The 13 Best Family Vacation Destinations in Colorado

Colorado is renowned worldwide for its stunning Rocky Mountain landscapes and outdoor recreation opportunities, including skiing and snowboarding. In addition to its natural beauty, the state is home to vibrant cities that offer a wealth of cosmopolitan experiences and activities for visitors to enjoy. While Denver has many great family-friendly attractions, Colorado has plenty of other great destinations outside of their biggest city. In this guide, we highlight the 13 best family vacation destinations in Colorado, from iconic national parks to fascinating dinosaur museums and scenic railway rides.

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Easternmost of Colorado’s famous Fourteeners—those summits rising past 14,000 feet, of which the Centennial State claims all in the entire Rocky Mountain chain—Pikes Peak (14,107 feet, to be exact) is named for explorer Zebulon M. Pike, who famously spied the eminence from the High Plains in 1806. Right on the doorstep of Colorado Springs, the legendary mountain can be summited by the Pikes Peak Highway or various trails, but the most unique means is via the Broadmoor Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway: established in the late 1800s and among the only remaining cog railroads in the United States.

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Set in south-central Colorado in a comparatively balmy zone—the state’s “Banana Belt”—where the Southern Rockies meet the Colorado Piedmont of the Great Plains, the Royal Gorge Region is named for the thrillingly deep and narrow chasm carved by the Arkansas River near Cañon City. Some of the finest whitewater rafting on the continent can be had on the Arkansas as it boils through the Royal Gorge (and on less-technical reaches upriver) and a wide range of other outdoor activities—from hiking and mountain biking to rock-climbing and horseback riding—can be enjoyed in the vicinity as well, making this a premier destination for adventurous families.

The Royal Gorge Bridge, among the tallest suspension bridges in the world, crosses the chasm and is very much its own tourist attraction. And a sightseeing railroad provides a more laid-back means than running rapids for the whole crew to enjoy the Royal Gorge.

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One of the most extraordinary archaeological sites in North America, Mesa Verde (“Green Table”)—set on a tilting geologic formation called a cuesta along the eastern margin of the Colorado Plateau—protects a stunning network of cliff-houses and other ruins reflecting better than seven centuries of habitation by Ancestral Puebloan peoples. The quality of the craftsmanship displayed by these constructions—not least the staggering Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling on the continent—still boggles the mind and is sure to leave a memorable impression on the whole family.

Mesa Verde National Park offers ranger-led tours that bring you inside some of the cliff dwellings: definitely a pinnacle experience when it comes to family Colorado vacations. Close to 30 miles of hiking trails get you deeper into the semi-arid landscape with its pinyon-juniper-oak scrub and far-reaching views. And besides being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mesa Verde is also an International Dark Sky Park, with absolutely fabulous stargazing opportunities year-round (and occasional organized star parties and astrophotography sessions).

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Needless to say, Colorado’s capital and biggest city has much to offer in the family-vacationing department. The largest hub in the Mountain West (if you exclude Arizona), Denver has a bevy of kid-friendly attractions, including the playscapes of the Children’s Museum of Denver, the wide-ranging exhibits (from dinosaurs and Egyptian mummies to outer space) of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the Downtown Aquarium, which includes a downright thrilling Shark Cage dive experience.

The Denver Zoo is another must-do, host to 3,500-plus species: from exotic beasts such as greater one-horned rhinos, Komodo dragons, bonobos and East African crowned cranes to such Centennial State natives as Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and grizzly bears (which are most likely extirpated from Colorado, but certainly once roamed widely here).

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Nestled in the highest section of the Colorado Front Range, Rocky Mountain National Park is a renowned destination and one of the most-visited parks in the United States. Located just a short distance from Denver, this World Biosphere Reserve offers a breathtaking range of landscapes, from pine-covered foothills and whitewater canyons to alpine tundra, rocky peaks and cirques, some of which are home to small glaciers and snowfields. The park's highest point, Longs Peak, stands at 14,256 feet, featuring the iconic Diamond rock wall on its sheer east face and making it a notable peak in the Rockies.

Visitors can enjoy panoramic views along Trail Ridge Road, explore over 355 miles of hiking trails and create lasting memories spotting wildlife such as moose, elk, black bears and bighorn sheep. For those planning a fall visit, the vibrant colors of the park’s extensive aspen groves provide a stunning backdrop for outdoor adventures with family and friends.

