Vacation Advice (Denver, Boulder, Aspen: rentals, condos, hotels)

[ucfz31s13]

We have airline tickets we must use before mid-March. We are from FL and want to see mountains and snow! This will be our first snow experience. We are looking to rent a cabin for 2 or nice resort. We also would like to have access to snow activities (skiing, snow-tubing). We orginally looked into Lake Tahoe because we heard it is beautiful. A friend of our suggested Denver. What resorts in Dever do you suggest? What month is best? Jan? Feb? March? What area is best? Anything you think we need to know? THX!

[jayeandvic]

Originally Posted by ucfz31s13

We have airline tickets we must use before mid-March. We are from FL and want to see mountains and snow! This will be our first snow experience. We are looking to rent a cabin for 2 or nice resort. We also would like to have access to snow activities (skiing, snow-tubing). We orginally looked into Lake Tahoe because we heard it is beautiful. A friend of our suggested Denver. What resorts in Dever do you suggest? What month is best? Jan? Feb? March? What area is best? Anything you think we need to know? THX!

Lake Tahoe hands down. You won't regret it.

[DenverAztec]

In January/Feb. and March you will find snow in our hills in Colorado. Some of the more popular destinations can be expensive if you choose to stay there, Aspen/Vail. However, you can find some decent hotels in Denver and drive up easily 40 minutes to an hour to get to some prime skiing or snow viewing. Mary Jane, Winter Park, Keystone are all very close and easy to get to from Denver. This will give you a chance to see Denver by night and the hills by day. However, if money is not an issue, stay at any of the Hotels at the base of Aspen mountain, Sky Hotel or the Saint Regis. Vail has tons of condos that can be rented out. Both Vail and Aspen have many excellent restaurants and high end retail shops and galleries. Vail is about an hour and a half away from Denver and Aspen is about four. Both are fantastic drives for site seeing of our 14,000 foot peaks, but Aspen does have a small airport that you can fly into.

[Fuzz]

If you want to stay at a place with snow, staying in Denver will be a downer. Denver stays free of snow most of the winter, and it can be a 1+ hour drive to the mountains for snow activities. Stay up in the mountains somewhere, where you'll have snow right outside. It will be expensive though.

Tahoe is a great option too.

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[tfox]

Tahoe is okay, but snow levels at resorts are "feast or famine" there -- sometimes tons of snow, other years next to nothing. Tahoe also has middling snow quality -- okay if you're used to eastern skiing, but not the best. Utah and Colorado are better in terms of snow quality (lighter, more powdery), as well as more consistent in snow coverage.

Given that this is a La Nina year, I think that this will not be a great snow year in the southern rockies (that would be us) or in the high Sierra/ Tahoe -- so far the resorts are crying for more snow. So, we'll just have to see how things turn out.

I would monitor snow conditions. Vail has arguably the best snow of the I-70 resorts. Definitely consider Utah in addition , particularly if you're a skiier as opposed to a snowboarder (several of Utah's big names ban snowboarders). They don't have nearly as many areas as Colorado, but the ones they do have are quality.

[Katarina Witt]

You can stay in Boulder and take the RTD (public bus) to Eldora Ski Area. It's not huge by CO standards, but quite nice by eastern standards, per my friends from DC. Boulder is a neat place in its own right; you'd find a lot to do/see there.