How to plan an Incredible 3-day Colorado Road trip (On a budget!)

Colorado is the 8th largest state geographically in the United States of America, and it has a diverse landscape, including deserts, the Rocky Mountains, and rivers.

How to get there?

Depending on your location, you can either drive to Denver or fly in.

Tips:

• Fly on a budget: Search for Thursday night flights if you can take off on Friday. Choose flights with multiple stops or red-eye options to lower the fare.
  
  
• Booking tricks: Browse flights in your browser's incognito mode, and try to search and book on Wednesdays.
  
  
• Timing matters: Try to travel in non-peak seasons if your kids are in elementary or young. Fares will be lower if it's not spring, fall, or winter break from school.
  
  

Where to stay?

Denver or Colorado Springs is a great base.

Tips:

• Accommodation: Try to book an Airbnb with a kitchen, even if it's a little far from the city, and book for all 3 nights. It will save money when compared to hotels, and you can cook home meals on some days.
  
  
• Rental Car: Try to book your rental car through Costco if you have a membership and regularly check for lower fares. When you get a good price, you can cancel and re-book.
  
  

Budget Planning:

Here are the estimated budget details:

If you are driving, instead of flying:

Now that the basics are all sorted out, let's go to the itinerary.

Day 1 - Itinerary:

Morning: Denver to Pikes Peak (2 hrs 10 min)

• Pikes Peak Scenic Byway: This 19-mile scenic toll road reaching an elevation of 14,000 ft takes 2 hours if done slowly with multiple stops. Spend at least 30 minutes at the summit before returning down. Please check here for admission hours and fares, and read this post for more details on what to see.
  
  
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• Timing & Food: If you start early from your Airbnb, you can finish the drive by 3 PM. Try to pack a picnic lunch to have at the summit (fresh donuts will also be available at the top!).
  
  
• Royal Gorge: Royal Gorge Bridge is one of the world's highest suspension bridges, and features a gondola ride and zipline as well. It takes around 2 hours to reach Royal Gorge from Pikes Peak. Read this travelogue for more details.
  
  
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• Dinner: You can have dinner at Manitou Springs while returning to your Airbnb.
  
  

Day 2 - Itinerary:

Rocky Mountain National Park:

• Getting There: Rocky Mountain National Park is 1.5 hours away (66 miles) from Denver.
  
  
• Must-Do Highlights: This will be a full-day trip depending on your interest in hiking. The must-do highlights are the scenic drive on Trail Ridge Road (open only from summer through fall) and a hike to Bear Lake and Alberta Falls.
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• Food: It would be better to pack a picnic lunch. If not, you can get good food at Estes Park or near Grand Lake.
  
  
• Optional Add-On: If you have one more day, you can do a boat ride on Grand Lake and cover hikes to beautiful alpine lakes and mountain scenery. Follow this travelogue for more details.
  
  
• Sunset View: If you are traveling in summer and you still have some daylight while returning to Denver, you can visit Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison for sunset.
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• Dinner: You can have dinner in Denver or Estes Park.
  
  

Day 3 - Itinerary:

Considering that this is a half day to leave time to start your return drive or catch a flight, you can cover either the Mt. Blue sky Scenic Byway or Garden of the Gods.

Option A: Mt. Blue Sky Scenic Byway

• Location: 40 mins (32 miles) from Denver.
  
  
• Details: This is the highest paved highway in North America. The Summit is open only from Memorial Day to Labor Day, weather permitting. This road reaches an elevation of 14,130 ft above sea level in just 14 miles from the visitor station. Read this travelogue for more details.
  
  
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OR

Option B: Garden of the Gods

• Location: 1 hr 10 mins away from Denver (67 miles).
  
  
• Details: If you have been to Utah, I am not sure if you will appreciate it, but Garden of the Gods is a natural landmark and public park in Colorado Springs, famous for its natural rock formations. It is free to enter. Read this travelogue for more details.
  
  

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That wraps up the Colorado itinerary for 3 days! Please let me know in the comments if this information will be enough to confidently plan a vacation to Colorado from anywhere in the USA. If not, please let me know what this post is missing, and I will try to add more info as per your feedback.

