Colorado honeymoon

Both Breckenridge and Telluride are great ski towns! I'm partial to Breckenridge (but I'm getting married there soooo...) Either would be good for a honeymoon but which one depends more on what you're looking for. If you're putting skiing on your list of to dos Telluride would be considered a more advanced mountain whereas Breckenridge has all kinds of terrain and is more ideal for beginners. Additionally if you go with Breck there's 5 other resorts within 30 minutes so you have your choice of skiing whereas with Telluride there not quite as much in the surrounding area. Weather wise December/January can be some of the coldest months of the year so make sure to dress warm! If you decide to stay in Breck check out the restaurant Modi's for some great food and cocktails and maybe look into Frisco Adventure park for tubing. Depending on timing you could also be in town for the ice sculpture event which is really neat.

I have stayed in the dillion/Silverton area before and its a bit less expensive but still relatively close to the Breckenridge area. If you can save on lodging cost that gives more money for other things.

Thanks girls!! So many great suggestions. I'll look into the ice sculpture event! We'll be there some time in January, not sure which week yet. Ideally we would love to find a ski in/ski out resort with plenty to do on site, but we have to make sure we're staying on budget and leave room for other things too!

If you go to Denver during your trip, go to Dunbar's Kitchen and Tap House. My brother is the exec. chef there. They serve burgers, sandwiches, etc. but they're freaking delicious. Like x1000 delicious! I'm vegan now, but I wasn't at one point, so I was able to try a bunch of the food. Gooo thereeee!!

So... Breckenridge and Silverthorne are close to each other whereas Telluride and Silverton are fairly close to each other.

Thanks again everyone. It helps to hear some first hand suggestions. I've never been to that part of the country at all, so I'm both excited and unsure of what to expect. I've been reading up on all the activities to do, and I'm so excited now!

Elizabeth we LOVE burgers, so if we go to Denver, we'll stop in there! Thanks!

Does anyone have a rough idea of budget for a week long trip like this? If we put aside a few thousand (not counting hotel stay) do you think that would be enough?

Telluride is a to-do to get to in the winter. Flights into its airport are cancelled often, and then you get rerouted to Cortez or Grand Junction and have to drive. It's a pretty town but it's teeny tiny. If you're a hard core skier and that's what you want to do the whole time, it's fine- otherwise you might get some cabin fever. The Ouray hotsprings would be a good day trip if you went there.

IMO the Aspen mountains are way better for skiing than the I70 mountains (Vail, Breckenridge, etc). The lift lines are much better and it feels like more of a real mountain town than right off the interstate. You get a lot of variety- Buttermilk is great for beginners, Snowmass literally has everything, Highlands has harder stuff with steeps, chutes, and stuff you have to hike to, and Ajax (Aspen Mountain) has the most bumps and is right in town which is cool. The downfall is the lodging is super pricey in Aspen. Glenwood Springs is 45 minutes away with many reasonable hotels and some other non-skiing activity like 2 different hot springs pools that have totally different vibes from each other.

Wherever you end up skiing, I would try to squeeze in a night or two at the Sonnenalp in Vail. While Vail is not my favorite ski town (again, right on I-70), the Sonnenalp is the most romantic, beautiful hotel I have ever been to. It feels like a European lodge, the staff is so accommodating, and the spa and indoor/outdoor pool is to die for. You get to use all the spa facilities as a guest, whether you get any services or not.

Re budget, be sure to find lift tickets in advance. They totally gouge people who walk up to the ticket office and buy a single day pass. (Last year Vail was $175 a day!). Look online for some packages.

Finally, do NOT book your return travel on a Sat or Sun. Esp not a Sunday. Denver has gotten so overpopulated that ski traffic is insane on the weekends. I-70 is a parking lot going back to Denver from 2 p.m. on. Your travel time will triple or quadruple on a weekend.

Have fun & I'm happy to answer any more questions!

@CO Bride... that was a great summary! Since you are very knowledgeable regarding skiing... what are your thoughts on skiing elsewhere? FH and I are doing a ski honeymoon in January (non-Colorado based, since he is from Durango and wants to explore). I'm lobbying for Whistler (bucket list!) but he has Utah in mind (namely Park City). We love Montana and have an opportunity to go to Big Sky in late Jan, which is why it is off of the list. Do you have any recs?

@Allen, honestly I don't ski much outside of Colorado. If I pay for a vaycay in the winter I like to go somewhere warm! I have skied at Park City, Snowbird, and Alta. It was spring break, so it was slushy snow, but I really liked the areas. SLC and Park City are nice and have non-skiing stuff to offer. It's a lot easier to get from the major airport to the ski areas than it is here!

I haven't been to Whistler but have heard nothing but amazing things! Banff in Canada also looks awesome and is also one of the few places I'd leave here to ski. I think just stick with climates similar to CO so your FH isn't disappointed. If you're used to dry snow, wet heavy snow (i.e. the "Sierra cement" in CA) can be weird. Montana is on my bucket list too but in the summer.

