Colorado

Colorado puts the highest part of the Rocky Mountains within reach of a big city airport. Denver lies on the plains at the foot of the Front Range. Within a day's drive are four national parks and some of the highest paved roads in the country. In 2025 Rocky Mountain National Park alone had 4,171,431 recreation visits, the sixth most of any national park.

Most of what a visitor sees sits above 7,000 feet, so the altitude shapes a trip as much as the distances do. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, the Colorado Department of Transportation's, the attractions' own sites and NOAA's normals.

What sets Colorado's four national parks apart?

Colorado's four national parks are four different landscapes: alpine peaks, cliff dwellings, sand dunes and a sheer canyon. Rocky Mountain draws more visitors than the other three together.

Rocky Mountain is the only one with a timed-entry permit, needed from late May to mid-October. Black Canyon's 2025 figure dropped sharply from July and is not comparable with earlier years.

Do you pay the $100 surcharge everywhere in Colorado?

Rocky Mountain is Colorado's only national park on the 2026 list with a $100 surcharge for every non-resident aged 16 or over. Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon charge visitors from abroad the same car fee as everyone else.

Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde and Black Canyon take cards only at their gates. Great Sand Dunes' fees page names cash in its text but lists cards only for cars in its price table, so carry a card. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains how to buy the annual pass before the trip.

When can you tour Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings?

Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings can be visited on ranger-led tours from early May to late October. In 2026 the season ran from 4 May to 21 October. Every ranger-led tour must be booked on Recreation.gov, from 14 days ahead at 8 a.m. Mountain Time. Cancellations are released up to two hours before.

The Cliff Palace tour lasts 45 minutes. Balcony House takes an hour and includes a 32-foot ladder and a tunnel 18 inches wide. Both sit at 7,000 to 7,500 feet, and the park warns visitors with heart or breathing problems. In winter the dwellings can still be seen from overlooks, but Wetherill Mesa, Far View Lodge and the campground close. The museum is shut for renovation until late spring 2027.

What is free around Denver and Colorado Springs?

Two of Colorado's best-known sights near the cities cost nothing to enter. The City and County of Denver owns Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. The park is free to visit from an hour before sunrise to an hour after sunset. On concert days the amphitheatre usually closes to visitors around 2 p.m.

Garden of the Gods is a city park of red sandstone fins in Colorado Springs. It has been free since it was given to the city in 1909 on that condition. It is a National Natural Landmark, not a state or national park, and opens from 5 a.m. every day.

Pikes Peak, above Colorado Springs, is not free. The highway to the 14,115-foot summit charges $18 an adult or $65 a carload of up to five. From late May to the end of September it also needs a $2 timed permit. The cog railway from Manitou Springs, the highest in the world in its own words, starts at $67 an adult online.

Which Colorado drives and trains are worth a day?

Colorado's mountain roads are destinations in themselves, and two of them are All-American Roads. Trail Ridge Road crosses Rocky Mountain National Park at up to 12,183 feet and closes in winter. In 2026 it closed for snow on 23 October.

The San Juan Skyway loops 236 miles through the southwest, past Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride and Mesa Verde. The state puts it at six hours. Its stretch of US-550 over Red Mountain Pass, south of Ouray, is the road known as the Million Dollar Highway.

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has run between the two towns since 1882. The trip takes three and a half hours each way, with almost two hours in Silverton. A standard round trip cost $118 an adult in 2026. The last train of the year to Silverton runs on 1 November. A shorter winter train to Cascade Canyon starts on 20 November.

How does the altitude change a Colorado trip?

Altitude is the part of a Colorado trip visitors from abroad most often underestimate. Rocky Mountain's trails run from about 7,800 to over 14,000 feet, and Great Sand Dunes' visitor area sits at 8,200 feet. Headache, nausea and dizziness are the signs of mountain sickness. The Park Service's advice is to drink several quarts of water a day and go down if they appear.

Summer afternoons bring thunderstorms to the high country, with rain and even snow after a sunny morning. Start mountain hikes early and get below the treeline before the clouds build. The Pikes Peak railway advises anyone with heart or breathing problems against the trip to the summit.

What does the winter traction law ask of drivers?

Colorado's traction law applies every year from 1 September to 31 May on the I-70 mountain corridor between Dotsero and Morrison. That is the main road west from Denver into the mountains. Since 2025 every car, four-wheel and all-wheel drive included, must have winter, all-weather or M+S tyres with at least 3/16 inch of tread. Otherwise it must carry chains or an approved traction device.

When conditions worsen, the chain law follows, the last step before the road closes. The fine for breaking the traction law is $100 plus a $33 surcharge, rising to $500 plus $157 if a lane has to close. Check the state's road site, COtrip.org, before crossing the mountains in winter.

How far apart are Colorado's parks?

Colorado's parks are spread across the state, and the drive from Denver to Mesa Verde alone is more than eight hours. The figures below are the Park Service's where it gives one, and our own routing otherwise. For Great Sand Dunes use the park's figures, because map apps route over back lanes the park warns against.

Amtrak's California Zephyr, from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay, crosses Colorado daily with stops at Fort Morgan, Denver, Fraser–Winter Park, Granby, Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction. Grand Junction is the way west to Moab and the Utah parks.

How warm is Colorado in each season?

Colorado's weather depends on altitude as much as on the season: Denver averages 49°F on a January afternoon while the passes are under snow. The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for four stations.

Figures are average highs and lows. Estes Park averages 104 inches of snow a year, with April the snowiest month, against 41 inches in downtown Denver. Denver International is the main airport for visitors from abroad; Colorado Springs has domestic flights only.

What should visitors know about cannabis and tax?

Colorado lets adults aged 21 and over buy and use cannabis, but not in public, in a car or at Denver International Airport. Taking it out of the state is illegal. National parks are federal land, where any amount is illegal. Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes warn of fines of up to $5,000 and six months in jail.

Colorado's state sales tax is 2.9%, and cities and counties add their own. In Colorado Springs the total is 8.2%. Colorado is on Mountain Time, the same as Utah and Wyoming, and its clocks went back an hour on 1 November 2026. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why prices are shown before tax.