Weekend in Colorado | Denver & Colorado Springs
Whether it is your first time, 10th time or 100th time visiting Colorado - follow along with my itinerary for a weekend full of fun.
I have been wanting to travel out west for a while now and since my brother was moving soon us & my dad decided to do a weekend trip together before he left. We did a long weekend and flew to Colorado on Thursday night and flew home on Monday afternoon.
Thursday:
New York, New York; Denver, Colorado
We flew in the afternoon (New York time) so by the time we landed, it was pretty late. We took the earliest flight we could but definitely something to consider when planning your trip.
At the airport we took a shuttle to the car rental service and the line was HUGE. We didn’t end up getting to our hotel [Courtyard Marriot] until 12:30am (which was 2:30am our time). We were exhausted and got some much needed sleep.
Friday:
We are all pretty early risers, and want to make the most of our day, so we were up at 7:30am. We were planning on grabbing food at the hotel but they had very limited options — another thing to look into ahead of time, if that is important to you.
We ended up finding a quick breakfast near the hotel, ate, then were on our way for Day 1 in Colorado. We drove an ~hour and a half down to the town of Manitou. But on the way we stopped at an overlook on the highway for our first official views of the Colorado mountains.
The town of Manitou is pretty small but a cute location to walk around. There were a bunch of different local shops to look around in. I don’t think I would have come to Manitou on it’s own but was a nice addition since we were coming to the area anyway.
Next up, was something we were all super excited for. We took a shuttle that runs right from the center of town to the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. The shuttle gets pretty packed so I would suggest finding the parking lot that it starts from and getting on there — or you risk it being too full at the other stops.
We were invited to take a ride on the Cog Railway and I definitely recommend! It is a 3.5 hour round trip journey to the Summit of Pikes Peak. You have the option to drive up the mountain on your own but I would suggest the train ride as it is much more relaxing, has incredible views & even has a tour guide who talked about the history & included some interesting fun facts throughout the ride. Once you get to the top, there is a welcome center that you can stop in or platforms outside to take in the views. If you are not used to being in a location in a high altitude you might not want to do this ride on your first day in the state — could save it for when your body adjusts a bit. Personally, I felt fine. But, plenty of people around me got super tired & could feel a difference in breathing.
If you are one looking for a good view or a scenic photo-op, this summit is the one!
After we got back to the bottom, we took the shuttle back to town & then drove back to Denver.
We went into downtown Denver for the first time. We were able to walk around and then sit for dinner. There are plenty of food options but we picked Yard House because it had so many different options, we couldn’t go wrong.
Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel after a tiring, but amazing first day.
Saturday:
We woke up and decided to find a local spot for a small breakfast. We found Prosper Eats and (spoiler alert) we ended up going back the next two mornings too - it was so good! It is a small eatery, think coffee shop vibes, specializing in breakfast and lunch with smoothies, acai bowls, and sandwiches. It is a great spot with dairy free & vegan options.
We drove an hour west for the part of the trip that, I personally, was most excited for — a hike at St. Mary’s Glacier. I recommend getting there as early as possible because there is only a somewhat small dirt parking lot that fills up fairly quickly. I also recommend having a decent size car while driving there. The drive is uphill with many windy roads and our tiny rental car almost didn’t make it.
The first part of the hike to get to the lake is only about 3/4 of a mile but it is pretty uphill and rocky so there’s not much of a path. Overall, beginner friendly though. The lake is beautiful and we saw people cliff jumping. There was even a point where everyone surrounding the lake saw one person scared to jump after his friends. His name circulated around and everyone started chanting his name before he finally jumped. It was a pretty surreal experience. Some people just do this hike to sit by the lake, which is fine, but I would say that if you are able to then you should hike up to the second section. It’s only another (less than 1/2 mile) but you get to a point that overlooks the lake and those views were incredible — the best I saw the entire weekend. If you are really into it, you can continue to hike up the glacier but that section is not beginner friendly — I had to watch my brother essentially scale the side of a mountain. I don’t recommend that, the lake is enough for me.
I really enjoyed this hike because it wasn’t too hard and we were able to simply sit, relax & enjoy the views for the entire duration instead of rushing to the top.
The hike down is much easier though. I would have the same tip about the altitude change here too though. Maybe not the best activity on your first day when you haven’t adjusted to the altitude change.
While driving back towards Denver we stopped in an old mining town and walked down the one main street — which has some little shops and places to eat.
We got back to the hotel to shower and rest before heading back downtown to grab dinner. Something I would be aware of is the night life scene in Denver. The first two pizza places we were planning on going to were both connected to a bar so we avoided that since lots of people were already out for the night.
We ended up at Brother’s Bar and Grill (the Florida Seminoles bar) (and their game was on) — very loud. But, it was good we all shared a few apps and watched the game before calling it a night.
Sunday:
We didn’t have any set plans for today and wanted to go with the flow. We started off getting the same breakfast at Prosper Eats (duh — we loved it), We drove into downtown and left our car at a parking garage. We parked near Union Station so we started our exploring there. It was a very beautiful station — definitely worth seeing. There were a bunch of scooters around so we took over to Larimer Square, which has great vibes. We walked around and sat down for a bit relaxing and listening to a live musician. We took the free trolley all the way to Civic Center Park and the State Capitol Building to walk around. After we took the trolley back and made it to our car. We drove over to the RiNo district and went to The Source which is essentially an indoor market place with a ton of different vendors. Be sure to check out Reunion Bread Co for some good bakery treats. We sat down to watch one of the football games that were on. We had some time to kill so we just spent it relaxing.
After we drove to meet a friend for dinner at Moe’s BBQ. We didn’t have any plans afterwards but he suggested that we check out the town of Littletown — it has a main strip with stores ad restaurants but unfortunately, since it was Sunday, most places were closed. We went back to the hotel and played some rounds of cards in the lobby before heading to bed early before a long travel day coming up.
Monday:
Our last day. We didn’t have too much time this morning before having to head to the airport but we still wanted to do something. We really wanted to see Red Rocks Amphitheater the other day but it ended up raining so we weren’t able to. So, we decided to stop there after getting breakfast (yes, at Prosper Eats). It was the perfect last day, morning activity. I had seen so many photos of the amphitheater but it was so much better in person. There were so many people there hanging out or working out so it was good vibes all around. After that day, I added an item to my bucket list: attend a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater.
Like I said, we didn’t have too much time so we were on our way to the airport after checking out the red rocks. Before getting to the rental car we stopped for lunch. I tried Cane’s for the first time! (it was good)
We dropped off the car and took the shuttle back to the airport and flew home. That concluded our trip.
It was such a fun weekend that I definitely recommend for anyone who: likes the mountains, is a sucker for pretty scenery, is looking for an active adventure, or likes an outdoorsy city vibe with lots of beer (very much a drinking city) — or all of the above.
Let me know if you try out any of these activities / locations and tell me how it was.
I also documented my trip on video. Watch here!
I also posted lots of photos — see them here! Or, some shorter videos here :)
