Royal Gorge Bridge & Park

Top choice


In 1929 this 1260ft-long suspension bridge was built across the 950ft-deep Royal Gorge, which stretches for 10 miles west of Cañon City. The bridge and surrounding area became a popular tourist attraction until a wildfire in 2013 ravaged the Royal Gorge landscape and destroyed the vast majority of park attractions, miraculously sparing the bridge. The park has since been rebuilt and features aerial gondolas, rides and a theater. For daredevils, additional zipline and skycoaster packages are available (from $89).

General admission includes access to the park, the bridge, and all attractions except the zipline, skycoaster and special events.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience

2.43 MILES

More than three years in gestation, this dinosaur of an experience hatched in 2016 and comes highly recommended for fans of the Jurassic period and anyone…

2. Museum of Colorado Prisons

4.44 MILES

Set in the original women's prison, right outside the stone walls of the territorial prison, each of the 30 cells is decked out with a different exhibit…

3. Centennial Park

4.82 MILES

Connected by footbridge to the Whitewater Kayak & Recreation Park, this place is called 'duck park' by locals, thanks to the numerous web-footed residents…

4. Royal Gorge Museum & History Center

4.85 MILES

Good for that rare rainy day is this municipal museum, which introduces the region's early history. In 2013 it incorporated the local dinosaur museum…

5. Prospect Heights

5.57 MILES

When United Artists were making John Wayne Westerns in Cañon City, this is where they lived and worked. A turn-of-the-20th-century Colorado Fuel & Iron…

6. Garden Park Fossil Area

7.56 MILES

The second-largest Jurassic graveyards in Colorado, and still one of the largest in North America, these are one of the quarries that spawned the Bone…

7. Outlaws & Lawmen Jail Museum

21.08 MILES

This museum is set in the old Teller County Jail, which rather remarkably operated from 1901 all the way until 1992 when the ACLU filed the lawsuit that…

8. Cripple Creek District Museum

21.29 MILES

Set in an old midland train station terminal is the city's official museum. Between 1896 and 1949 the train came up from the divide four times daily. The…