Road Trip Colorado: 7 Day Itinerary

Erin Palek
Jan 21, 2021
6 min read

This Colorado trip was my first time out west - and my first time actually seeing mountains. I traveled with my friend Emelia in September - starting and ending in Denver, CO. Keep reading for some trip highlights and our full travel itinerary!

Trip Highlights: Rocky Mountain National Park, Breckenridge, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado Springs, Denver

Drive Time: About 12.5 hours

Travel Tip: Purchase a National Park Pass ahead of time for $80. Entrance fees to National Parks are typically $35 per car - so the pass is worth it for the perks!

Weather: September was perfect for hiking and being outdoors day and night! It was 70's in the day, and evenings dropped to 50.

Getting Around: We rented a sedan through Payless Car Rental. We really considered upgrading to a Jeep, but with it being our first time driving in the mountains, we felt more comfortable driving a smaller car. Definitely would recommend a Jeep or SUV with a sun roof though!

I absolutely loved this trip overall. We saw a TON of Colorado within 7 full days and I would recommend this trip to anyone who is trying to get a taste for a little bit of everything.

Download the itinerary below for an overview our trip. Using excel sheets always help me to visualize the main attractions of each day - so maybe you'll find this helpful too!

DAY 1: Arrive in Denver

We landed in Denver early in the morning so we had a full day to explore. After getting our rental car, we had quite a bit of time to kill before we were able to check in to our Airbnb. We started with brunch in Denver Union Station.

After brunchin, we spent the day walking around Denver and went shopping in a few different areas of Larimer Square and 16th Street Mall and Antique Row.

We checked into our Townhouse Airbnb in the RiNo District for 2 nights, and freshened up before heading back out on the town.

Denver has SO MANY breweries, so we kind of just winged it and stumbled upon a bar in the Five Points neighborhood, sat and people watched for a while, and then headed out to dinner.

We ate at the 10 Barrel Brewing Company and then spend the night bar hopping around the LoHi neighborhood to Avanti

and Recess - only because these places were recommended to us. We definitely underestimated how chilly Denver gets at night compared to how warm it is during the day! So I remember us really regretting not wearing jackets this night haha.

DAY 2: Hike at Rocky Mountain National Park

We had a little bit of a later start that we would have liked - but it all worked out! The Denver Central Market was right around the corner from our Airbnb, so we stopped there to grab breakfast before driving 1.5 hours to Estes Park for the day!

The drive to Estes Park was exciting with it being my first time seeing "real" mountains! We parked our car at the Visitors Center in Estes Park and waited a little bit to catch the shuttle into Rocky Mountain National Park. We hiked the Loch Vale Lake Trail (5.7 miles) for maybe 4.5 hours roundtrip. After hiking, we grabbed dinner at The Wapiti Colorado Pub in Estes Park before heading back to Denver for the night.

DAY 3: Breckenridge

Check out of Airbnb. Because we loved the Denver Central Market so much, we went back for a second day in a row for breakfast. We headed west to Breckenridge for 1.5 hours via the Loveland Pass Road - a slight detour - but it was recommended to us by a friend. This ever-winding road through the mountains was such a beautiful drive and definitely gave us the fix we were looking for! I would absolutely recommend this to anyone driving through.

Upon arriving in Breckridge, we checked in at The Bivvi Hostel for 1 night. September was too early for ski season, but we still just wanted to check it out and explore - so we spent the day hopping around the local shops and bars. We were craving some carbs for dinner so we got pasta at Giampietro. The Cleveland Browns were playing that night, so we somehow stumbled upon a bar that had the game on, and made a new friend from the area!

DAY 4: Horseback Riding + Drive to Mofatt

Breakfast was Free at the hostel this morning - a main reason why we stayed here! We checked out and went horseback riding at the Breckenridge Stables on the 1.5 hour trail. The stables were located right in Breckenridge and easy to get to. This experience was definitely the highlight of Breckenridge for us and offered 360 degree mountain views! We purchased the photos they took of us - haha

After horseback riding, we grabbed food at the Breckenridge Brewery and Pub and game-planned our departure. We left Breckenridge around 3pm to drive 2 hours and 15 minutes south towards Mofatt, CO. Stopping in a town called Buena Vista along the way, we found a grocery store where we stocked up on some food, firewood, and essentials we needed for staying at a camper for the next two nights.

We stayed in this vintage airstream camper located in Moffat, CO - essentially, in the middle of nowhere - on a ranch surrounded by a field of wild sage. It was awesome. The inside was a little old n musty, but we didn't mind. We just cut some sage and brought it inside to help with the smell. The owner of the ranch was super friendly and helpful. For dinner, we built a fire and cooked some hot dogs!

DAY 5: Great Sand Dunes National Park

Breakfast was on our own at the camper - we just had some cereal, fruit and yogurt from our grocery trip. The drive to Great Sand Dunes National Park was a quick 45 minutes. We stopped at the Oasis Store before entering the park to pick up sandboard and sandsled rentals!

This place literally feels like you're on a different planet or in the Sahara desert. The weather was absolutely perfect, however, we didn't realize how windy it would be! The sand blew against us constantly, so you should definitely wear leggings or some kind of pants! Looking back, we would have been better off only rented one board to take turns with, because we kind of struggled carrying them up the dunes against the wind. We spent a good 3 hours here - great for a day trip!

When leaving the sand dunes, we passed through the small town of Alamosa and stopped in a few local shops and thrift stores that were open. Our ranch owner recommended we go to Joyful Journey Hot Springs to relax while the sun went down - just a few minutes up the road! They had 3 naturally-heated outdoor pools that looked out into the San Luis Valley. Something to note so that you aren't surprised like we were - the hot springs turn NUDE at sunset ;)

Joyful Journey also had nice shower rooms to access after the pools - which was ideal because the bathroom at the camper would have only allowed a military shower! We returned to the camper, had a fire for the rest of the evening, and waited for the stars come out to play. The night sky was ridiculously full of stars - this was the first time I had EVER seen stars like this - the Milky Way was visible to the naked eye.

DAY 6: Garden of the Gods + Colorado Springs

We let this be our day to sleep in a little before checking out and getting on the road for 2.5 hours to Colorado Springs. After arriving in Colorado Springs around noon, we spent about 2 hours hiking around a few trails at Garden of the Gods. The rock formations here were pretty cool so we had some fun with our photo-ops!

After hiking, we checked into our Airbnb cottage in Old Colorado City for a 1 night stay. We freshened up and spent the remaining afternoon and evening walking around Old Colorado City - this area had a bunch of cool local shops, jewelers, and cute boutiques - we had a few treat-yo-self moments and did a little splurging. Including dinner, where we treated ourselves to some good food and drinks at Tapateria.

DAY 7: Denver

Our last day! We first stopped for breakfast in Downtown Colorado Springs before driving 2 hours north back to Denver. This was kind of a relax and recharge day for us to recoup before brewery hopping our last evening. We checked into a private airbnb room for 1 night on the east side of downtown, so that we could easily navigate to the airport at 5 AM ...

The Airbnb had a cute back patio where we spent some time enjoying a few patio beers before getting an Uber to the RiNo District. We went to an outdoor microbrewery called Ratio Beerworks where we ended up making a new friend - who was from Ohio, and was also on our same flight in the AM. From there, we went to a few other bars for drinks and food within walking distance in RiNo.

We then got 3 hours of sleep before trekking to the airport in the morning :')