Colorado Springs, CO Trip

I lived in CO Springs for 4 years. Here is what I can tell you from when I lived there. The downtown area is great, cobblestone roads, restaurants, bars & shopping (smaller shops, bookstores, etc..) There is a really good ice cream place called Josh & John's. It is a small "downtown" - safe to walk around in at all hours. They do not have any panhandling laws, so you will see random homeless people or people selling jewerly and things on the streets. I was never bothered with anything but change from them. A couple hotels as options in the downtown area would be the Clarion on Bijou Street and the Hilton-Antlers off of Cascade.

I loved my days off there, Garden of the Gods is this beautiful park of all sorts of red rock formations, you can walk, hike and climb the area (drive too).

Manitou Springs - right outside of town is a quaint little town with many shops and restaurants. It is beautiful, located in the base of the Pikes Peak.

You can take a tram up to Pike's Peak (weather permitting) and get out at the top to walk around and take pictures. Up the pass on 24 to Woodland Park is a great drive - it's on the backside of Pikes Peak mountain.

About a hour away in Lake George (same highway to Woodland Park) there is this beautiful river canyon called Eleven mile canyon, you can hike, bike, walk, climb and drive your car through this beautiful scenery.

Another hour away place is called the Royal Gorge - it is suspension bridge over two towers of mountains. They also have white water rafting near by at all class levels. I went a couple times a year and it was a blast!

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me. I loved living there, but I came home for family. HAVE FUN - it's beautiful and people are really kind (it's a big melting pot state)!

1 mom found this helpful

I can't remember what hotel we stayed at, but I want to say it was a Quality Suites. I was only in high school when I went, so I didn't really pay attention to the hotel! We loved riding the trolly/train to the top of Pikes Peak. We also rode horses thru the Garden of the Gods...that was amazing! There's so much to do there...I'm sure you won't have trouble finding things to do. Have fun...it's a great place to travel to!!!

great suggestions so far...whatever you do...dont go to 7 falls. so pathetic and way expensive.

I've been to Colorado Springs several times including once when I was a kid. As a kid, I loved Garden of the Gods! We packed a picnic lunch and hiked/played there most of an afternoon. We also went to Santa's workshop, asmall amusement park, which was fun at that age (http://www.santas-colo.com/Default.htm). I'm not sure how it is now, it was almost 20 years ago that I went so maybe someone else will have advice.

You might also check to see if there is a kid friendly place for the family to mine for gold.

We have been there a few times visiting my brother in law. My kids really enjoyed the tram to pikes peak, the olympic training center(free), garden of the gods(free), manitou cliff dwellings, taking a hike at one of the parks(free), air force acadamey(free). Look online for coupons for the attractions and also pick up a visitors guide magazine(free at various locations) once there that also has a bunch of coupons. Have no advice on where to stay as we were able to stay with family but be sure to drink extra water due to the altitude change.

I was there with my husband last September visiting my step daughter. The things we liked best were the Garden of the Gods, and the Olympic Training Center.

Have a great time!

I traveled to the Springs area with two children (0 and 2 yrs old at that time) and stayed in Embassy Suites up in the north side of the city. It worked out well for us since I don't usually sleep with my children and really wanted a suite for the family. The hotel is not as great as Embassy Suite in downtown Denver but provided all the arrangements I needed.

You have to visit the Zoo www.cmzoo.org we go every year and the kids love it. You can feed the girafes!! snd it is one of the most interactive zooz I've been too. Have fun.

My family took a week-long trip to CO Springs two years ago and loved it! We stayed at the Garden Hilton (I think) in a "suite" room that had 2 queen beds and a "living area" with a couch and small kitchen area (microwave, small frig, sink).

Our favorite sites included: the Garden of the Gods; the train ride up to the summit of Pike's Peak--definitely worth the money; a dinosaur center in a small town north of there (I think if you Google dinosaur center you might find it--if you want the specifics, I think I can find it in our photo album); the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo; Royal Gorge; and several mining tours. My girls were 2 1/2 and 6 1/2 when we went, and both of them still talk about it! The driving to the dinosaur center and Royal Gorge was absolutely worth it! The dinosaur center is nationally renown, and it's the only place in the world where some specific kinds of dinosaur work is done. Very interesting, even for my two young ones! We also spent time in Manitou Springs (I think that's how you spell it) and took in the cave nearby as well as the pueblos. The tour of the cave was fantastic!

This was one of the best vacations we could have taken. Neither my husband nor I had been there, but we found the area to be easy to navigate and the sites all interesting for all of us. I highly recommend CO Springs as a vacation destination! Enjoy!

I love the Olympic training center. The tour is a lot of fun and if you are lucky you might even get to see some Olympic athletes training. As a kid I remember going to Santa's Village and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Loved both of them. Garden of the Gods is also a beautiful place to do some hiking. There are several things within a short drive of Colorado Springs. Definately take some time to drive up into the mountains! Have a great trip!