visiting estes park for a wedding
 

My husband and I are in our 50s and will be in Estes Park for a wedding in Aug. We are trying to plan a 5 or 6 night trip. We are open to suggestions before I finalize the fights. Right now we are flying in on Thursday morning and will attend a concert at the Red rocks at 8 pm. We are committed to Fri evening, Sat late afternoon and Sun morning for the wedding. We plan on spending the first night near Denver/Boulder and do not need to be in Estes Park until 6ish for the wedding dinnner on Fri. So please help us fill in the blanks for Fri day, Sat 3/4 of a day, Sun after breakfast all day, Mon all day, and we fly home from Denver Tues late afternoon. Right now we are booked in Estes for two nights, but I can move again for another 2 nights anywhere. We are not overall active poeple- driving, walking, a little rafting is fine. Nothing extreme though . Help please. just dont want to end up more than a couple of hours away from
Denver airport for the last 2 nights. Suggestions, itinerarys and towns to sleep in please.

It's unclear which nights you have booked in Estes and which are free - it seems your free time is kind of scattered throughout the trip. Were you planning on exploring Rocky Mountain National Park during your stay in Estes? That certainly should be on your schedule for the shorter time periods free you have in Estes. August is a great time to be in the park and you could drive along Trail Ridge Road over to the west side of the park to explore there. There are some easy hikes on the east side of the park that are well worth the time and effort; Bear Lake area and Sprague Lake have phenominal views.

Estes is only a 90 minute drive from downtown Denver, less than an hour from Boulder. You should plan on spending your first night in Golden or Denver West if you're going to Red Rocks for convenience sake. If it's your last two days/nights free after Estes, then a trip to Summit County or Vail would be a suggestion. Just don't plan to return to the airport via I-70 on a Sunday afternoon - traffic jams are notorious with the mountain visitors returning home from the weekend!

This is my actual schedule, and yes my time is very scattered:
August: Arrive Thurs from NY, 11 am day free and concert at Redrocks 8 pm, overnight town is open to suggestions- I assume we can do Boulder/Denver on Thursday Fri open itinerary for now, and need to arrive in Estes Park at Stanley Hotel by 6pm. Wedding dinner at 8pm, Sat free all day until 3pm to get ready for wedding at Della Terra. Sunday we are finished with wedding breakfast by 11. We plan on checking out of the Stanley Sun morning unless there is a reason to stay in that town. Monday open all day. Tues flight out of Denver at 3 pm. Please help fill in the blanks for us- what to do, and what town sto stay in. THANKS

Thursday - arrive from NY - check into the Hotel Monaco in downton Denver - enjoy downtown Denver until it's time to leave for the concert
Thursday night - concert at Red Rocks
Friday - drive to Estes Park
Friday night - Stanley Hotel, wedding dinner
Saturday morning/ day until 3pm Free time - enjoy the resort, walk around downtown Estes Park
Saturday 3pm - get ready for wedding
Saturday night - wedding
Sunday morning - wedding breakfast at 11 -

Free time = Sunday afternoon and Monday
Monday night hotel?
Tuesday morning - drive back to airport for 3pm depature

You don't have a lot of free time. 1/2 day on Sunday through Tuesday morning

What do you like to do?
Sightsee? Then, you can get on the road and drive somewhere else.
Hike? Stay at enjoy Rocky Mountain National Park
Horseback riding - I enjoyed the riding at the park
Do you want to see Pikes Peak? - Head south and spend the night nearby

I love RMNP so I'd probably stay in the area and see as much as I can in the park.

Is Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon enough for RMNP and then I move elsewhere for the all day Monday and then 1/2 day Tues?

my suggestion

Thursday stay at Table Mountain Inn in Golden http://www.tablemountaininn.com/-- Golden is reasonably close to Red Rocks--Thursday afternoon you could walk around downtown Golden, visit Buffalo Bill's grave on Lookout Mountain (close to Golden) or drive about 20 minutes to Evergreen http://evergreenchamber.org/visitor_guide.htm . One of our favorite drives around Evergreen if up Upper Bear Creek -- gorgeous old and new houses with a great view of Mt. Evans a few miles in. http://www.citymtnviews.com/NBH-UpperBearCreek.php4

On Friday drive to Boulder on highway 93 and have breakfast/lunch at either Chautauqua Dining Hall http://www.dininghall.net/ or the Kitchen http://www.thekitchencafe.com/menus.shtml in downtown Boulder.

Then drive up Boulder Canyon to Nederland and take the Peak to Peak highway to Estes Park. http://www.estes-park.com/go/peakpeak.html

Saturday afternoon drive into the RMNP. Here's their website. http://www.nps.gov/romo/index.htm

On Sunday drive to Summit County--either take the Peak to Peak highway all the way to I-70 and go west or drive though park to Grand Lake, take highway 40 past Winter Park, over Berthoud Pass to I-70 and go west.

Stay in Breckenridge--an old mining town with a little downtown--Here's their website. http://www.gobreck.com/

Breckenridge is about 100 miles from the airport--and it should be about a 2 hour drive to there.

What about 2 nights in Colorado Springs from ESTES park? Does that work?

RMNP is one of my favorite parks. I'd spend more time there instead of heading off to other places. IMO you don't have much time to see anything before the wedding.

Colorado Springs is about 2 1/2 hours from Estes and about 1 hour from the Denver airport. So that would work. I would sugtest staying in Manitou Springs- just west of Colorado Springs http://www.manitousprings.org/ or, if finances permit, the Broadmoor http://www.broadmoor.com/

Looking at spending the last 2 nights in Manitou Springs at The Cliffhouse. I also have the Antler Hilton on hold. Almost the same price for both- Any thoughts? We will have 1 1/2- 2 days there.

I'd pick the Cliffhouse--historic building-nice restaurant--we had a lovely lunch on the porch a couple of years ago. The location in Manitou Springs is more interesting to me than downtown Colorado Springs where the Antler Hilton is located.