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- Forgo the rental car and stay at a resort where you can ski to the lifts and ski home at night, in Summit, Grand, Routt and Eagle counties.
- Drive along Rim Rock Road through Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction to view the Coke Ovens, a series of bizarre-looking sandstone formations.
- Tee up beneath Redlands Mesa in Grand Junction one day, then head into the Rockies to any of the golf courses in Summit, Eagle or Grand counties and try to lower your handicap with the benefit of high altitude.
- Experience the sight of multiple hot-air balloons lifting off for the Steamboat Springs Hot Air Balloon Rodeo & Art in the Park, an annual summer tradition for the last 27 years.
- Hop aboard the free shuttle in Breckenridge that regularly runs the length of this quintessential ski town. See historic sites, shop at boutiques and dine in welcoming restaurants. In January, the town hosts the International Snow Sculpture Championships, where teams carve 20-ton blocks of snow into majestic art.
- Take the short, easy hike to Hanging Lake. Near Glenwood Springs, this popular pool is tucked away on a high ledge above Glenwood Canyon.
- Motor across the calm waters of Grand Lake, the largest natural body of water in Colorado. There’s no need to own your own craft—boats can be rented at any of its numerous marinas.
- Visit Canyon Pintado—a Fremont Indian site found just south of Rangely—to see centuries-old pictographs and petroglyphs etched and painted onto soft sandstone walls.
- Sample a Colorado chardonnay or merlot at a Grand Valley winery near Grand Junction. Follow up the tasting with a tour of a local vineyard, or stop by a farm stand to sample Palisade peaches—some of the sweetest fruits grown in America.
- Take a whitewater-rafting trip down the Yampa or Green rivers through Dinosaur National Monument.
- Strap on a pair of snowshoes and explore the expansive trail network near Frisco. The town has plotted out and maintained a web of trails designed for people of all athletic abilities.
- Stand in awe before three of the most photographed mountains in Colorado—Pyramid Peak and the Maroon Bells—just south of Aspen.
- Attend the annual sheepdog competitions in the historic town of Meeker, where the brightest and most athletic dogs in the nation compete for top sheepherding honors.
- Challenge the world-class mountain biking trails in the Book Cliffs near Fruita—a town that has embraced this sport with a passion.
- Follow the course of the swiftly flowing Colorado River from State Bridge to Grand Lake along the Colorado River Headwaters Scenic and Historic Byway.
- Rig up a sailboat and head out on high-altitude Lake Dillon, home to the highest sailing regatta in the nation.
- Rock or ice climb near the pastoral town of Rifle. Both technical and novice climbers find the limestone of Rifle Mountain Park to be the perfect place to challenge their abilities.
- Taste the crème de la crème of epicurean favorites at Aspen’s Food & Wine Classic, hosted by Food & Wine magazine. Taste wine, sample food and indulge in the high-mountain scenery.
- Picnic with the family in Routt National Forest.
- Soak in the rejuvenating hot springs dotted throughout the region, including the largest hot springs in the world, Glenwood Springs, and the smaller, more intimate Hot Sulphur Springs.
- Film a YouTube-ready video of your buddy landing a crushing 540 (with snow-capped Mount Sopris in the background) at Carbondale’s Grindline-designed skate park.
- Rise high above the scenery for sweeping views of Beaver Creek and the surrounding landscape by taking a summer chairlift ride. It’s an ideal way to sightsee without wearing out your walking shoes.
- Visit Copper Mountain during Christmas Eve for the annual Torchlight Parade, where skiers bearing torches slowly weave down the resort’s slopes after nightfall.
- Experience the thrilling nightlife of the Vail Valley or enjoy one of the area’s many seasonal festivals, including the Jazz Festival, Vail Film Festival and Mardi Gras.
- Mush through the snow and along forested trails while being pulled by a team of sled dogs in Vail, Fraser, Breckenridge and Vail.
