Colorado Rockies Explored

Fourteen nights through the Colorado Rockies, self-drive with the flights included, in a loop out of Denver.

Denver takes the first four nights, a mile above sea level, with Larimer Square, a guided tour of the Red Rocks amphitheatre, a venue carved into a sandstone outcrop, and Buffalo Bill’s grave on the hill above the city. Colorado Springs follows for two, with the Garden of the Gods and a guided four-wheel drive ascent of Pikes Peak, which climbs eight thousand feet to a summit over fourteen thousand.

Breckenridge comes next for two nights, a gold rush town with its nineteenth-century storefronts still standing, then Aspen for four by way of the Independence Pass at 12,095 feet, which closes for winter. Aspen itself came out of the silver boom of the 1880s, and the route includes a grade three white-water trip on the Roaring Fork. Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park close the loop, with the Stanley Hotel, which gave Stephen King the idea for The Shining.

Flights from a choice of UK airports, fully insured car hire, all the accommodation and round-the-clock support while travelling are included, and the price is quoted per person. Fifteen days with four-night stops at either end of the route is a slow pace, which altitude makes sensible: Denver is high and most of the rest is higher. Summer is the season, since the high passes close for winter. The rafting is graded and seasonal, and the Pikes Peak ascent is weather dependent, since the summit makes its own weather and can be in cloud when Colorado Springs is in sunshine.