These 10 Towns In Colorado Were Ranked Among US Favorites In 2025
Colorado, an eye-catching doubly landlocked state in the American West’s Mountain West subregion, steals the show with its eclectic geography: imposing Rocky Mountain peaks, low-lying grassy high plains, the Colorado Plateau, and amazing desert basins. Beyond the Centennial State’s conventional visitor favorites, the state capital and most populous city, Denver, and the second most populous city, Colorado Springs, there are countless towns (with populations under 50,000 as per the 2020 US Census) that have earned recognition for being the nation’s most coveted spots. Seamlessly integrating captivating sceneries, rich histories, thriving cultures, exploration pursuits, and relaxation amenities, these Colorado towns promise unforgettable memories for every out-of-towner holidaying here in 2025’s final months.
Durango
Occupying the flourishing Animas River Valley at the foot of the La Plata Mountains is Durango, the center of administration of La Plata County. Settled primarily by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company, the central attraction for sightseers touring this frontier mining town is enjoying an excellent ride aboard the historic Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which makes its way via alpine forests and deserted mines while taking passengers from Durango to Silverton.
Saunter down the Main Avenue Historic District, browsing historically important buildings such as the Victorian Strater Hotel and Wetter Mercantile, the district’s oldest building, built in 1883, besides art galleries like Studio & Gallery, hippie-chic boutiques like Animas Trading Co., and cozy restaurants like Chimayo Stone Fired Kitchen serving stone-fired Southwestern and Mediterranean cuisines.
Nature lovers must head directly to the nearby Mesa Verde National Park to witness the meticulously preserved ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, as well as to the family-centered, all-season Purgatory Ski Resort for partaking in alpine skiing and snowboarding activities in the winter and mountain biking, as well as alpine slide rides during the summer.
Telluride
The most populous settlement and administrative capital of southwest Colorado’s San Miguel County, Telluride sits in a box canyon at an elevation of 8,750 ft, on the San Juan Mountains’ western flanks. Adventurers who come to this foregone silver mining camp along the San Miguel River get to witness nonpareil mountain vistas and participate in year-round recreational activities.
The Telluride Historic District, covering a considerable part of Telluride’s developed area, includes numerous historic properties such as the cozy 238-seat theater, Sheridan Opera House, which recognized both as “The Crown Jewel of Telluride” and “Telluride’s Living Room,” hosts live musical concerts, theaters, the Telluride Film Festival, besides being a venue supporting small businesses, local charitable organizations, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
There are also assorted artifacts telling tales of the area’s heritage and culture at the Telluride Historical Museum, and traverse the 2.0-mile out-and-back trail leading to the spectacular Bridal Veil Falls, Colorado’s tallest free-falling waterfall, a star attraction for hikers, shutterbugs, and intrepid ice climbers (especially in winter).
Mancos
Set in the Mancos River Valley by the US Route 160 Highway, Mancos is a serene Montezuma County town in the extreme southwestern corner of the state, roughly 18 miles from Cortez, the county seat. Perfectly ringed by highlands and rangelands, this commercial hub of East Montezuma County upholds its trademark: “Gateway to Mesa Verde” for being located close to the famed Mesa Verde National Park as well as the Mancos State Park, providing tourists with first-class wildlife viewing and camping opportunities.
Over the past few years, Mancos has slowly evolved into an ‘art colony’ where the Mancos Creative District, spanning several blocks of Grand Avenue/Main Street Mancos, is filled with timeless properties like the 1905-built Bauer Bank Building, the Mancos Valley’s oldest surviving masonry building, the three-story 1910-built Mancos Opera House, a venue for multiple artistic and community-managed events, and Artisans of Mancos, a cooperative art gallery displaying a fantastic collection of local art & crafts.
Manitou Springs
Initially founded by Dr. William Abraham Bell and General William Jackson Palmer in 1872 as a ‘scenic health resort,’ Manitou Springs, situated at the base of Pikes Peak in western El Paso County, is widely publicized for its stupefying settings and therapeutic mineral springs. The Manitou Springs Historic District, considered to be one of the country’s most extensive National Historic Districts, has numberless Victorian-era buildings like the Miramont Castle, originally a private residence of French-born Catholic Father Jean Baptist Francolon and presently a historic house museum managed by the Manitou Springs Historical Society, the First Congregational Church, Colorado’s oldest continuously operated Congregational Church in the state, and exemplary accommodations like the Cliff House Hotel.
Catch sight of the simulated cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans and various interpretive exhibits at Manitou Cliff Dwellings, and spend time discovering high-flying thrills and subterranean wonders at the adjacent Cave of the Winds Mountain Park.
Gunnison
Gunnison, baptized after the area’s premier European American explorer, Captain John Williams Gunnison, sits along the side of the Gunnison River between the Elk Mountains and Sawatch Range in west-central Colorado’s Gunnison County. Encircled by the Gunnison National Forest, this small mountain community, apart from being home to the principal campus of Western State Colorado University, offers vacationers plentiful outdoor activities against a bewitching backdrop of the Rockies.
Located just 3 miles south of the town, the Hartman Rocks Recreation Area, with its 45 miles of singletrack trails, 45 miles of roads, 50 primitive campsites, and many granite outcrops, provides scope for plenteous mountain biking, camping, hiking, rock climbing, and bouldering activities.
The Gunnison Pioneer Museum, boasting an impressive collection of rare cultural artifacts and pristinely kept remnants of bygone eras, is the ideal place for history buffs and curiosity-driven visitors to learn more about the region’s rich heritage. Also, be sure not to miss observing unclouded night skies through cutting-edge telescopes at the Gunnison Valley Observatory.
