Save 30-60 hours of travel research. Experience the best of Colorado without spending hours behind the computer
One guide for everything: driving routes, accommodations, dining, step-by-step itinerary, and audio stories- all in one place
Make the most of every dollar, minute, and mile with the best driving routes and activities grouped by area to minimize backtracking and maximize your time
See the most popular attractions at the best times, plus some hidden gems between parks -
like having a local guide by your side
Easily pick which activities are perfect for your group with our star ratings, detailed descriptions, and estimated time frames
Flexible 5–14+ day plans you can speed up or slow down, with options for early‑riser hikers, slower scenic‑drive days,
and different budgets
ONLY $119 – $261 VALUE
Experience Colorado like never before with our Colorado Bundle! Get itineraries for Rocky Mountain, Southwest Colorado, Northern Colorado, and the Pikes Peak Region—plus an exclusive bonus: a comprehensive Colorado Overview Guide ($40 Value) with 3 road trip plans that include the 14+ Day Grand Tour Itinerary, Colorado’s National Parks Itinerary, and a shortened 7-Day Itinerary. Each includes amazing mountain towns, scenic drives, and great places to eat and stay.
2-4 Day Itinerary & Audio Guide including the Trail Ridge Road, Fall River Area, Bear Lake Corridor, Estes Park, Grand Lake, and many more.
5-Day Itinerary including Mesa Verde and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Parks, the Durango-Silverton Train, the Million Dollar Highway, and the charming mountain towns of Ouray and Telluride.
4-7 Day Itinerary including the charming mountain towns of Vail, Breckenridge, Aspen (Maroon Bells included!), and Glenwood Springs. Plus, the incredible scenic drives of Mount Blue Sky and Independence Pass.
2-5 Day Itinerary including the Pikes Peak Cog Railway & Highway, the Royal Gorge, Great Sand Dunes National Park, and Garden of the Gods. Plus the mountain towns of Cripple Creek, Victor, and Manitou Springs.
Real human customer service. We’ll respond to emails within one business day- no AI or auto-generated responses.
If you travel using our guides and don’t love them so much that you would tell your best friend about us, we’ll give you your money back. Read more.
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Hey, we’re Matt and Cheryl, and we are on a mission to help people have amazing vacations. Not only do we write easy-to-follow itineraries, but we also love to share interesting stories in our audio guides about all of our favorite places!
We live in Utah, just four hours away from awesome national parks like Zion and Yellowstone, and have spent our lives exploring the West and the Rocky Mountains. We often travel with both sets of our retired parents (they like each other!) and our four teenagers (who like to travel…sometimes).
We met in a history of Utah class at Weber State University and tied the knot in 2002. Matt worked for Social Security and taught adjunct history classes at our alma mater. Cheryl taught special education for 28 years and continues to volunteer by teaching a weekly dance fitness class.
We took a shot at our dream in 2020 and started making YouTube videos about the national parks we know so well. We now have over 20 million views and have sold over 24,000 guides. We are delighted to help travelers fulfill dreams of their own!
We love trying out all the activities and working with local experts to give the best, most up-to-date travel advice out there.
At We're in the Rockies, we believe in education and donate 5% of the proceeds of your purchase to the Gene Sessions History Scholarship to make education affordable to future park rangers and history teachers.
Watch Cheryl show you how to plan out your travel day in minutes.
Most travelers fly into Denver International Airport (DEN), which is the best starting point for exploring Colorado. It’s also the most affordable and best-connected airport in the state. There are airports in Colorado Springs (COS), Grand Junction (GJT), and Durango (DRO). We assume most people are flying into Denver, but you can start your tour around the state from several locations.
This guide works best from late June to September. You can visit other times of the year, but understand that many of the roads and trails are covered in snow and some of the gondolas aren’t running if you visit at another time.
There are beautiful wildflowers in July, and the fall leaves in September are stunning!
Through lots of experience! We try to do every drive, hike, and activity, and eat at as many restaurants as we can. We always pay our own way so we can give our honest opinions.
We travel with both sets of our retired parents and our 4 kids (who are now teens), so we have a pretty good radar on the interests of most types of travelers.
We recommend what we believe are the absolute best spots to see and give backup options for longer hikes or things that cost.
We give star ratings and approximate prices to help you decide which activities are the best value for you!
