305 Best Sights in Colorado, USA

From Trinidad, the scenic Highway of Legends curls north through the Cuchara Valley. As it starts its climb, you'll pass a series of company towns built to house coal miners. The Highway of Legends, also known as Route 12, takes you through some of the wildest and most beautiful scenery in southern Colorado. You can start the drive in Trinidad or La Veta.

Get a panoramic view of all the surrounding dunes from the top of High Dune. Since there's no formal path, the smartest approach is to zigzag up the dune ridgelines traversing about 2½ miles round-trip. High Dune is 688 feet high, and to get there and back takes about two hours, or longer if there's been no rain for some time and the sand is soft. If you add on the walk to the 736-foot Star Dune, plan on another three or four hours and a strenuous workout.

Across Broadway from the University of Colorado campus is the Hill, a favorite student hangout. The neighborhood is home to restaurants, music venues, bars, coffeehouses, head shops, and boutiques.

Stroll on the paths or take to the water on a boat tour or in a paddleboat to explore this 32-acre urban waterfront park. Boat rides are available at the riverwalk center at 101 South Union Avenue.

This sprawling museum re-creates Frisco's boom days. Stroll through 11 buildings dating from the 1880s, including a fully outfitted one-room schoolhouse, a trapper's cabin with snowshoes and pelts, the town's original log chapel, and a jail with an exhibit on mining.

The three-story, interactive History Colorado Center serves as the state's de facto historical society. Rotating lobby exhibits welcome visitors with hands-on, offbeat snippets of state history. In addition to revamped versions of the previous collections depicting state history from 1800 to the present, current exhibitions combine technology, artifacts, and multimedia presentations. Milk a life-size replica of a cow, drive a Model T Ford on the plains, or try a virtual ski jump, and then see what you would have looked like in a classroom in the late 1800s.

Built between 1890 and 1930, this restored log cabin shows a popular and relaxed mountain summertime lifestyle. The museum, which includes three other buildings, has an exceptional collection of Southwestern Indian artifacts, and there's a short trail around the pretty property's 4 acres.

In a meadow near Mill Creek, this lovely spot for a picnic has 10 tables and is open year-round. It's also close to the Hollowell Park and Mill Creek Basin Trailheads.

A scenic half-mile interpretive trail leads you over the Colorado River to the original dude ranch that the Holzwarth family, some of the park's original homesteaders, ran between the 1920s and 1950s. Allow about an hour to view the buildings—including a dozen small guest cabins—and chat with a ranger. Though the site is open year-round, the inside of the buildings can be seen only from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

At Hot Sulphur Springs Resort and Spa, 15 open-air pools are sprinkled up the hillside, with temperatures ranging from 98°F to 112°F, and a day pass grants access to all of them. The seasonal swimming pool is just right for recreation, at a comparatively frigid 80°F, and the resort also has four private, indoor pools (two reserved for spa treatments). Bring sandals if you have them, especially during snowy months when rock salt is used on icy walkways.

East of Aspen, in the Williams Mountains and lining a stretch of the Roaring Fork River, is an often-forgotten section of the White River National Forest. Overshadowed by the popular Maroon Bells to the west and the Colorado Wilderness of the Holy Cross to the north, the more than 82,000 acres of the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness offer 65 miles of hiking trails, excellent trout fishing, and unparalleled seclusion. Elk and mule deer call the area home, and wildflowers abound in July and August.

Idaho Springs presently prospers from the hot springs here at Indian Hot Springs Resort. Around the springs, known to the Ute natives as the "healing waters of the Great Spirit," are geothermal caves that were used by tribes as a neutral meeting site. The hot springs, a translucent dome–covered mineral-water swimming pool, mud baths, and geothermal caves are the primary draws for the resort. You don't need to be an overnight guest to soak in the mineral-rich waters; day rates start at $23 for the geothermal cave baths (depending on type of bath and day of week), $25.50 for outdoor Jacuzzi baths, and $19 for the pool. The plain but comfortable spa offers massages and facials.

The only visitor center on the park's far west side, Kawuneeche has exhibits on the plant and animal life of the area, as well as a large three-dimensional map of the park and an orientation film.

Perfect for a sunset stroll, this easy 2-mile (round-trip) walk around the north rim of the park leads to an overlook of the Montezuma Valley. If you stop at all the flora identification points that the trail pamphlet suggests, the hike takes about 1½ to 2 hours. The patches of asphalt you spot along the way are leftovers from old Knife Edge Road, built in 1914 as the main entryway into the park. Easy.

Get an impressive view into the 60-room Kodak House and its several small kivas from here. The house, closed to the public, was named for a Swedish researcher who absentmindedly left his Kodak camera behind here in 1891.

The Highway of Legends passes through the tiny, laid-back resort town of La Veta before intersecting with U.S. 160 and turning east toward Walsenburg, another settlement built on coal and the largest town between Pueblo and Trinidad.