Steamboat Springs
Routt County’s seat of government, Steamboat Springs, dubbed ‘Ski Town USA,’ is located in the Upper Yampa River Valley by the US Route 40 Highway, directly west of the Continental Divide and the Rabbit Ears Mountain Pass. This chief town of the Steamboat Springs Micropolitan Statistical Area is also a celebrated alpine ski resort destination, where the world-class Steamboat Ski Resort on Mount Werner has 297 named trails of characteristic ‘champagne powder snow’ extending over 2,965 acres of skiable terrain, presenting skiing opportunities during winter and spring seasons, and trekking, mountain biking, and other outdoor recreations in the summer season.
Furthermore, experience a scenic Steamboat Gondola ride, enjoying unrepeatable views of Mount Werner and Yampa Valley, spend a relaxing time at the Strawberry Park Hot Springs, and get an overview of the remarkable heritage of the Steamboat Springs area through the exclusive exhibits displayed at the Tread of Pioneers Museum.
Crested Butte
Highly exceptional for having two monikers: ‘The Wildflower Capital of Colorado’ in summertime and ‘The Last Great Colorado Ski Town’ in wintertime, Crested Butte is a photographic hillside community situated on the Slate River Valley’s western side in north-central Gunnison County. From an erstwhile coal mining town, Crested Butte has, over time, developed into an adventure lover’s paradise, thanks to the top-notch downhill skiing, snowshoeing, and snowboarding facilities at the Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
Moreover, the comprehensive network of cross-country skiing trails of the Nordic Center, the gift shops like Pfister’s Handworks, and outdoor clothing and equipment shops like Chopwood Mercantile jam-packed the historic Elk Avenue, and annual community-oriented film festivals like the Crested Butte Film Festival showing a large selection of short and complete-length movies over four days are not to be missed.
Salida
An attractive Central Colorado community, Salida, the county seat of Chaffee County, is located at the ‘heart of the Rockies,’ bordered by the Methodist Mountain, Sawatch Range, and Mosquito Range (domestically called the Arkansas Hills). Other than being a supply, service, and tourist focal point of the Upper Arkansas Valley, Salida is a retreat for thrill-seeking vacationers who want to take part in the inexhaustible recreational activities that the town offers.
At the Browns Canyon National Monument, get ready to be awed by the canyon’s craggy granite cliffs, breathtaking mountain panoramas, and colorful rock outcroppings, watch copious wild animals, enjoy backcountry hiking, and go for whitewater rafting and world-class angling on the Arkansas River.
The National Register-listed Salida Downtown Historic District, also designated a Creative District, supports quite a few art galleries like The Bork and Watkins Gallery featuring artworks by the artist duo Carl Bork and Karen Watkins, a must-stop retail store “F” Street Five and Dime, where you can shop for souvenirs, community restaurants like Boathouse Cantina serving Mexican/American dishes and craft cocktails in laid-back riverfront settings, and inviting accommodations like The Manhattan Hotel, Salida’s sole downtown boutique hotel.
Aspen
Christened for the luxuriant aspen trees in the neighboring region, this four-season getaway destination, best known for mesmerizing sceneries, cultural treasures, and top-class open-air activities, is situated by the Roaring Fork River at the Roaring Fork Valley’s southeastern edge, more or less 40 miles south of Glenwood Springs.
Aspen’s famed tourist hotspots include the marvelous Maroon Bells, a pair of idiosyncratically bell-shaped, wine-colored peaks reflecting in the immaculate Maroon Lake, and Independence Pass, a spellbinding mountain pass that passes through the Continental Divide and grants panoramic views of rocky peaks, woodlands, and tranquil lakes.
Get detailed information on Aspen’s industrial and agrarian heritage at the Holden/Marolt Mining & Ranching Museum, tour the Aspen Art Museum, a state-of-the-art museum designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, housing six gallery spaces, an outdoor common, and a roof-deck sculpture garden, and watch a variety of cultural events ranging from musical concerts, stand-up comedy shows, and movie screenings in the auditorium of the nicely restored Wheeler Opera House.
Ouray
Nicknamed the ‘Switzerland of America,’ Ouray, the seat of Ouray County, titled after the Ute tribe chief, sits in a steep valley in the San Juan Mountains, almost 40 miles south of Montrose. As the Centennial State’s outdoor recreation capital, Ouray woos adventurists with ice climbing at the Ouray Ice Park, which features lots of frozen 80 to 200-foot-high waterfalls along over a mile of the Uncompahgre Gorge, a challenging drive on the motorcyclists’ favorite ‘Million Dollar Highway’ that links Ouray and Silverton, and a trek to the Yankee Boy Basin from mid-July to early August for wildflower displays, the Twin Falls on Sneffels Creek, and native wildlife in the Uncompahgre National Forest.
While strolling Main Street, stop by the 1899-built Ouray City Hall and Walsh Library, modeled on the Philadelphia Independence Hall and reflecting Ouray’s strong community spirit, and scrutinize the thousands of artifacts related to Ouray County’s mining, railroading, and ranching heritage at the Ouray County Historical Society and Museum in the former St. Joseph’s Miners’ Hospital Building.
From the trademarked, uniquely light champagne powder skiing trails of the Steamboat Ski Resort at Steamboat Springs to the restorative natural mineral springs of Manitou Springs, these ten archetypal towns spotlight the very best of all that the Centennial State has to offer. Whether you wish to go whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River, explore state-certified creative districts and painstakingly preserved Victorian-era structures in the historic districts, go on a shopping spree, or participate in various mountain sports, these Colorado towns are a perfect fit as cherished haunts in 2025 for both independent travelers and families alike.