If you aren’t sure which guides to get, email us at mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com and tell us where you want to go. A real human will get back to you within one business day.
We are of the mindset that you have a plan, so you can be flexible.
We lay out what we believe are the best activities for your time and money, but we all have different preferences.
Because each activity listed has a star rating, approximate time frame, and cost, you’ll easily be able to adjust to best suit your group’s interests.
We surveyed our customers and they reported that our guides saved them 10-20 hours per guide, which means this Colorado Bundle could save you 30-50 hours of trip planning research, on average.
Although much of the information included in this guide can be found with significant research, this guide combines what you need to know into one place and it is from a source committed to giving you the best information.
This guide cost us over $15,000 to create when you combine travel expenses, map creation, and formatting. In addition, we have spent hundreds of hours visiting this area and doing additional research.
Instead of you sorting through an outdated, 500+ page travel book filled with flowery language from a travel writer, we get right to the point by grouping the best sites into days to minimize drive time and help you know what you can reasonably accomplish. Also included are driving routes from various starting locations. We pay for all of our travel and our loyalty is to you. If something is a waste of time or money – we tell you.
Many of our travelers enjoy the confirmation that they have already created a good plan and may even find a thing or two to add to it.
Other travelers may find that our plan is similar to what they had already pieced together on their own.
If you’ve already spent hours planning, you may not find maximum value in this guide.
Yes! We travel with our 4 children and both sets of our parents. Although not every activity is for everyone, there are always backup suggestions.
We write these guides so all the work you should need to do is obtain your lodging and reservations. We include maps, the time needed to complete drives and activities, and lodging recommendations. We put boxes throughout the guide indicating it’s an item that you will need to take care of before you leave. We also give links to websites we think you should check before you leave.
You will need a car to drive throughout Colorado. Rocky Mountain has an optional shuttle system. There are also quite a few train rides in Colorado, but you will still need a car to get from place to place.
Yes. We give approximate time frames that are needed to complete an activity. The schedule is generally not so packed that you have to be a quick traveler. But if you know you generally need more time, you can make adjustments. If you are quick, there are suggestions for additional activities
This is a digital download, so it will be EMAILED to you. That way, you can have access immediately and have the option to download it to any device you want.
Many travelers, including us, prefer to print the itinerary and take it with us as we travel.
The itinerary and audio guide are available immediately upon purchase, right on this webpage. You will also receive an email within 30 minutes with download links in case you need to revisit the links and download the items later. If you don’t receive your email, check your junk mail folder. If it’s not there, contact mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com, and we’ll be in touch with you within 1 business day.
Also, the guides will be available in your account if you choose to establish one (we highly encourage it).
You need cell reception to download the audio guides. Once they are downloaded, no cell reception is needed.
Most people download the audio guides to their phone before they leave.
Just in case you are wondering, an average audio guide takes 150 MB of storage space.
National parks constantly change, including timed-entry requirements, construction, fires, and closures. To keep you updated on the most current things going on, we have a Parks Updates page that we update every week with important information. We recommend you look at this as soon as you begin planning your trip, as well as a few days before you leave.
Guides are automatically updated to the latest version when you create an account.
In addition to that, we also send an email notification out when a guide is updated. Just make sure to stay subscribed to our email list so we can reach you.
Because the download is a PDF file, you can do it on any device: computer, iPhone, Android, tablet, etc.
Stuff like this happens. We get it.
If you created an account, just log in and download your guides.
If you didn’t create an account or forgot your password, just email us, and we can resend your links.
For step-by-step instructions (including pictures) check out our Help With Downloads page.
If you still need help, reach out to us at mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible to help. We’re even happy to jump on a phone call with you if needed.
No. Although Colorado is a great place to visit in the winter, the activities in this guide are for people visiting late June through September.
Yes!! We update our guides at a minimum of once a year and offer free lifetime updates. We encourage you to purchase the guide as soon as you know you will be traveling. It will help you determine which areas to stay and how many days to obtain lodging. Upon purchase, you’ll be guided to create an account on our website. If we update the guide, it will automatically show in your account. Stay subscribed to our email list. We send out emails when we make updates.
It is not required, but is HIGHLY recommended. We encourage you to create an account when purchasing the guides because you’ll have access to the links at any time.
You will have access to the updated guide for life. We generally send an email announcement when we do an update as well.
