Travel | featured news

Coloradans looking for travel recommendations don’t need to go far to hit the nation’s top spot.
That’s according to Men’s Journal, which this week released its list of the 50 best vacation destinations for 2024 and dubbed Ouray the No. 1 must-hit locale. The Western Slope mountain town beat out many of the country’s most prestigious cities, including Denver, which ranked No. 18.

For plant lovers looking to travel this summer, here’s a handy piece of information: Members of the Denver Botanic Gardens can enjoy fragrant blooms year round with free admission at over 300 other gardens across North America.

Avanti Food & Beverage is bringing its third food hall to Vail Mountain skiers and snowboarders.
The Denver-based business and Vail Mountain announced on Tuesday that they are making a joint $4 million investment to build an Avanti food hall next year in place of Larkspur Restaurant, which has operated in the Golden Peak base area for the past 25 years.

The flagship of the Vail Resorts ski empire has big plans for the next decade, according to a new master development document filed with the White River National Forest.
The proposed improvements on Vail Mountain include the construction of a third gondola, the replacement of the Eagle Bahn Gondola, adding several new lifts and upgrading or replacing others. Also on the drawing boards are two new restaurants and a small base in West Lionshead.

While most ski areas in Colorado have colorful pasts as mining towns, logging sites, ranches, farms or homesteads, none can boast a prehistory like that of Snowmass.

Loose bricks falling from the three-story façade of Leadville’s Tabor Opera House on Saturday closed the sidewalk and parking spots in front of the historic building, which has been the subject of extensive renovations in recent years.
The venue, which opened in 1879 and lords over the town’s main drag, Harrison Avenue (a.k.a. U.S. Route 24), began shedding bricks around 4:30 p.m. on March 23, leading to “an emergency building incident,” officials said.

If you haven’t already booked your travel to see the solar eclipse on April 8, it could be too late to get decent reservations for flights, hotels, and rental cars — or it could cost an exorbitant amount.
The total solar eclipse will pass over North America — including parts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada — with varying degrees of darkness on April 8. In what is called “the path of totality,” the sky will go completely dark for a brief time; other places, like Denver, will see a partial eclipse.

This weekend, Mountain Pride will be bringing the rainbow to the slopes as it celebrates its first Queer Ski Weekend at Vail Mountain.

If you go
Mountain Pride Queer Ski Weekend at Vail
When: Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24
Where: Across Vail Village, Vail Mountain and Lionshead Village

Earlier this year, I dreamed up a few 2024 trips. I’d celebrate a hike through the Swiss Alps with chocolate, enjoy therapeutic soaks in Tokyo’s storied onsen and end the year on Tasmania’s wild beaches. Why not consume contemporary art and paella in Valencia, Spain, too?
Then I woke up to find plane tickets soaring higher than most Boeing 777s. Forget the jet fuel: The destinations listed below are giving off some serious international vibes, and you can reach them on a single tank of gas or charge.

Sure, you can hit up a Dunkin Donuts, a Starbucks or a McDonald’s at Denver International Airport — and sometimes it’s traveling that gives us license to be bad like that — but a better option is to try some of Denver’s homegrown food and beverages from local businesses.