Still chugging along is the Leadville Railroad, which can take you on a breathtaking 2½-hour trip with views of wildflowers, fall foliage, or holiday lights depending on the time of year. Combo rides include zip-lining or rafting adventures. The train leaves from Leadville's century-old depot and travels beside the Arkansas River with views of Mt. Elbert, Colorado's highest peak.

This Wetherill Mesa cliff dwelling is the second largest in Mesa Verde. It is believed that about 150 people lived in Long House, so named because of the size of its cliff alcove. The spring at the back of the cave is still active today. The in-depth, ranger-led tour begins a short distance from the parking lot and takes about 90 minutes. You hike about 2 miles, including two 15-foot ladders.

Climbing this 14,259-foot mountain (one of 53 "Fourteeners" in Colorado) is an ambitious goal for almost anyone—but only those who are very fit and acclimated to the altitude should attempt it. The 16-mile round-trip climb requires a predawn start (3 am is ideal), so that you're off the summit before the typical summer afternoon thunderstorm hits. Also, the last 2 miles or so of the trail are very exposed—you have to traverse narrow ledges with vertigo-inducing drop-offs. That said, summiting Longs can be one of the most rewarding experiences you'll ever have. The Keyhole route is the most popular means of ascent, and the number of people going up it on a summer day can be astounding, given the rigors of the climb. Though just as scenic, the Loft route, between Longs and Mount Meeker from Chasm Lake, is less crowded but not as clearly marked and therefore more difficult to navigate. Difficult.

On the other side of the Purgatoire River, this museum at Trinidad State Junior College takes viewers back millions of years to examine the true origins of the region, including early geological formations, plant and marine-animal fossils, and prehistoric artifacts.

The remains of a few cabins are all that's left of this onetime silver-mining town, established around 1880. Reach it by hiking the 3.6-mile Colorado River Trail. Look for wagon ruts from the old Stewart Toll Road and mine tailings in nearby Shipler Park (this is also a good place to spot moose).

You wouldn't expect such a pinball extravaganza in tiny Lyons, but there it is, behind the Oskar Blues brewpub, with more than 50 classic pinball games. The change machines (and fellow gamers) make it a simple and fun evening stop.

This working ranch, homesteaded in 1873, is on the National Register of Historic Places and provides a well-preserved record of typical ranch life. Take a guided tour of the 1896 ranch house, then explore the outbuildings and machinery on your own as you take in views of the Twin Owls and Longs Peak.

The intersection of 13th Street and Main Avenue marks the northern edge of Durango's Main Avenue National Historic District. Old-fashioned streetlamps line the streets, casting a warm glow on the elegant buildings filled with upscale galleries, restaurants, and shops. Dating from 1887, the Strater Hotel is a reminder of the time when this town was a stop for many people headed west.

To get a real feel for this area, take an easy driving loop from Alamosa through much of the San Luis Valley (the whole trip is about 95 miles). Head east on U.S. 160 to Fort Garland, south on Route 159 to San Luis, west on Routes 159 and 142 to Manassa, then north on U.S. 285 back to Alamosa. More than half of the route is part of the Los Caminos Antiguos Drive, one of Colorado's Scenic Byways.

Some Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings that date back nearly 1,000 years have been moved from other sites in southern Colorado and faithfully reassembled beneath a red rock cliff at this museum. While the reconstructions resemble the original dwellings, the workers used cement instead of the original adobe mud method. For that reason, the museum is much less precious and visitors can roam and climb and touch, which makes it much more kid friendly than most archaeological sites. Two rooms of artifacts in the museum offer information on the history of the dwellings. Smartphone codes provide a free audio tour through the space.

The town of Manitou grew around its springs, and there are eight mineral springs around town that you can drink from. Competitions to design the fountains that bring the mineral water to the public ensured that each fountain design is unique, so you may want to visit all of them on an easy self-guided walking tour of the town. It's a bring-your-own-cup affair; the water (frequently tested) is potable and free. The chamber of commerce publishes a free guide to the springs and the Mineral Springs Foundation offers tours.

Three blocks north of Pearl Street and west of Broadway, this neighborhood of turn-of-the-20th-century homes is shaded by old maple and cottonwood trees. It makes for a scenic walk near downtown but away from the busy mall.

This hamlet was incorporated in 1899 to serve workers of the Colorado Yule Marble Quarry, whose extraordinary stone graces the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C. Walk the Marble Mill Park Trail to see remnants of the old marble-processing mill. Other historic sites include a two-story schoolhouse now used by the Marble Historical Society Museum, and a local charter school. Marble is also the gateway to one of Colorado's most-photographed places: the Crystal Mill. Set on a craggy cliff overlooking the river, the 1893 mill harkens back to the area's mining past; it's also the perfect place to enjoy a picnic lunch. You need a four-wheel-drive vehicle to get here in good weather (your feet will have to do on rainy days when the road isn't passable).