I'm planning a trip next summer to Ouray and the Southwest corner of Colorado. Does anyone have any suggestions for places to stay.

Also, we planned on using Ouray as a home base, visiting other towns (Telluride, Silverton, Durango from there. Is this a good idea, or is there a better town to stay, or should we move from town to town? We're travelling with kids, so moving hotels every night might get rough.

Joanne,
I can't help you, but here's a site that can. Ed and July have a wonderful site at twenj.com. Unfortunately Ed died this year, but a wealth of info is available for you.

Joanne, I haven't spent much time there, but I liked this area a lot. One idea might be to base in Durango instead and do day trips from there _ it's a larger town that might have more for your kids, but still has a small-town feel. Also, it would put you a lot closer to Mesa Verde, which you didn't mention but that I would highly recommend. Then again, I really liked Ouray, especially the springs _ well, you'll have a good trip no matter where you go.

we spent a week in ouray with kids.... we stayed in a caBIN WEST OF OURAY IT WAS A KOA THEY HAD NICE CABINS WITH A BROOK GOING THRU THE KIDS LOVED IT..CHECK OUT OURAYS WEBSITE,,,CATHY

You have to spend a night in Telluride.
It is located in a box canyon and the scenery surounds you. Condos cost the same as hotels and you have much more room. We spent $115 a night on a two bedroom condo and it was nice for the kids to have their own bedroom. The gondola is public tranportation (free). Every other ski area charges a fortune for the opportunity to ride to the top of the ski hill.
Mesa Verde is a gem if you are a history bluff. Very hot in summer, take lots of water. My kids were even fascinated by the architecture.
Enjoy Colorado!

If you intend visiting Mesa Verde the visit would require at least two days to do the place justice. If this is your intent Cortez could be a good choice to use as a base. Days trips from Cortez can be done easily to Telluride, Ouray and Durango. You could also do a day trip to Arches NP (MOab, Ut) since it is less than 125 miles from Cortez.

The drive from Ouray to Durango takes you over some spectacular mountain passes: Molas, Coalbank, and Red Mountain. Near Ouray, reached via a road that in the past led to active mines, is a high mountain area known as Yankee Boy Basin. It is spectacular. The last time I was there the road was passable in a regular car because one of the mines was still active. After the road got to be a bit much for a regular car, we got out and walked through a sea of wild flowers. High peaks were all around us, like Potosi and Mount Sneffels.
Some people hire a jeep to take them over to Telluride. It is a wild and spectacular drive, but perhaps not one to take with small children.
Motels in Ouray are expensive, and I don't have a clear cut choice.

I live in Durango, and really like Ouray. You might want to break this trip up into 2 or 3 parts, because the spectacular mountain passes that Bob Brown mentions make for some very slow driving. (E.g. the 24 mile drive from Siverton to Ouray takes almost an hour.) A big counter-clockwise circle along the San Juan Skyway route is always a good choice. From Ouray: Telluride, Dolores, Mancos (very close to Mesa verde), Durango, Silverton, and back to Ouray.

If you're at all afraid of heights, Red Mountain pass just south of Ouray is particularly scary because there's a 300 foot cliff below you and no guardrail. Most people prefer driving north through that area rather than south, because then they get the inside lane, toward the rock as opposed to the drop-off. If you're not at all afraid of heights, then don't worry about it, because it's safer than it sounds and looks.

Durango, Telluride, and Ouray would all be possible places to stay. I wouldn't stay in Cortez, because it's not a really nice town for tourists. (Sorry to anyone I have offended.) Durango has better amenities and is only about 30 minutes farther away.

Camping would be a nice thing to consider, especially in Telluride, which has a city campground that's comfortable, beautiful, and ideally located. There is a nice KOA campground on the banks of the Animas River in Durango, and the Junction Creek Campground is a National Forest facility just outside town at the start of the Colorado Trail.

There are plenty of nice motels in Durango, but if you want to be right in the middle of Durango's small downtown (where good restaurants, shops, etc are), the Strater Hotel, the General Palmer, and the Jarvis Suites are historic and really fun for kids.

There's a famous historic hotel in Ouray, but I can't remember the name.