IMO the Aspen mountains are way better for skiing than the I70 mountains (Vail, Breckenridge, etc). The lift lines are much better and it feels like more of a real mountain town than right off the interstate.

YES. Vail I hear has good terrain but no better than Aspen and you're not on the side of freaking I70. CO Bride is RIGHT on point. Including the traffic advice, do not drive to Denver on Sunday or Monday, it will take you six hours or more.

Breckenridge is cold as fack.

Stay in Snowmass to save money, and get more skiing, and Aspen is like, 10 mins away, max. Free buses everywhere too if you don't rent a car.

You can see Snowmass in the background of my avatar

@CO Bride... that makes sense. Spring break snow is always iffy at best. I'm from PA and have already warned FH that he would absolutely hate skiing in the East! The dry snow in CO is amazing!!! We were considering Lake Tahoe, but damn is it expensive. We will get to Banff eventually, but when I'm more comfortable on black runs. Btw... Big Sky acquired the resort next to them and now have an entire mountain of blue and black runs that take a little bit of effort (but totally worth it) to get to. We went 2 years ago and had an entire 6 mile blue run (and essentially that entire mountain) to ourselves until about 2pm. Its worth it!!!! I haven't been up there in summer yet, but I have a feeling I may never leave! I'm already lobbying for a retirement cabin up there!

M what is your experience with flying in and out of Aspen in the winter? The few times I did it when I lived on the West Slope my return flight was delayed 86 times and I ultimately rented a car at DIA and drove home. My dad had some explanation about the minimum visibility required and the weather pattern in the valley where the airport sits.

Not to hijack OP's thread. But OP, you can fly into there, or Eagle, for more money but way less hours on I70. I didn't know it sucked on Monday too. I have had decent luck with getting back to work in Denver on Monday with a 5 a.m. departure, but no one wants to do that on their honeymoon...

Oh it's fine. It can get delayed out of Aspen anytime. I personally prefer to fly out of Eagle - bigger planes can land there. But really, it's kind of a 75/25 shot of getting delayed - if it's too windy/low cloud cover, it can get cancelled or delayed.

It's a tricky valley to land in, and if you're not super comfortable on planes I wouldn't do it, lol.

GJ is only 2 hours from Aspen though, so that's another great option.

I work at a hotel and we have majority of checkouts on Monday, not Sunday, so there's definitely still traffic to Aspen. DH had to drive to Denver the other week to fly out on Monday and it took 5.5 hours... and that's in the summer WITH the pass open! Shouldn't take longer than 3 in the summer, unless you're terrified of driving on passes...

@CO Bride and @m thank you! You're seriously so helpful! I had no idea of the traffic stuff. Is Denver one of the biggest/main airports in CO? Is traveling from town to town in Winter difficult because of weather? I feel like whatever town we pick to stay in, we'll probably just stay put and do things in that town.

@TheHouseOfAllen I'm in PA too! We must think alike with the January ski honeymoon idea. Yours sounds fun! I dream of going to Montana. One day!

Stop by Boulder if you can! It's the cutest little mountain town. We stay in a cabin there every time we visit Colorado.

Happy to help! DIA is the biggest and cheapest airport in CO. The driving is hit or miss. We get the most sunny days second only to AZ so you will likely have a bluebird day and dry roads. But you could also have a blizzard. The interstate to the mountains has 2 considerable passes. With the boom in Denver of transplants who can't drive in the snow, they totally close the interstate during snow storms way more frequently than they did 10 years ago. If it's closed, they'll be signs, and if you can, bail and find a plan B for the night. (Blackhawk is off I70, close to Denver, and is a casino town with one nice hotel. We have stayed there when our plans to go to the mountains were thwarted by road closure). New this winter was a requirement of snow tires or chains or all/ 4 wheel drive, so don't rent the cheapest economy car.

If you just want to ski, stay in the mountains, and don't care about seeing Denver, I'd splurge on a flight into the Eagle/Vail airport. Or Grand Junction, which is more of a drive to the mountains, but is in the desert with the least chance of snow delays.

Omg. Breckinridge is my favorite place in the entire world. Ahhh I'm actually jealous, I want to go back! We rented a cabin in the mountains. It was amazing. White water rafting! It was like an hour away but so worth it! Also their little downtown is absolutely adorable. Just go down there and shop around. Take the lift thing( can't remember what it's Called) to the top of the mountains and hike around and just enjoy it!

I may have to come up with more questions to ask you, @CO Bride!

@JPL did you honeymoon there or just vacation? I'm glad to hear that you loved it. I feel like I'll be coming back saying the same things

If you do go to boulder, go to the Tea house-

one of a kind experience in my book

http://boulderteahouse.com/