The Rocky Mountain State is one of our country’s most beautiful, and there’s an abundance of towns to use as a base (or to settle in) to enjoy what makes the state so famous. Everyone’s heard of Aspen, Vail, and Boulder, and many know that they’re crazy expensive.
So what are some great mountain towns that may not exactly be cheap but which won’t cost you a fortune to live in or visit? Following are 15 suggestions that aren’t Aspen, Boulder or Vail.
Estes Park
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The main gateway town for Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park sits against the park’s eastern entrances. With a beautiful backdrop, the town has everything residents and visitors need for any season of the year.
Nederland
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If Estes Park is a little too busy and crowded for you, you might like Nederland instead. This small town is about an hour’s drive south of Estes Park, and it’s close to the Eldora ski area and the Indian Peaks Wilderness.
Steamboat Springs
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Steamboat is a modern town that has a remote feel. Although it’s best known as a ski destination, it’s also a great summer location since it’s between the Mount Zirkel Wilderness to the north and the Flat Tops Wilderness to the south.
Idaho Springs
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Despite being less than an hour from downtown Denver, Idaho Springs, right along Interstate 70, feels a world away. One of its key draws is access to Mount Evans, a Colorado 14er (peak above 14,000’) that you can drive to within a short walk from the top.
Georgetown
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Georgetown is a little beyond Idaho Springs, and it’s also smaller and at a higher elevation. It’s a nice base for people interested in mountain hikes that depart from I-70, nearby Loveland Pass, and the Guanella Pass Scenic Byway.
Dillon
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After Georgetown, I-70 climbs to a mountain tunnel (Loveland Pass is a longer alternative if traffic is awful or you want better scenery) and then descends to Silverthorne and Dillon, on the right across from each other and the north and south sides, respectively, of the interstate.
This area has been attracting people wanting to be close to the mountains without all the crowdedness and traffic of the Denver-Boulder-Fort Collins area.
Frisco
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Frisco is just a little bit past Dillon and also right off the interstate, and it sits literally in the shadow of the mountains. It also has an interesting historic district, and it’s a more economical alternative to the next entry on our list.
Breckenridge
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Breckenridge, a short drive south of Frisco, has exploded in popularity as an alternative to resort towns like Aspen and Vail. As such, it’s pretty pricey, but the proximity to year-round recreation is worth it for a lot of people. Plus, it’s well away from the interstate.
Leadville
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At 10,158’, Leadville has the distinction of being the highest-elevation incorporated town in the U.S. A rugged four-wheel-drive road climbs east from the town high into the mountains, and the town is close to the trail up Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado and all of the Rockies.
Buena Vista
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Meaning “good view” in Spanish, Buena Vista lives up to that since it has mountains both east and west of town. The road up to Cottonwood Pass offers many recreational opportunities, and the town is also where many whitewater-rafting outfitters call home, and they’ll take you out on the wild Arkansas River.
Crested Butte
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Crested Butte is like Steamboat for having a remote, small-town feel while having all the modern amenities you’d need. It, too, made its name for its ski slopes but has become a great summer destination as well, and although it’s no secret, it’s not as crowded as some of Colorado’s other mountain towns are.
Ouray
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The final four towns on this list are all in the sprawling, rugged, and spectacular San Juan Mountains in the southwestern part of the state. Ouray is the gateway to the famous Yankee Boy Basin, renowned for its summer wildflowers and mountain scenery, and it’s also the location of an ice climbing park where many people get their first taste of this unique sport.
Silverton
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Driving south from Ouray over two high mountain passes gets you to Silverton, a historic mining town. This little town is the definition of scenic, and the best way to enjoy a visit here is to have a four-wheel-drive vehicle so you can access ghost towns, mountain passes, and hikes through incredible alpine settings.
Telluride
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Telluride is almost directly west across the mountains from Ouray, and there’s a road that connects them, though it comes with a warning that vehicular damge is likely. Instead, most people get from one to the other the long way via maintained roads.
Telluride is in a narrow mountain valley surrounded by crags and waterfalls, and it’s sometimes billed as “Aspen like it used to be, Vail like it never was.”
Creede
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Most tourist activity in the San Juans occurs in the Ouray-Cortez-Durango triangle, which means Creede gets overlooked by a lot of people. That’s to the benefit of those who come to enjoy its mining history and mountain scenery with fewer people and less traffic.
The 30 Most Beautiful Places in the World That Everyone Must See
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There’s no way you could ever come up with a definitive list of the world’s most beautiful places. However, if you ask around, some places come up a lot more frequently than others do.
The following are some of the places that people mention over and over again, not in any particular order.
30 Breathtaking Places You Must See Before You Die
The Two Best Scenic Wonders in Each of the Mountain States
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The Mountain States– Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico– have some of the wildest and most rugged landscapes in the United States. Because they’re so big, it can take a lot of time to visit them, so it helps to be able to plan for some specific destinations.
Following are our choices for the top two must-see outdoor locations in each of these seven states.
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