We believe that once you buy a guide from us, you should be able to use it to visit a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time.
If you created an account, just log in and download your guide again.
If you didn’t create an account, just email mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com and let us know you want us to resend your guide links.
We put approximate price ranges on all our activities so you know what to expect. The good news is that there are many free things to do in this guide.
Although we do suggest some hikes, we offer plenty of alternatives if hiking is not desirable, including viewpoints and drives.
If you purchased a guide that includes an audio guide, here’s what you’ll need:
If you need technical support, check out our help with downloads page. If you are still struggling, you can email us at mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com
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$119.00
We are planning another National Park adventure in 2026 to RMNP. The first thing we did was go to We’re in the Rockies, to our trusted friends, Matt and Cheryl. Though we’ve never met them, they have been instrumental in helping create awesome memories at several National Parks. Their guides are clear, concise and easy to use. We download them on our tablet to have all the information we need at our fingerprints. We have printed them as well for those adventures where a folded paper copy is the better option. We are able to plan our entire trip with easily modifiable daily itineraries. We appreciate that Matt and Cheryl have actually done most of the things they recommend and are transparent if they haven’t. Their audio guides and videos give an added bonus to fantastic guides. We have never regretted a purchase. The guides take the stress out of planning so you can truly enjoy the beauty of God’s creation.
We’ve watched your YouTube videos on Colorado and purchased the Colorado package just a couple of days before our trip.
We only had a week to explore and referenced your recommendations often. We stayed at Grand Lake Lodge the second night, the Comfort Inn in Glenwood Springs the third and then off to Telluride. Although lodging was expensive there we didn’t have the extra time to travel in from Montrose as you suggested. I was able to drive part of Black Bear Pass in our rented Jeep that was a highlight of the trip. The next day was a six hour drive to get to our hotel in Colorado Springs so we could visit the Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak the next day.
Thank you for making this material available as it took the stress out of planning our trip. We found nice places to stay and eat because of your recommendations.
Rick & Jane
Extremely Helpful and Thorough Daily Schedule!
This guide was a game-changer for our Rocky Mountain National Park trip! The daily schedule was incredibly detailed, breaking down exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to make the most of each area of the park. From hiking trails and shuttle info to restaurant recommendations and timed-entry tips, everything was laid out in an easy-to-follow format. We especially appreciated the flexibility options if plans had to change. The itinerary made planning stress-free and ensured we didn’t miss a thing. Highly recommend for anyone looking to get the most out of their time in RMNP!
I would like more info re: Colorado & will gladly pay for your information. Cheryl seems very kind & was also informative & helpful re: an itinerary. Thank you
We are frequent visitors to Colorado, our son and his Family live in Castle Rock, during our visits we typically go to all the big attractions, Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, etc. Boy were we missing the rest of Colorado. Matt and Cheryls guide was so helpful and the kids loved the stories, keep up the great work, we will continue to enjoy yopur guide. James
Great information
We are planning another National Park adventure in 2026 to RMNP. The first thing we did was go to We’re in the Rockies, to our trusted friends, Matt and Cheryl. Though we’ve never met them, they have been instrumental in helping create awesome memories at several National Parks. Their guides are clear, concise and easy to use. We download them on our tablet to have all the information we need at our fingerprints. We have printed them as well for those adventures where a folded paper copy is the better option. We are able to plan our entire trip with easily modifiable daily itineraries. We appreciate that Matt and Cheryl have actually done most of the things they recommend and are transparent if they haven’t. Their audio guides and videos give an added bonus to fantastic guides. We have never regretted a purchase. The guides take the stress out of planning so you can truly enjoy the beauty of God’s creation.
We’ve watched your YouTube videos on Colorado and purchased the Colorado package just a couple of days before our trip.
We only had a week to explore and referenced your recommendations often. We stayed at Grand Lake Lodge the second night, the Comfort Inn in Glenwood Springs the third and then off to Telluride. Although lodging was expensive there we didn’t have the extra time to travel in from Montrose as you suggested. I was able to drive part of Black Bear Pass in our rented Jeep that was a highlight of the trip. The next day was a six hour drive to get to our hotel in Colorado Springs so we could visit the Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak the next day.
Thank you for making this material available as it took the stress out of planning our trip. We found nice places to stay and eat because of your recommendations.
Rick & Jane