- Hop aboard a shuttle for a guided tour of Dinosaur National Monument to see the remnants of an ancient sea and a riverbed where the largest deposits of late-Jurassic fossils in the world were found.
- Sip a latte and keep your eyes peeled for movie stars in Aspen, Beaver Creek and Vail.
- Watch as skiers soar through the air at the Howelsen Hill ski jump near Steamboat Springs, a ski area that has preened a number of U.S. Olympic athletes.
- Take an aerial tram to the top of Iron Mountain above Glenwood Springs and enter the light-swallowing recesses of the Glenwood Caverns.
- Fish for trophy-worthy trout in the Gold Medal Waters of Delaney Butte Lakes near Walden or Steamboat Lake north of Steamboat Springs.
- Hunt trophy elk in the White River National Forest, just as President Theodore Roosevelt did decades ago.
- Play either of the two 18-hole disc golf courses in Snowmass Village, one of a handful resort towns in Colorado to offer such extensive courses for this niche sport.
- Take a float trip, by raft or kayak, down the Colorado River from Radium to the tiny town of State Bridge.
- Zoom down a mountain aboard an alpine slide in Breckenridge, Glenwood Springs and Winter Park (home to Colorado’s longest alpine slide).
- Indulge in high-altitude outlet shopping in the town of Silverthorne, where name brands and high-end merchandise can be purchased for a fraction of the retail price.
- Enter Rocky Mountain National Park from the less-used western entrance, via the town of Grand Lake, and look for moose in the willows of Kawuneeche Valley.
- Listen as musicians play classical music al fresco during Strings in the Mountains, a summer-long event held in Steamboat Springs.
- Visit Trappers Lake, a body of water that inspired Arthur Carhart to advocate for the preservation of pristine forest, an important step to the Wilderness Act.
- Skip the uphill climb and take the chairlift up a summer ski slope with your mountain bike. Once at the top, you can ride miles of downhill trail.
- Use your well-honed technical climbing skills to summit the 14,005-foot Mount of the Holy Cross, named for the omnipresent, naturally occurring snow-filled cross that dominates its eastern face.
- Take a drive along Dinosaur Diamond Scenic and Historic Byway and learn about the natural resources of Northwest Colorado, as well as the fossils of dinosaurs and artifacts of prehistoric man.
- Visit three state parks in a matter of hours: Harvey Gap, Rifle Gap and Rifle Falls, all near the town of Rifle. Harvey Gap and Rifle Gap's crystal-clear water are ideal for water sports, and Rifle Falls is best-known for its three-pronged waterfall and limestone caves.
- Take a guided horseback riding tour through the vast areas of the Flat Tops or Mount Zirkel wilderness areas, where trails travel for miles, and elk, deer and other wildlife are found in great numbers.
- See a professionally performed Broadway musical in the town of Grand Lake at the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater.
- Stop at the town of Redstone, a utopian-inspired community. Check out the enormous 42-room Tudor-style Cleveholm Manor, a home once occupied by the town’s founder.
- See some of the biggest names of extreme winter sports converge on Aspen and Snowmass for the ESPN Winter X Games. High-powered snowmobile races, ski-jumping aerial displays and half-pipe runs all add to the energy-infused four-day event in January.
- Unearth a real dinosaur fossil during a summer dig with the Dinosaur Journey Museum of Western Colorado in Grand Junction. A paleontologist accompanies the digs and helps to identify and categorize your prehistoric finds.
- Visit the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen, near Rio Grand Park, to see a tribute to the singer/songwriter, where his lyrics are lovingly carved into granite boulders. Fans from around the world visit to be closer to his home and inspiration.
- Visit Vega State Park, west of Palisade, during the annual cowboy poetry event, where professional and amateur cowboy poets recount the Western ways through whimsical rhyming schemes.
- Arch a perfect fly cast into a mellow eddy on the Gold Medal Waters of the Fryingpan River. For a chance at a trophy trout, set up a mile below the Ruedi Reservoir.
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