Colorado Mountains Wild West Special (WWBT)

Tour Outline

The Colorado Mountains Scenic Byways and Beer Tour combines Colorado's incredible scenery and cultural heritage along with its brewpubs and beer culture!

On this unique 8 day tour we take you on a 1000 mile clockwise loop of the Rocky Mountains, a truly epic backcountry tour starting and ending in Colorado‘s mile -high city, Denver.

Over the course of the 8 days we will visit a gold mine, travel along scenic byways and through National Parks, take a railway journey along a breathtaking gorge and last but not least, visit some of North America‘s finest breweries and brewpubs. Oh, and we also travel across North America‘s Continental Divide, twice!

As with our European tours, we travel in small groups and where possible overnight at ‘Mom and Pop‘ hotels and motels, usually within walking distance from the evening‘s brewpub! We see the real ‘unchained‘ Colorado!

So have a look at the itinerary and tour map below and if you see what you like then let us know.

View 06-Colorado Mountains Wild West Special (WWBT) in a larger map

From €1560.00 pp/8-days

Tour Itinerary

We meet in the evening before the tour at our hotel in Denver ready for the start of the tour in the morning.

Day 1-Into the Rockies & Goldmining Country

Today we leave our hotel in Denver and drive south along the I25 with our first stop of the tour at the USAF Academy. We then go onto the Garden of the Gods where we can visit the open air museum as well as the Trading Post.

We then have the option of driving up Pikes Peak or going onwards to Cripple Creek where we can have a look at the Mollie Kathleen Goldmine before checking into our hotel for the night. We have the evening to have a bite to eat and a look around this old gold mining town.

Overnight– Carr Manor, Cripple Creek

Day 2-Scenic Byway & the Royal Gorge

We head off straight along the Gold Belt Byway, a scenic 50km/30mile drive to Canon City where we will park up and catch the train up the Royal Gorge Route, a scenic round trip along the Royal Gorge, amazing! Lunch should also be aboard the train.

We then have a one hour drive onto Salida where we overnight and get ourselves to the Amicas Brewpub for the evening.

Overnight– Woodland Motel, Salida

Day 3-Great Sand Dunes & Southern Colorado

We hit the road early today to see the dunes of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, after which we travel through Colorado‘s border area with New Mexico stopping for lunch in Pagosa Springs at Pagosa Brewpub.

A further hour‘s drive takes us to Durango and our overnight stop at one of Durango‘s most historical hotels. We then get out to a couple of Durango 4 breweries!

Overnight– General Palmer, Durango

Day 4-San Juan Skyway Byway & Gunnison County

Today we travel some of Colorado‘s most scenic country (and you thought it couldn‘t get better!) when we drive along the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway and into Gunnison County and Crested Butte in the heart of the Rockies.

Tonight we stay in Crested Butte at another historic hotel from the late 1800s. After checking in we can eat at the Crested Butte Brewery & Grill. Cheers.

Overnight– Forest Queen Hotel, Crested Butte

Day 5-West Elk Loop Byway & Ski Country

Another great drive takes us from along the West Elk Loop Byway and onwards through Glenwood Springs, Vail and onwards to Frisco, our stop for the night. Later we can go to Backcountry Brewery for some food and great mountain beer.

Overnight– Alpine Inn, Fisco

Day 6-Rocky Mountains National Park & Fort Collins Brewpubs

The amazing Rocky Mountains National Park scenic drive is followed by an evening out in Fort Collins, maybe hit the Coopersmith‘s Pub and Brewery and some of the other Fort Collins brew-pubs.

Overnight– Armstrong Hotel, Fort Collins

Day 7-Breweries, Beer and Brewpubs!

We start today with a look around one of Colorado‘s most eco-friendly breweries New Belgium Brewing. We then go onto Boulder where we have the rest of the afternoon to look around. See you later for some food and beer in Walnut Brewery, after which we can then have a brewpub walk around Boulder!

Overnight-Golden Buff Lodge, Boulder

Day 8-Coors Brewery & Buffalo Bill

Today starts with a tour of America‘s largest single plant brewery, Coors brewery followed by a visit to William Cody‘s Buffalo Bills Museum & Grave. We can have some lunch here and pretend we are Indains by admiring the view of the Great Plains from Lookout Mountain!

Unfortunately all good things come to and end and we finish the tour at our hotel in Denver. Hope you had a fantastic time!

Optional Extras

Extend tour by 1-day (9-day tour)

See Mesa Verde (west of Durango) and/or travel the Durango-Silveton Narrow Gauge Railway.

Day 9, Day 10
Denver

Optional extra sightseeing & brewery tours in the Denver area. These are NOT part of the tour and will be priced as separate trips ‘outside the tour‘.