Things to do in Southwestern Colorado
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Long House
On the Wetherill Mesa side of the canyon is Long House. It's a strenuous place to visit and can only be done as part of a ranger-led guided tour (organized from the visitor center). Access involves climbing three ladders – two at 15ft and one at 4ft – and a 0.75-mile hike, and there's an aggregate 130ft elevation to descend and ascend.
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Square House Hiking Tour
The park's most popular ranger-led hike, this strenuous 1-mile hike takes two hours but includes exposure to cliffs, rocky slopes, climbing a 20ft ladder and two shorter ladders. One highlight is seeing one of only two original kiva roofs in the park.
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Mild to Wild Rafting
Offers all levels of rafting on the Animas River; the more adventurous (and experienced) run the upper Animas, which boasts Class III to Class V rapids.
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Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
Riding the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is a Durango must. These vintage steam locomotives have been making the scenic 45-mile trip north to Silverton (3½ hours each way) for more than 125 years. The dazzling journey allows two hours for exploring Silverton. This trip operates only from May through October. Check online for different winter options.
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Ouray County Historical Museum
In a town so well endowed with history, a visit to the local museum is rewarding. Three floors of exhibits feature the local mining history, a bizarre-looking retro-futurist dentist's surgery, old tools and furniture, and a spooky collection of china dolls. The building was once a hospital. It's also the venue for meetings and events for the local historical society.
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Mesa Verde National Park
A fascinating, if slightly eerie, national park. Anthropologists will love it here; Mesa Verde is unique among American national parks in its focus on maintaining this civilization's cultural relics rather than its natural treasures.The park also offers plenty of hiking, skiing, snowshoeing and moutain-biking options. Visitors can camp out or stay in luxury at the lodge.
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Box Canyon Falls
This is a popular short walk from town, or you can drive to the signposted carpark off Box Canyon Rd. The waterfall is 285ft high and issues thousands of gallons of water each minute over a spectacular drop. The immediate area around the falls is rich in birdlife - the protected black swift nests in the rock-face. They are in Box Canyon Park, which has a modest entry fee.
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Ouray Hot Springs
For a healing soak, try this crystal-clear natural spring water. It's free of the sulphur smells plaguing other hot springs around here, and the giant pool features a variety of soaking areas at temperatures from 96°F to 106°F (36°C to 41°C). The complex also offers a gym and massage service.
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SSpruce Tree House
The most accessible of the archaeological sites, although the paved half-mile round-trip access path is still a moderately steep climb. Spruce Tree House was once home to 60 or 80 people and its construction began around AD 1210. Like other sites, old walls and houses have been stabilized.
Rangers are on hand to answer questions and offer free guided tours from November to April at 10am, 1pm and 3:30pm.
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San Juan Scenic Jeep Tours
The friendly folks at the Historic Western Hotel offer off-road tours of the nearby peaks and valleys. Hiking, hunting and fishing drop-offs and pick-ups can be arranged.
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Bon Ton Restaurant
Bon Ton has been cooking in a beautiful room under the historic St Elmo Hotel for as long as anyone can remember. In fact, supper has been served at this location for nearly a century. The French-Italian menu includes house specialties of escargot and crawfish tails, and tortellini with bacon and shallots. The wine list is extensive.
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The Butcher & The Baker
Two veterans of upscale local catering started this heartbreakingly cute cafe, and no one beats them for breakfast. The to-go sandwiches – a daily rotation that includes turkey and cranberry on crunchy multi-grain bread – are the best bet for a gourmet meal on the trail.
It's the kind of place that represents the new, smart trends in simple, quality food: the ethos here is local, organic and perfect. We're simply head over heels.
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Trimble Spa & Natural Hot Springs
For a pampering massage or just a post-hike soak in natural hot springs. Phone or check the website for last-minute specials, which sometimes include two-for-one deals and other discounts. It's 5 miles north of Durango.
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Buckskin Booksellers
This excellent bookstore exemplifies the passion locals have for their town and area. Buckskin carries a huge amount of books on local history, mining and geology, as well as birding books, guidebooks and hiking and camping information. There are antique books and collectibles, old photographs and ephemera, as well as a great range of fiction titles.
There are also plush armchairs where you're invited to sit and read a while before you buy.
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Ska Brewing Company
Big on flavor and variety, these are the best beers in town. Although the small, friendly tasting-room bar was once mainly a production facility, over the years it's steadily climbed in the popularity charts. Today it is usually jam-packed with friends meeting for an after-work beer.
Despite the hype, the place remains surprisingly laid-back and relaxed. Ska does weekly BBQs with live music and free food. Call for dates - they are never fixed.
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Durango Mountain Resort
Durango Mountain Resort, 25 miles north on US 550, is Durango's winter highlight. The resort, also known as Purgatory, offers 1200 skiable acres of varying difficulty and boasts 260in of snow per year. Two terrain parks offer plenty of opportunities for snowboarders to catch big air.
Check local grocery stores and newspapers for promotions and two-for-one lift tickets and other ski season specials before purchasing directly from the ticket window.
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New Sheridan Bar
Well worth a visit in low season for some real local flavor and opinions. At other times, it becomes a rush hour of beautiful ones. But there's old bullet holes in the wall and the plucky survival of the bar itself, even as the adjoining hotel sold off chandeliers and fine furnishings to pay the heating bills during waning mining fortunes.
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Smugglers Brewery & Grille
Beer-lovers will feel right at home at casual Smugglers, a great place to hang out, sample local brew and eat fried stuff.
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Cliff Palace
The only way to see the superb Cliff Palace is to take an hour-long ranger-led tour that retraces the steps taken by the Ancestral Puebloans. This grand representative of engineering achievement, with 217 rooms and 23 kivas, provided shelter for 250 or 300 people.
Its inhabitants were without running water. However, springs across the canyon, below Sun Temple, were most likely their primary water sources. The use of small 'chinking' stones between the large blocks is strikingly similar to Ancestral Puebloan construction at distant Chaco Canyon.
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Balcony House
Tickets are required for the one-hour guided tours of Balcony House, on the east side of the Cliff Palace Loop. The tour could prove a challenge for those with a fear of heights or small places. But it includes outstanding views of Soda Canyon, 600ft below the sandstone overhang that once served as the ceiling for 35 to 40 rooms.
Visitors must descend a 100ft-long staircase into the canyon, then climb a 32ft-tall ladder, crawl through a 12ft-long tunnel and climb an additional 60ft of ladders and stone steps to get out. It's not recommended for people with medical problems. The most physical tour in the park, it's also the most rewarding, not to mention fun!
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Maria's Bookshop
A good general bookstore – independently owned and well stocked; does e-reader orders too.
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Steamworks Brewing
DJs and live music pump up the volume at this industrial microbrewery, with high sloping rafters and metal pipes. College kids fill the large bar area, but there's also a separate dining room with a Cajun-influenced menu.
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Buen Tiempo Mexican Restaurant & Cantina
Bursting with locals at bar stools and families filling the booths, this is a good-time spot. From the chile-rubbed sirloin to the posole served with warm tortillas, Buen Tiempo delivers. Start with a signature margarita, served with chips and spicy homemade salsa. You can end with a satisfying scoop of deep-fried ice cream. But if you want to find out how the dollars got on the ceiling, it will cost you.
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