After visiting the Colorado National Monument and driving along a couple of Southwest Colorado Scenic Byways, we stayed our first night in Telluride, Colorado.
The night we arrived was clear and cool, but we awoke to an overcast sky, the mountaintops shrouded in clouds. We’d hoped to do some hiking in the morning before leaving town, but the persistent drizzle turned into a pesky mini-hail, so we opted to skip it.
Even though we didn’t get any hiking in, we still took the free gondola up the mountain (you can catch it right in town – see my map below for details).
Heading up the gondola, you’re rewarded with excellent views of the town of Telluride. This alone makes the free ride worth the trip.
We hopped off at the highest point (called St. Sophia) for a quick walk around. The narrow valley that Telluride sits in is surrounded by steep mountainsides. The gondola whisks you up the hill in no time and then you can take in the views for as long as you like.
After walking around and snapping a few photos, we hopped back on the gondola at St. Sophia and headed down towards Mountain Village to check that out (there’s not much to see but a few shops). Then we headed back to Telluride.
Back in town, we strolled around a bit checking out the colorful buildings and old architecture.
Clever use of old skis to make a bench.
Quite the craftsperson, I’d say, to construct such an intricate and interesting birdhouse.
Final Thoughts
Telluride is in a stunning location, surrounded pretty much on all sides by steep mountains. The town is tiny and charming and has a bit of history to it, too (it was a silver mining town back in the day, it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places & is one of Colorado’s 20 Historic National Landmarks).
Today you’ll find epic skiing/snowboarding, tons of hiking and biking trails, festivals and events, and many other activities to keep you busy year-round.
If you’re in search of delicious coffee, check out The Steaming Bean. And if there are any scones there from Brown Bag be sure to get one! They’re some of the most delicious I’ve had in the States – my mouth waters just thinking of them! :) (At this time they didn’t have a website to link to but you can do a search and find info on them easily.)
Map
Here’s a map of what we did. The pink highlighted area is where the free gondola goes and the green push pins are gondola stops.
The coffee cup symbol indicates where the Steaming Bean is. Yum!
View Telluride, Colorado in a larger map