Experience the tundra as you drive Mt. Evans and Independence Pass, two of the highest and most scenic drives in the Rockies.
Colorado mountain towns offer gondolas, mountain coasters, mining tours, train rides, zip lines, river rafting, and hot springs. Save money following the best and most cost-effective activities for each town you visit.
See the best of Colorado’s mountain towns with detailed walking tours for Aspen, Vail, Glenwood Springs, Breckenridge, Georgetown, and Idaho Springs. Maps and fun history included!
You can visit up to 10 towns on this trip but you’ll only need to stay in 2 places to see it all! Cheers to more relaxing vacations and less time packing up and moving around.
You pick the length of your trip. You can expand and condense your days based on your interests. The ideal time frame is 4-7 days.
You can’t fail with our easy-to-follow instructions including destinations, arrival times, and over 50 images and maps to keep you on course.
You can easily turn this Colorado Road Trip into an Epic Red Rock To Rockies Road Trip! In just 9-14 days, you can experience the playful Arches and Canyonlands National Parks of Utah AND the majestic drives and hikes of Rocky Mountain National Park of Colorado.
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 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 22 years ago. 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 10,000,000 views and have sold over 12,000 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.
Sure.You can always choose to omit activities if you are short on time. If you have extra time, additional activities are listed in the guide.
You can begin your adventure from Rocky Mountain National Park/Denver or from Grand Junction. The guide is written starting in Grand Junction but it can easily be reversed if desired.
Even though this guide works for travel May through October, many Colorado Mountain towns don’t have all their activities going until July.
In early September, the leaves begin to turn so that is an especially beautiful time to visit.
Summer also offers wonderful wildflowers.
We worked with a photographer from Colorado who does this trip every year. We did lots of our own research and took this exact trip ourselves, trying out all the activities. We chose our favorite things to do in each town with alternate suggestions for people who have different interests.
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 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 $11,ooo to create when you combine travel expenses, consulting, map creation, and formatting. In addition, we have spent hundreds of hours visiting theses towns and doing additional research.
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 (areas to stay-not actual hotels). 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 your leave (Ex: The current year’s opening date for the drive up Mt. Evans)
You will need a car to go from town to town, but some of the Colorado Mountain towns including, Breckenridge and Vail, offer a free shuttle service.
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).
If you are interested in visiting Rocky Mountain, yes! It’s a great addition to a Colorado Road Trip. You’ll just need to add 2-5 extra days.
Another popular place to visit is Arches and Canyonlands National Parks in Utah. You would also need to add 2-5 days to visit this area.
We have guides for both and offer an automatic discount. 10% off when you purchase 2 guides, 20% off when you purchase 3 or more.
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. When you purchase a guide, you have access to 18 months of free updates.
If you created an account, just log in again 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.
The Colorado mountain towns covered in this guide are a completely different experience in the winter. This guide will work in spring, summer, and fall. Guests should know that there are a few activities that aren’t available until July and some things start closing down after Labor Day.
Yes!! We update our guides as needed, but write the concepts to intentionally be as timeless as possible. 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. Your purchase includes lifetime 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 through your account (another reason to create an account) for life. We generally send an email announcement when we do an update as well.
We invested over $11,000 in creating this guide. We’ve done several activities that cost money and eaten at some nicer restaurants.
We include our recommendations for where to eat, stay, and things to do, including luxury options.
We put approximate price ranges on all our activities so you know what to expect. The good news is that many of the Colorado’s mountain towns offer many free activities and shuttles and these are included in this guide.
Although we do suggest some hikes, we offer plenty of alternatives if hiking is not desirable including viewpoints and drives.
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