In my personal opinion, you need 1 week or more to visit all the beautiful places in Colorado. I especially enjoyed visiting Vail, Steamboat springs, Great sand dunes national park, Black Canyon of Gunnison national park, Million dollar highway, Telluride, Ouray, Grand Junction, and many more places. 

This index of my travelogues has a lot of info on Colorado trips. Please check.

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon

Until next time,

Black Canyon of Gunnison, Montrose, Colorado

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We have traveled a lot across Colorado and covered around 80% of places in the state. But, this is the first time for us visiting Southwest Colorado.

We visited Mesa Verde national park, Great Sand dunes national park, Mahalakshmi temple in Crestone, and Pagosa Springs but never ventured beyond that.

We have heard a lot about Telluride, the Switzerland of America- Ouray, and million-dollar highway,  so we were planning for this dream trip for a long time. But, we don't want to do a quick trip as well. As usual, we plan to cover all the beautiful places around whenever we visit one place.

Black Canyon of Gunnison is known as a less visited national park in Colorado. 

Here is our travelogue - Day 1 and Day 2

Day 1 is mostly dedicated to traveling to Montrose from Colorado Springs. This time, we chose to go through Salida, driving along the river. We crossed Salida, driving through the scenic Collegiate Peaks byway. It's our first time watching so many peaks together in Colorado even though we are not new to the mountains.

We crossed through Monarch Pass, and the drive was splendid. The road between Monarch Pass and Montrose was beautiful too. We could see the vast waterbody - The Gunnison River along the route. 

Lovely beaches and scenic bridges!

Day 2 - Black Canyon of Gunnison

We rested for that night in Montrose at Hampton Inn. The hotel was very good and they provided excellent cleaning services in the light of Covid. 

Black Canyon of Gunnison National park in Western Colorado is a steep canyon known for it's highest cliff 'Painted wall'. The Black canyon got its name as some parts of the canyon don't get any sunlight due to its depth and look black. The entry fee is $25 per vehicle.

We reached Black Canyon of Gunnison by 11 AM. The South rim visitor center was open and the Park official guided us on kid-friendly trails and tips to save time to cover more in one day.

Our plan was set! We wanted to cover almost all overlook points in South rim Scenic drive, drive down through the winding East portal road, have lunch at Montrose and drive to North rim.

This is the first overlook that impressed us. Tomichi Overlook.

Some great overlook points are Devil's lookout, Chasm View, Painted wall view, Dragon point, and Sunset view. 

See the Gunnison river in between the canyon walls and the beautiful red colors of the rocks.

We did a kid-friendly trail - Warner point nature trail which is around 1.5 miles round trip, but we were not too satisfied with that trail as it wasn't very scenic. We would have tried oak flat loop trail instead. It's 2 miles round trip.

Driving through the East Portal road is a great experience. It's a dirt narrow winding road, so you need to drive in low gear slowly, but it's completely worth it.

Here is a photo from the river up close after reaching down!

Then, we finished our lunch on the way to North rim. The drive to North rim from South rim takes 2 hrs and it is mostly boring and not scenic(through Hotchkiss). But, I definitely recommend the other route along Curecanti recreational area which will take around 2.5 hrs, if you have the extra time. That is the scenic alternative.

The overlooks / View are much better from the North rim than the South Rim, but you should set 3 to 5 hrs of your time just to drive and cover them. 

Can you see the little heart-shaped land between canyon? Isn't it cool?

In the North Rim, the Exclamation point gives the best view. We also did a small hike which offered amazing views. The North rim visitor center was closed. Due to covid, only limited facilities are open. 

We were exhausted by the end of the day with many hikes and relaxed in our hotel.

Stay in touch with me on my blog / Instagram (@ramyaelr) / Twitter (@mahathi_ramya)/ Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/fantasticfeathers.in) so that you don't miss Day 3 and Day 4 of our travelogues :-)

Use this interactive map to find accommodations to stay in Montrose.

Until next time,

Linking this to #MondayMusings hosted by Corinne.