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The ritzy, world-famous mountain retreat of Aspen comes set amid some of the most glorious peaks in the Southern Rockies, with the lovely Elk Mountains looming over town. Aspen Snowmass ranks among the highest-rated ski/snowboard resorts in the world, making this a bucket-list trip for families with any downhill and terrain-park devotees among them, but there’s year-round appeal. The short hike up to Maroon Lake and its gobsmacking views of the twin, rusty-hued Fourteeners called the Maroon Bells—which some contend are the most-photographed peaks in Colorado–boasts some of the biggest bang-for-your-buck scenery anywhere in the country. That’s especially so come autumn, given the blazing colors of the quaking aspens.

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Although it’s more under-the-radar compared to many other national parks of the American West (not least Rocky Mountain), Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve is as extraordinary in its way as any of them. Here, winds blowing across the San Luis Valley drive sand from ancient lakebeds toward Mosca, Medano and Music passes in the high Sangre de Cristo Mountains, with countering storm winds periodically blasting out of the range; the effect, across hundreds of thousands of years, has been to build up and maintain the tallest inland dunes in North America.

Appreciate this otherworldly realm via sand sledding or sandboarding and by hiking: to, say, High Dune on First Ridge, which provides an easily accessible overview of the dunefield or, if family members are able, into the backcountry to summit the tallest of the dunes, 741-foot Hidden Dune and 736-foot Star Dune.

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Established in the early 1880s during the Colorado mining boom, the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad initially hauled valuable ore out of the massive and remote San Juan Mountains, but now treats tourists to the glories of that superlative range. With the full route running between the bustling hub of Durango and the farflung outpost of Silverton, this is one of the premier sightseeing experiences in Colorado, showing off the considerable beauty of the San Juan National Forest. The (mostly) vintage locomotives and railcar rhythms are sure to captivate young and old alike.

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The highest paved road in North America, the Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway, switchbacks most of the way up 14,266-foot Mount Blue Sky, one of the signal peaks of the Colorado Front Range. The views from the tundra and talus heights are spellbinding, the panorama sweeping up and down the Front Range from Longs Peak to Pikes Peak.

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Marvel at prehistoric beasties of all kinds at the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center, a hands-on museum and paleontology lab in Woodland Park, Colorado focused on the Cretaceous Period. Watch fossils and casts being prepared and wander among the mounted skeletons and skulls of dinosaurs, sea reptiles and other bygone monsters in the exhibit halls.

Given the continued hold that dinos have on youngsters—and, let’s face it, more than a few grownups, too—this is a pretty surefire bet for an ace Colorado family getaway.

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Set on the far eastern edge of the Colorado Plateau near the West Elk Mountains of the Southern Rockies, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a roughly 50-mile defile of intimidating depth, narrowness and darkness—14 miles of which come protected in a smallish but outstanding national park. From scenic drives such as the North Rim Road and South Rim Drive as well as hikes such as the Rim Rock Trail and High Chasm View Nature Trail, you and the crew can peer into this remarkable strike-through, carved by the Gunnison River into volcanic rock and more ancient metamorphic layers beneath over roughly two million years.

You’ve got a good chance of spotting critters here, too, including bighorns.

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From hiking and mountain biking among the iconic, monumental slabs of the Flatirons or the spires and pinnacles of the Red Rocks to lazy tubing down the Boulder River, the Front Range hub of Boulder puts a lot of awesome family adventuring at your fingertips.

But there’s more than that on offer here: Marvel at the cosmos at the University of Colorado Boulder’s outstanding Fiske Planetarium (the largest of its kind between Chicago and Los Angeles) and dinosaur fossils at the campus’s Museum of Natural History, enjoy play areas, toy shops and bookstores at the very kid-friendly Pearl Street Mall and indulge in some go-karting and mini-golf at Gateway Park Fun Center.

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Spilling over into Utah, Dinosaur National Monument makes an honest-to-goodness journey back in time, set at the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers and featuring striking Colorado Plateau scenery. Its most famous feature is the Quarry Exhibit Hall, where some 1,500 or so fossilized dinosaur bones of Late Jurassic vintage are exposed. But there are many other astonishments here, from enigmatic Fremont-culture petroglyphs and pictographs to the huge prong of Steamboat Rock.

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