State guide
Colorado road trips
8 routes that start or end in Colorado, and 15 stops worth pulling over for.
Popular starting points: road trips from Denver
Routes
Durango to Mesa Verde
36 mi · 45 min
Forty-five minutes west on US-160 to Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. Book Cliff Palace tour tickets ahead.
Denver to Rocky Mountain National Park
65 mi · 1 hr 15 min
Ninety minutes via Boulder and Lyons to Estes Park. Get a timed-entry permit and go early for elk and Trail Ridge Road.
Denver to Colorado Springs
69 mi · 1 hr 15 min
An hour south on I-25 to Garden of the Gods and the Pikes Peak Highway.
Denver to Durango
334 mi · 6 hr 15 min
A Rocky Mountain crossing via Great Sand Dunes and Wolf Creek Pass, or the longer San Juan Skyway via Ouray and Silverton.
Denver to Moab
354 mi · 5 hr 30 min
I-70 through Glenwood Canyon and past Colorado National Monument, then south from Cisco along the Colorado River on UT-128.
Denver to Santa Fe
390 mi · 5 hr 45 min
I-25 down the Front Range, over Raton Pass into New Mexico, with Capulin Volcano or Taos as detours.
Salt Lake City to Denver
519 mi · 7 hr 45 min · 2 days
I-80 across Wyoming is the fastest, though storms can close it in winter. The I-70 route through the Rockies is slower but far prettier.
Las Vegas to Denver
748 mi · 11 hrs · 2 days
A two-day crossing of Utah and the Rockies on I-15 and I-70. Moab, the Colorado National Monument and Glenwood Canyon make great breaks.
