We have officially been Colorado residents for over a year now! That went by so fast! Winter was a doozy and super long but overall we love it here. We have especially loved getting out and exploring the Rocky Mountains! Our most recent adventure was to Steamboat Springs for a little weekend getaway with the kids.
Steamboat Springs is about a 3 to 3 and a half hour drive from Denver, or you can even fly directly into Steamboat Springs airport! I think you can even fly nonstop from a few locations with the most fight options being in the winter.
The drive was pretty easy from Denver, but we did stop once at a park to let the kids play and stretch their legs. This park in Silverthorne was perfect. It was almost exactly halfway, and the kids got to play, and it’s literally right off the road! Plus there are bathrooms!
Where to Stay in Steamboat Springs
We stayed in a Vacasa property called Ski Inn Condominiums. This was our first experience with a Vacasa property, and we were very pleased! The condo was clean and well stocked with everything we could have needed! We were located near the ski resort with beautiful views all around.
We were also able to walk (more like a mini hike, but I did it in sandals) to gondola square for dinner one night, which gives you gorgeous views of the mountain. It is under construction currently which was a bummer, but it was still beautiful, and I’m sure even more so when they are all done!
There are tons of other condo options to stay in at the mountain as well! We also happened to look up the Sheraton while we were having dinner there and it looks beautiful and would keep you right at the lifts, restaurants, and activities.
Another hotel that looked great was the Rabbit Ears Motel. It’s a motel, but a nice one! It’s been featured in national publications and looks so cute. Not to mention it’s great location near old town and the Yampa river!
Things to Do in Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Springs is known for winter sports (tons of Olympians have come from there!) and the natural hot springs. There may be more but the ones that we experienced or knew about are Strawberry Hot Springs which is in the mountains and we did not visit because we were with the boys, and the Old Town Hot Springs. We did spend an afternoon at the Old Town Hot Springs, and we had so much fun! They are located right in the middle of town, and are perfect for all ages. There are 3 small hot spring pools for soaking in, and one large pool that was not as hot and great for the kids. There is also a 2ft deep kids pool that is heated to about 80 degrees. The boys loved this one because they could walk and play more independently. There is also a cool splash pad, lap pool, and water slides.
They are at a rec center building that also has a gym and rock climbing wall that are included in your day pass. The boys tried out the rock climbing too and I think they are hooked. I would definitely recommend this place if you are coming with kids!
The only hike we did was the fish creek falls hike. The water fall was beautiful and very easy to get to. I think it was only like .3 miles to get to the big water fall. From there you can continue on to hike to a second set of water falls and then past there a lake. We did continue on for a ways, but we didn’t make it to the second waterfall. It was still a beautiful hike, but VERY crowded, especially coming back down. I would recommend going as early as you can to avoid a lot of the crowds since this is a very popular and touristy hike.
Biking is huge there in the summer and there were tons of bike rental shops around town. There are mountain bike trails at the ski resort you can bike down and they even have chair lifts to get your bike up the mountain. We didn’t do any biking, but it looked like fun for older kids/adults!
Elijah has been asking us all summer long to go fishing. Which us something neither one of us has ever done so we haven’t taken him yet and decided this was the trip to try it. We went to Straighline Sports in old town, rented a pole, and took him out. They were so helpful at Straightline and told us where to go, how to use the pole, how to get the hook out, and then when we lost the lure they were very helpful in getting us new ones!
The places in Steamboat to fish are the Yampa river which was closed when we went due to climate change causing high water temps and low levels, Casey’s pond, and Fetcher’s Pond. There are probably more but these are the ones we saw/heard of. Casey’s pond has tons of lily pads and is right off the road, so we opted for Fetcher’s pond which is a little further back. It’s a beautiful little pond with mountain views. Unfortunately we didn’t catch anything, but they did have a couple of bites!
Places to Eat in Steamboat Springs
We were only there for a couple of days, so I really don’t have a lot of good info on the food! But I’ll go over where we did go!
Back Door Cafe: A burger place in old town that is in a converted old house. The burgers were good, and if you are into unique and different burgers, they had some out there ones! Like peanut butter on a burger. It’s a no for me, but they had a few so it must be good?
Freshies: we had a few people tell us to go here, so we had to try it out. We went for lunch and it was good! Honestly it was good, but nothing special. I think breakfast is their thing, and supposedly the cinnamon rolls are amazing, but they were out before we could try them.
Beau Jo’s Colorado Style Pizza: I had never heard of Colorado style pizza until we came here. It is regular pizza with a really thick crust, and then they give you honey to dip your crust in. The pizza was good, and the boys loved the honey dipping! I’m still on the fence with the honey thing, but the pizza was good!
Old Town drugstore: If you are wanting ice cream – don’t fall for the Fuzziwigs sign. Head just across the street to the drugstore! They have $1 ice cream cones inside! And it’s probably the same ice cream.
Mountain Tap Brewery – we didn’t eat here, but one night we took the boys to get a candy for dessert and came here to have a beer. They were on a wait so we didn’t sit down, but you can now take your beer to go and walk up and down Yampa street!
Saddles Lounge – this was at the Sheraton resort. The food here was takeout style and nothing special, but they have an awesome patio with fire pits and great views of the mountain! It would be a perfect après ski spot too!
Steamboat Springs was the perfect little summer mountain getaway! Elijah has told me over and over again that he wants to go back – or to just live there! It felt like a very easy going, family friendly town that I’m sure we will return to!
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