A group of maybe 3 or 4 couples are planning a vacation to Colorado from Illinois. We were thinking of maybe 4 or 5 days around Denver riding and 3 or 4 days around Colorado Springs. Is it feasible to have a home base to return too each night . Saves on pulling the trailers with us everyday and unpacking. Didn't know if that it was possible to ride different destination each day and return to home base. If so we are looking for a biker friendly motel around Denver as well as Colorado Springs. We don't really want to stay in the downtown areas of eah city. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any help we can get!!! Also any great routes to ride would also be helpful!!

 

Did you have any specific sites you wanted to see in either location? How many miles/hours are you wanting to do in a day out from the "home base"? Most of the stuff I would recommend is going to be in the mountains so rather than staying in Colorado Springs I would probably stay in either Manitou Springs (eclectic hippy town) or Woodland Park (large mtn town) for the southern part of your CO stay. As far as an actual hotel I cannot help you out since I live here and don't stay in the local hotels.

 

CLicker--I did Colorado a few years back. I enjoyed everything west or south west of Denver. I kept on the move and my trailer was never an issue. If I arrived somewhere early I dropped the trailer at the place I was staying.

My favorite areas were Salida, Ouray, Montrose and Grand Junction. From Grand junction I took the interstate all the way to make better time heading for home.

It's all a matter of what do you want to see and how long you have to do it.

 

We rode a circuit.

Day 1 - Denver to Buena Vista, Day 2- Buena Vista to Durango, Day 3 Durango to Santa Fe, NM, Day 4 - Santa Fe to Colorado Springs, and Day 5 - Colorado Springs back to Denver (take the long way around through Granby ro Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park to Estes and back to Denver).

Make sure to ride the Million Dollar Highway between Ouray and Durango.

Ride a lot of secondary roads rather than the Interstates.

We stayed in Holiday Inn Express and Best Westerns for the most part. Clean, reasonably priced, free breakfast, restaurants, bars, pools)

If you have a chance go to Santa Fe. Very cool town. Really liked all our destinations. Been to Durango a couple of times. Colorado Springs is great as is Boulder.

Since you mentioned CS, check out Best Western The Academy Hotel.

 

To much great riding in that area to do day rides and return to base...

IMO you are best to do the circle.......come in towards Estee Park and RMN park then head towards Leadville, do Independance pass , head south towards Gunnison then do 550 from Montrose to Durango. Then head west thru Cortez and do the Grand Canyon and stay around Williams.....head north towards Vegas and then east thru Zion, Bryce Canyon and up thru Escalante into Torrey. Over to Moab and any extra time you have ride more in Colorado.....it is the best State mile for mile for bikes IMO.

If you need more roads in Colorado just say so.....

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions-Are motel rooms plentiful or would we need to make reservations in advance. Probably looking to go some time in August or would around labor day be better weather wise.Thanks for all the help!!!!!

 

In all of our years of riding and miles I can say we've never had a problem with finding hotels.
You can always stop at info centers around noon and have them find a hotel up the road where you'd like to stop for the night.
If you plan your route each morning you can pretty well know where you'll be staying that night.

 

To those that have traveled out around Colorado Springs what would be the most scenic route from the Springs to Durango.I see it is around 300 miles. I take it that there is a lot of scenic views to stop and take pictures. Anything else that you remember that we need to see. Where would be a good place to stay the night out near Durango?? Anybody got any special place to eat or get a cold one near Durango!!

 

Looks like our trip may happen in mid August-I would think we shouldn't have much trouble with snow in the mountains then-lol-Probably really hot going across Kansas!!! Again anybody with what would be the most scenic route from Colorado Springs to Durango we are open for suggestions!!THANKS!!!!!

 

Cliker
Have been many times. the Springs and Denver area are congested.
Go a little further west to Glenwood springs. You can travel every direction from there and see a bulk of the state off great roads.
Its a nice town good hotels and camping lots of good res,bar.
We will be in Colorado in August also..
Water,digital camera,GPS will make your trip great. dehydration is tough on flatlanders.
Happy Trails