I am taking my family (3 boys 16, 15, 13) on a 6-8 day trip to SW Colorado in July. I would like to fish, raft, hike, bike and sightsee. My initial thought is to fly into Denver and make our way down through Ouray, Durango, Telluride areas. It would be nice to only check into 2 or 3 hotels/towns, but would expand that if necessary.
I was curious if anyone has a sample itinerary or itinerary that has been traveled in the past?

Thank you.

I can't help you with those particulars but I would urge you to take 2 days out, spend it at Far View Lodge and see Mesa Verde.

I would also suggest searching for an outfitter or get a recommendation from someone here about information for the best fishing I assume this will be fly fishing?

It sounds like a GREAT trip with kids that age! Water levels may be low in summer for rafting.

Here is the route we took on that part of our road trip back in 2011.

Estes Park CO 2 nights

Breckenridge CO (overnight)

Travel through Leadville to Aspen and up to Glenwood Springs,

Glenwood Springs CO (overnight)

Travel down through Redstone and Delta to overnight in Montrose, to see Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Montrose (overnight)

Down 550 from Montrose to Durango hotel 2 nights.

We are prone to cut our driving to 6 hour days, so this could be done with less overnights. I would make sure you have plenty of time on the portion of hwy 550 down to Durango. It is spectacular scenery. We enjoyed Ridgeway, Ouray and Silverton. Very cute towns.

I should add that we took Trail Ridge Rd out the back side of Estes Park and then down to Breckenridge. It was spectacular as well.

Using google maps will not allow you to put this itinerary in as of now because of the weather. It's frustrating trying to plan a summer route in the dead of winter.

Is there a particular reason for SW Colorado? The only reason we go to SW CO is for Mesa Verda and the train in Durango. Louky52 agenda has a lot of back tracking. Regardless of what you do, it is long day to get to SW Colorado from Denver and, of course, another long day returning. So that two days off your schedule. Gretchen is correct in that water levels can be iffy in July, especially later July, for rafting because of previous winter snow levels. This year we went into August because the massive snow pack the prior winter. And, so far, this year we have had an even better start. Most of the early snow pack is close to 50% above average. But it could stop snowing tomorrow, also. If SW isn't critical, you could park yourself in central CO - Breckenridge, perhaps, or Vail, or even Frisco - and do most of things you want via short day trips. Really reducing your driving.