Southwest Colorado
 

I'm starting to plan a summer vacation to southwest CO and am looking for advice (we almost made it out last summer with a different itinerary, but ended up not being able to go.) My main question is what town to base ourselves in. We have 2 kids, ages 12 and 9, and would like to stay in only 1 or 2 places the entire time rather than hopping hotels every other night. I've stayed at the Mountain Lodge in Telluride to ski and thought the kids would love that, especially taking the gondola. However, based on what we want to do and how much time we have, Telluride might not be the best location. We arrive into Albuquerque late the night of July 5th and will just stay at an airport hotel (Homewood Suites looks decent). We then will have 6 nights/6 days to explore. After reading many of the other posts, here are some things I have in mind. Turquoise Trail from ABQ to Santa Fe and have lunch in Santa Fe (how long of a drive would this be?) Continue on to CO. During the 6 days, we'd like to see Mesa Verde NP, visit Ouray, take the Silverton/Durango train one way, look for the alpine slide in Durango I read about, look for a zipline in Durango I read about, maybe a jeep tour. Otherwise, relax and enjoy the scenery. Maybe some easy hikes with the kids. Would Telluride be an okay base, or would Durango be better? I'd like to find lodging for under $200 per night, ideally a condo or large hotel room with a kitchen. Any recommendation for this type of lodging in the Durango area? I really liked the Mountain Lodge in Telluride since we could walk to the grocery store and restaurants and it didn't feel quite so hotel-like. Their rates looks reasonable based on what I see on the vrbo website. Thanks for any help.

If you want to stay in one place then probably Durango ... if you want to stay in two places then I'd suggest Durango and then Crested Butte, which I think is a more enjoyable, laid-back town but a bit far from the activities you mention.

Bill

Albuquerque to Santa Fe via the Turquoise Trail(without stops--1-1/2 hrs.) Here's the website http://www.turquoisetrail.org/

Thanks for the info. Turquoise Trail looks great.
I'm thinking Durango as a base. Crested Butte sounds good, but is a little further from what we hope to see. I've not yet found any lodging options in Durango that really stand out. Some of the condos seem to be in the ski area and I'd rather be in the downtown historic area where we can walk more. I'm also leaning toward spending the first 4 nights (other than the night we arrive) around Durango and then the last 2 nights at the Inn in Abiquiu (did I spell that right? :) ) I've been to Santa Fe once and thought it was beautiful and one of the most unique places I've seen in the US. I'd like the kids to see the adobe buildings, etc., and think our son would love to go to ghost ranch and dinosaur canyon.
Any lodging recommendations around Durango would be greatly appreciated. The Apple Orchard B&B someone previously posted looks good, but I'm not sure how it would be a for a family of 4.
Thanks.

We've stayed at the Strater Hotel on Main St. Great, central location; close to restaurants and within walking distance to the station if you're taking the narrow gauge.

I live in the area and would love to help. I am in the middle of a project today, but will come back with some input.

The Apple Tree is wonderful! We are going there next week for Valentine's night. The rooms do not have any with twin beds. Not sure how that would work with your kids. I don't think they accomodate roll aways and not sure they would let 4 stay in a room or cottage. It is worth asking. Email Celeste the owner, she is a really sweet person [and great chef, you can tell her I said so!] The only other issue, is that it is north of town, about midway to the ski area. There aren't restaurants right there, but are a short ride back into town. Trimble Hot Springs is just down the road and is great too.

There are quite a few places in Durango proper that are nice and might work for you.

I'll be back....
Deb
Thanks Sheila for the heads up on this post!}

Were the rooms at the Strater very big? It looks nice online, but the rooms look small. With 2 kids, we're hoping to find a laid back place where we can wander in and out, grab stuff for breakfast and eat in the room, and be able to settle in for a week.
Deb, I was hoping to see a post from you. I remember last year you helped quite a bit, but that was when we were going to fly into Denver, my hubby was going to do the Triple Bypass bike ride, and then we were heading down to your area. We never did any of that! I just sent an e-mail to the Apple Orchard Inn asking about rooms for a family of 4. If we can't find a place in Durango, we'll head to Telluride. How far of a drive is it from Telluride to Durango, and then from Durango to Mesa Verde?
Thanks.

ThStrater rooms tend to be small.

Jarvis Suite [ot sure if these have 2 bedroom suites, but worth a call
[wthin walking distance to town]

Marriott Residence Inn [need to drive to town, but seems nice from outside. On a pretty busy road, get a room that faces back of proptery NOt facing Highway 160].

Best Western Inn & Suites - there are 2 Best Western, be sure it is the one on Highway 160; also ask for rooms on the back of property NOT facing Hiway 160]

Consider condos, it would work out well for you but you wouldn't be within walking distance to town in some of them.

Here are vrbo.com places in Durango. I don't know any of them personally, but they are in good areas and close to downtown.

http://www.vrbo.com/461736

http://www.vrbo.com/68606

http://www.vrbo.com/39007

http://www.vrbo.com/98719

The drive between Telluride and Durango, although a pretty one, is a VERY long one. You either go north, east and then south passing through Ridgway, Ouray and near Silverton into north end of Durango and then continuing on into "town.

The other way is south from Telluride, through Rico, Dolores, and then east past Mesa Verde and into outskirts of Durango and then "town" area of Durango.

Time wise, it isn't much different either way; it's going to take you a GOOD 2 hours + on either route. That is considering you don't get stuck behind someone who is freaking out on the mountain road [especially coming thru Ouray and Silverton route].