Good luck and post again if you need more information.

Listin to what TravelLyn had to say about the pass from Ouray to Silverton. I'm not necessarily afraid of heights, and I do trust my husband's driving, but travelling that part of the road once was enough for me. I don't know that I would consider it fun - I'm glad I did it, I hope I never do it again.

We stayed in Durango. We did the 'loop' from Durango through Cortez to Telluride -- if you wanted to spend a day there it wouldn't be too bad a drive. (We weren't planning on doing the whole loop when we started out because we got started late in the morning, but once we got started, we just kept going.)

I think that Durango would be a good place to base out of. I also HIGHLY recommend that you take the Durango Silverton train ride -- get seats on one of the open-air Gondola cars. That will probably give you as much time to see Silverton as you need.

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions.

Steve, twenj.com is a great website, full of useful information, such as how long it really takes to get from town to town.

We think we will stay at least four nights in Ouray. From there we'll go to Telluride and possibly Durango and ride the train to Silverton. We also are looking forward to exploring on some of the backroads. Then we're thinking of one or two nights in Cortez, so we can have plenty of time at Mesa Verde.

We would also like to see the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Could this be a day trip from Ouray also?

Do we need to buy train tickets for the Durango/Silverton train in advance? How far in advance?

Cathy, was the cabin you stayed at in a KOA campground. Was it walking distance to Ouray?

I would also recommend Durango, really enjoyed our stay theer in Sept. 2000. With regard to the Durango - Silverton railway I would certainly purchase the tickets in advance, we were glad we did, we purchased ours via their web site two to three months before we travelled. Another tip that I got from fellow fodorites was that you can travel out on the train and back to Durango by bus. If you decide on that option ask for seats on the right of the train carriage going to Silverton as these afford the best views. Have a great time, we did, one of our best holidays ever.

Joanne, The Black Canyon would be an excellent day trip from Ouray. If you're staying in Cortez just to visit MV, you might rather stay in the Far View Lodge, in the park itself.

A couple of the motels in Ouray have pools that are fed by hot springs. There's a listing in the AAA book. It's an easy day trip to drive to the rim of Black Canyon, but a little long if hiking down. With young kids, you wouldn't want to hike down anyway. You didn't mention Mesa Verde. Don't miss it. I'm not sure why people get so nervous on the high passes. Sure, there are rarely guardrails, but just take your time, and you will be fine.

A good home base for visiting Ouray, Silverton, Telluride, etc. is Ridgway. It's charming and scenic and just about as central as you can get for the areas you mentioned. A great place to stay is the Chipeta Sun Lodge. Have fun!

Joanne, three summers ago we rented a house in Ouray for a week during the summer. We loved it! We found the house on cyberrentals.com (I think). It was called something like Cozy Pine Cottage. We even took our dog. We loved Ouray. We went to Telluride twice, but we were glad we didn't stay there because it is too touristy and crowded. Beautiful, though. We did some great hiking. There were deer everywhere in Ouray. Even though we went in July it was pretty chilly at times. We did a river rafting trip one day - near the Black Canyon. It was a beautiful, relaxing vacation. Have fun.

ttt

I would definitley stay in Ouray. It is a lot more centrally located for all the sites in that part of Colorado and is my favorite town in all the Rocky Mountains--and that is saying a lot.

If you could plan your trip around the fourth of July, Ouray does a spectacular fireworks show. People from all over plan their vacations around it.

When you take the train trip, go up by train and back by bus. It's just too long a day going round trip by train.

The KOA is a little ways out of town.

You don't have to stay at any hotel to enjoy hot pools. They have a public pool that looks like a big swimming pool that is one big hot tub.

hi joanne,
We stayed at the Alpin Glow condos,check out the trout at the Coachlight.A must do, is a jeep tour over the Red mtns, 1200ft, great views of Lake Como.
Durango is quite touristy so we stayed in Cortez for our visit to Mesa Verde.
stayed in Telluride for 3 nights at the Icehouse.

We started in Montrose and visited the Black canyon in Gunnison and drove the loop back to Montrose using the San Juan highway.A most wonderful trip!!!!!!