Chef Mourad Lahlou's Favorite Palate Pleasers

By Sally French, NerdWallet Big hotel brands are adding vacation rental properties to their portfolios, creating new options for large groups and families. Related Articles Travel | 10 things you can only do in (or around) Denver Travel | The deepest hot springs in the world feeds this Colorado wintertime playground Travel | Travel: These cruise ships will make their maiden voyages in 2025 Travel | Discover 10 of Colorado’s best après-ski bars Travel | Keystone is getting a game-changing revamp.

Whether you’re traveling somewhere else or staying home to explore, it’s always worthwhile to check out those spots that are unique to that place. These might be particular due to the natural environment, thanks to an artistic vision, or historic preservation. With its large airport to the east and relatively easy access to the stunning mountain peaks to the west, Denver is the capital of the Rocky Mountain West.

Averaging 430 inches of natural snow annually, Wolf Creek Ski Area is known for getting “the most snow in Colorado.” While the slopes are a big draw in winter, Pagosa Springs, just 30 minutes west of the ski area, offers a plethora of winter activities, from steamy to icy. When I had out-of-state friends visiting, and one doesn’t ski, we set out to find fun off the slopes in this quaint town in southwest Colorado. Here are six things to do in Pagosa Springs. Tami Schlienan of Conifer and Lilla Szoke of Littleton talking in the Aspen pool thats at 107° during a birthday trip for the both of them at the Springs Resort & Spa Pagosa Springs on July 10, 2017, in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

If “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” had a book devoted to travel, three entries could be: 1) banana is a popular pizza topping in Sweden; 2) Alaska is both the westernmost and easternmost U. S. state; and 3) roughly eight of every 10 Americans have never cruised. Except for proponents of tomatoes being the only fruit that belongs on pizza, perhaps the most mind-boggling of the above is how many among the U.

Après-ski is a tradition as old as skiing itself. The words, literally “after skiing,” conjure images of Parisians toasting champagne in the sunshine of the Alps. They laugh, dance, eat, and drink because nobody drives anywhere. Here in Colorado, people tend to return to their cars, change, and get on the highway as soon as possible, hoping the traffic won’t be bad. But if you stay overnight, live in a mountain town, or want to wait out the worst of the traffic, ski country is full of amazing places to wind down. These are places where the soul of skiing lives, where locals meet to swap stories from the day on the mountain, and where the view of the Rockies will continue to inspire you after your ski legs have waved the little white flag.

Looking for crowded pool bars, over-sunning, booming bass-heavy hard rock, inflated prices and endless huge hotels? If not, read on. Those are the images many have of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, particularly of the southern tip, known as “Los Cabos.” But “Los Cabos” means Two Capes, and all of the above is abundant in one of those capes, Cabo San Lucas.