S. You can do a loop of it driving from Denver, but the town at the beginning of the park is Estes Park.