Travel | featured news

Sometimes, due to schedules or budgets, it’s impossible to plan a big vacation in the winter or during the holidays, or maybe you want to stay close to home and not travel a long distance.
It can be a thrill to play tourist in your city or take a short excursion within an hour’s drive, especially when places are decorated for the festivities of the winter months.

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems)

Awakened in the middle of the night recently in a backcountry hut on Shrine Pass, I glanced out a window and saw stars, so I threw on a jacket and went out on the deck of Jay’s Cabin, three miles northwest of Vail Pass at 11,223 feet.

A new nonstop United Airlines flight from Denver International Airport will carry travelers 5,563 miles to Rome, the latest route to expand Colorado’s global connections.
This seasonal flight starting May 1 marks the first nonstop flight scheduled between Denver and Rome. It will operate daily on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner through Sept. 24, United officials announced Thursday.

Picture this: Daylight is petering out behind the snow-capped Rockies, and it’s getting cold — really cold. You’re comfortable, though, sipping loose-leaf tea from a pot, nibbling on delicate, scratch-made pastries.
Afternoon tea is a delightful ritual that Anna Maria Russell, Duchess of Bedford — one of Queen Victoria’s besties — improvised in England in the 1840s.

Remember when a wellness tip meant someone telling you to go outside, run around, and play in the snow and fresh air? That might still be good advice. But now, some experts might add that spa treatments and facials are necessary to support those choices and fight the effects of intense activity and sun exposure — even in winter.
No matter where you go this winter — Colorado’s Front Range or the high country for a ski trip — you can find a spa treatment to help with what ails you during these colder months.

More than 1 million travelers are expected to pass through a new configuration of security screening checkpoints at Denver International Airport from Dec. 19 through Jan. 1, Transportation Security Administration officials said Thursday.

In mid-November, just as the mountain towns were waking up from shoulder-season hibernation and preparing for the ski season, my husband and I popped into Minturn and stumbled upon the cutest (and likely smallest) whisky tasting room in Colorado.
No hyperbole: The Wee Dram on Minturn’s Main Street is a cozy, 135-square-foot, 12-seat drinking den where husband and wife Spence and Stefanie Neubauer pour tipples of single malt whisky and serve cocktails like Old Fashioneds and peated Manhattans.

MOSCA, Colorado — A handmade sign at the start of a long dirt road in the rural San Luis Valley indicates to visitors that they’ve arrived at the future site of Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa.
The peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains barely make a dent in the big blue skies above the 40 acres purchased by founder and CEO Gamal Jadue Zalaquett. He aims to transform the land into a resort featuring 20 villas, a spa, a restaurant and a planetarium.

Let’s face it: The best skiers in the world all started as soon as they could walk.
In your group of ski friends, there’s a good chance the one with the best form tackles any terrain and is always first back at the chair learned as a kid, lucky enough to live in a place with skiing and parents who supported it.

The days are short, the nights are long, and snow is starting to pile up in the Rockies, which is a sure sign that winter is officially here. Time to break out your puffy coat and your ice scraper.
You probably already have rad winter plans, like shredding the slopes with your Ikon or Epic pass or soaking in a hot spring under the stars.
But if your Colorado winter calendar isn’t completely booked, consider penciling in some of these beloved festivals around the state.