TravelTips24 : North America : United States of America : Rocky Mountains : Colorado

Colorado

Check the new Colorado travel forum

Colorado [1] is a state in the Rocky Mountains region of the United States of America. The highest peaks of the United States portion of the Rockies are here, as are the highest peaks of the "Basin and Range" province and a number of other natural marvels.

Regions

There is no universally agreed-upon breakdown of regions in Colorado. You'll often see a very simple structure comprised of the Eastern Slope (meaning everything east of the crest of the Rockies), Western Slope (everything west of the range crest), and anomalous Denver. The breakdown below is a bit more complex, partly for reasons of style and partly because the simple east/west/Denver formulation lumps areas together that are really very disparate. It's also roughly what's used by the Colorado Department of Tourism.

Cities

Other destinations

For a quick list of all Colorado's ski resorts, take a look at Skiing in Colorado.

Culture and History

Geography

Colorado is split down the middle north to south by the Rocky Mountains. To the east is a region of high prairie, dry and wide open. To the west are rugged mountains arranged in various groups or ranges. (Interestingly, the largest single range in the state, the San Juan Mountains of the southwestern quarter, aren't technically part of the Rockies.) Meandering through the mountains is an imaginary line called the Continental Divide. This marks the flow of precipitation. Rain falling on the west of the Divide makes its way to the Pacific Ocean. Rain on the east makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. What may be surprising to visitors, however, is that, despite stereotypes, comparatively little of the state is actually mountainous. Perhaps a third of it is covered by hills or mountains, and even less is actually home to the soaring, jagged peaks for which the state is known.

Colorado has 54 mountain peaks above 14,000 ft of elevation. The highest peak, Mount Elbert, rises to 14,433 ft above sea level. Tourism is a major industry, with skiing, hiking/camping, hunting, and fishing as large sources of income for the state economy.

Colorado's population was 4,301,261 in the 2000 census, and the state's population is growing, particularly in the large towns along the Front Range where the prairie and mountains meet. These towns include the capital, Denver, and Colorado Springs, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins. Many of the residents of Colorado migrated from other states so being a "Colorado Native" is a point of pride with many people.

Talk

Like the rest of the United States, English is the main language of Colorado. Spanish is also widely spoken in Colorado (approximately 20% of the state).

Travel to Colorado & Visa Requirements

All major airlines fly into Denver International Airport (code: DEN) as it is the major hub for the region, and in fact the ninth busiest airport in the world.

Tours & Getting around Colorado

If you want to travel the state, then you will need to rent a vehicle. Prices are the same as across the United States.

The major cities (Denver, Boulder, Loveland, Longmont, Broomfield) are linked by bus transportation using RTD. The cost is very reasonable and the buses run regular schedules.

Taxis are also available throughout the state.

Colorado attractions and sightseeing

  • Rocky Mountains

Colorado city tours

Mountain Climbing

  • Of the 54 so-called "Fourteeners" (those mountains with an elevation above 14,000 ft.), many can be climbed without ropes or technical experience. The rewards are breathtaking. The current standard among introductory guidebooks to routes on Fourteeners is Borneman and Lampert, "A Climbing Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners." This book is updated frequently to reflect changes in access restrictions (several are on private land or have private holdings high on the mountain that interfere with some routes), and the latest edition as of 2005 is ISBN 0871088509. Many people also find Gerry Roach's (the second person in the world to summit all of the "Seven Summits") book, "Colorado's Fourteeners: From Hikes to Climbs" ISBN: 1555914128 to be a comprehensive guidebook for hiking and climbing these Colorado giants. Colorado has more "14ers" than any other state in the USA. Be prepared for crowds on some of the more popular summits during the summer on weekends. Also be prepared for an outing, as conditions can and do change rapidly on Colorado's high mountains.
  • There are also many "high Thirteeners" that are nearly as rewarding to climb as the Fourteeners, while typically far less crowded with would-be mountaineers. Some of the high Thirteeners are more technically difficult than any Fourteener and require rope and technical expertise.

Hiking

  • Colorado has a seemingly endless amount of hiking trails. Colorado hiking trails can lead you through various terrain, including deserts, mountains, canyons, and more.

Whitewater Rafting

  • Golden has a world-class kayak course that is free and open to mostly year round use. There are several kayak shops in Golden, and they also have demos and clinics on various dates.
  • Many of the mountain towns along the Colorado River offer whitewater rafting excursions. You can choose a half-day, full-day or overnight trip.

Festivals

  • Mesa Verde Country Indian Arts & Culture Festival. May is archaeology month in Colorado and there is no better place to celebrate than Mesa Verde Country, the archaeological center of America. Archaeology ties all of us to the heritage we proudly share with the Ancestral Pueblo people from the past and the Native Americans living here today.
  • Mesa Verde Country Wine & Art Festival.
  • Taste of Colorado Every year in downtown over 40 restaurants set up booths near the state capitol in Civic Center Park to celebrate the weekend. Admission is free but tickets are needed for the carnival rides and other attractions.
  • Cherry Creek Arts Festival Held every Independence Day weekend in the Cherry Creek section of town, this is an outdoor festival full of shopping and food.
  • Old South Gaylord Street Festival Held every Memorial Day weekend, this festival started when several local stores held sidewalk sales at the same time. They decided to coordinate their efforts next year, and now decades later vendors from all over the state set up tents. Many of the goods on sale are handmade, and there is plenty of food, live music and fair-style attractions as well.

Gaming

  • There are a number of historic towns in Colorado that offer casino gambling. The two most famous are Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek. Local officials are in the process of raising maximum bets from $5 to $100, allowing for more Las Vegas-style gaming.

Colorado Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Colorado is filled with a large variety of restaurants with different cuisines. You can find almost everything you would ever want to eat or drink.

Colorado nightlife, bars, clubs & pubs

Colorado and drinking are often linked. Colorado is considered to be the microbrew capital of the United States. The magazine "Modern Drunkard" is headquartered in Denver. Brewpubs are open in almost every town.

One of the most popular adult tourist activities in Colorado is the Brewery Tour circuit. From the megabrewer Coors in Golden, to the refined tastes of New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, the Front Range of Colorado offers many opportunities to see beer being made.

There are also less celebrated, but equally worthy, meaderies and vineyards in the state.

Denver also hosts the Great American Beer Festival every Fall. This three day bacchannal celebrates micro, medium and mega brews from across the country with awards handed out to the judges picks for best brews.

One note of caution - some people find that their alcohol tolerance is lower at higher altitudes. Drink slowly until you acclimate.

Stay safe

Get out

Destinations in Colorado:

Arapahoe Basin / Copper Mountain / Denver Area / Eastern Plains (Colorado) / Front Range / Granby / Keystone (Colorado) / La Junta / Longmont / Northwestern Colorado / Olathe (Colorado) / Redstone / South Central Colorado / Southwestern Colorado / Sunlight Mountain /

Didn't find what you were looking for.
Ask for help at the Colorado travel forum

This page was last edited at 00:09, on 23 December 2008 by Ryan Holliday. Based on work by Peter Fitzgerald and Evan Prodromou, Wikitravel user(s) Rvtrooper, Episteme and Ypsilon, Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel and others.

Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license