Durango to Mesa Verde NP ENTRANCE is about a 30 minute drive. It will then take you at least another 30 minutes to drive into the park to get to the visitors center where you buy tour tickets.

Hope this helps,
Deb

Thanks for all the help. I'll check out some of those lodging options. My husband would like to go the Black Canyon. How far of a drive is that from Telluride? Could we get there and back in a day? Now I'm thinking that spending all our time in one hotel isn't realistic and we might be better off to do 2 nights in Durango, 3 in Telluride, and the last night in Santa Fe. Also, the lady at the Apple Orchard suggested this website for other options in Durango. Many of them look good. Deb, do you know anything about these? Any you would recommend or avoid?
http://www.durango-co-lodging-inn.com/

The only way to get to the zipline is by train or helicopter. www.soaringcolorado.com. I think you should get tickets well in advance for this to insure that there will be room. I think it would be very risky not to have tickets in advance. We haven't done it yet, but are going to do it the day before Memorial Day. I did an Alpine Slide years ago in Winter Park. I remember it being very fun. You mentioned a jeep tour, you might consider that for Monument Valley. We are staying @ a different place just about every night. Sometimes we enjoy that, other times we just want to stay at one place and avoid hassles of repacking. We are staying at Mesa Verde Lodge, Gouldings in Monument Valley, Valley of the Gods B&B, Strater. We are doing a Hot Air Balloon over Monument Valley.

Kathy- I just got back from Durango. This is what I scoped out.

The Jarvis Suite is in a good location, in town. Looks ok from outside.

The Best Western Inn & Suites and Marriott Residence will take a car to get into town. The rooms in "back" of both would be quieter.

On that link that you got from Apple Orchard:

I have walked by The Rochester many times, looks ok from outside. Good location, in town.

Blue Lake is a beautiful place; my friends daughter works there. It is a LONG ride into town [maybe 20 minutes].

Lightner Creek Inn is closed for now, not sure when it will reopen.

Most of the others on that site appear to be pretty much out of town, some more than others.

I think you will be much happier being in town where there are choices for dining and you can easily walk around.

Hope this helps..
Deb

Deb, Thanks for all the hotel advice and for driving by. I'll pursue the in-town ones in Durango and maybe Blue Lake. A couple from the vrbo link look good too.
We've decided to pass on the zipline, mostly due to cost for the 4 of us. It looks like a blast.
Could we get to and from the Black Canyon in Gunnison in one day (from Telluride)?
Kathy

Hello,

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is not in Gunnison, but a few miles east of Montrose. From Telluride, it would be an easy and beautiful 90ish mile drive over Dallas Divide to Ridgeway and north to Montrose and east to the Black Canyon.

Have fun.

Thanks. It sounds like the Black Canyon would be a good day trip from Telluride. I appreciate everyone's help. We've decided to do 2 nights in Durango, 3 in Telluride, 1 in Santa Fe. I'll start calling some of the hotel/lodging recommendations.
Kathy

Kathy - Personally, I would do 1 night in Telluride, 3 nights in Durango and 2 nights in Santa Fe.

I would make Durango the focal point, it has more choice all around for food, restaurants, hotels, activites etc. It is easy to day trip to Mesa Verde, Ouray, etc.

Telluride is really small, expensive and I seriously doubt you could keep everyone entertained for 3 days there. Restaruants are really expensive, the 2 markets are even way high. To get anywhere from there means drving in and out each time you want to day trip.

Santa Fe has a wide offering as well and would give more things that would easily fill 2 days.


This is of course, IMHO.

Feel free to email me directly, if you'd like.

Deb

Thanks Deb.
I'll keep that in mind. My husband wanting to go the Black Canyon is what made me think to do another night in Telluride. We need to go through and plan each day and see what we come up with. I want to book lodging early so we can get our first choices. We may end up limiting the time in Telluride.
Kathy

Another question as we finalize our summer plans. From Telluride, which drive is quicker..going to Durango or going to Silverton?
Silverton looks closer, but I'm thinking it might take longer due to having to go up and around from Telluride, versus driving down to Durango. Yahoo maps say 1 hr 49 minutes from Telluride to Silverton.
Thanks.
Kathy

The trip from Telluride to Durango will take you past Silverton. You use the same route to get to both places, passing Silverton first and then heading into Durango.

The map is misleading... the mileage looks short but it takes a fairly good amount of drive time as the road is narrow, twisting, curvy etc and it is a main road despite all that so there are big trucks on it that often go slow and visitor who also drive veryyyyy slow either because they are trying to look at the scenery while driving or the steep drop offs freak them out and cause them to drive slowly. Passing is not an option for most of the trip but there are sometimes turnouts where someone might pull over to let other pass.
Deb

Thanks Deb.
So, it's not quicker to go around to the west out of Telluride (rte 145) down near Cortez and in to Durango? You're right in that the maps are deceiving. It looks like you can do the eastern side (Rte 550) going up and all the way around from Telluride to get over to Silverton, or come out of Telluride and go south toward Cortez.
We're going to be spending time over in Ouray and Yankee Boy Basin, so will get to see the scenery in that area, but on another day we are looking for the quickest way to get to either Durango or Silverton in the early morning to catch the train. We can either catch the 7:45am bus in Silverton to get us to the 9:45 train in Durango, or we can drive directly to Durango and catch the 9:45 train. Does that make sense? :)
Thanks.

I was planning to make a train reservation this week so am still hoping for advice.
Thanks.