1. Red Mountain Bar And Grill
City: Manitou Springs, CO
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (888) 212-7000 or (719) 785-10
Address: 306 Canon Ave.
Insider Pick:
Description: Located in the new $1.7 million addition to the Cliff House hotel, this two-level bar with views of the foothills of the Rockies is an especially nice place to end the day. Plush leather sofas, a marble bar, a cozy fire pit outside, and the views make it a great place to indulge in a creative aperitif or a post-prandial drink. A wine list that features more than 700 choices and a beer list to make you drool provide great options for imbibing. Fun bar food, like buffalo sliders and rattlesnake and rabbit sausage pizzas, reflect the Colorado state of mind.
2. Swirl Wine Emporium
City: Manitou Springs, CO
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (719) 685-2294
Address: 717 Manitou Ave.
Description: If it sounds pretentious, it isn’t. Swirl is Manitou’s hot new wine bar that describes itself thus: “We’re a place of jokers, parents, hard workers, artists, flip-flop wearin’, mountain watchers, chatterbugs, brew nerds and at the end of the day, always friends.” Yeah, it’s that kind of place. But the wines and brews are fine and invite you to come back again and again to sample new ones. They’re not open late—10 p.m. weeknights and midnight weekends.