Colorado Springs Vacation Attractions

Colorado Springs vacations are perfect for newlyweds and for families with children and teenagers. There is so much to do and experience that everyone will find things they want to do.

Not only is Colorado Springs one of the prettiest places in the country, but it has a ton of outdoor activities for you and your family. You will get your exercise and have fun at the same time.

Bring good walking shoes, sunscreen, a hat, and sunglasses. If you love to take photos, bring your camera. There is so much to photograph. The natural beauty of Colorado Springs and the surrounding area is incredible.

Colorado Springs vacations are a joy because of the weather. The climate is so mild that it is a pleasure to get out and do things in the spring, summer, and fall. The heat is not too much and the humidity is low. Most of the winter is really not all that bad, either.

If you only have a week in the Springs, don't try to squeeze it all in. Choose a few things and take your time at each one and enjoy the places you visit. Do not rush from one place to another. Relax and enjoy the beauty and the coolness of the air. It is so clean and gorgeous.

I recommend that you try to visit the following places while you are in Colorado Springs as time allows:

Drive up Pikes Peak.

Take the Cog Train up Pikes Peak.

Visit Santa's Workshop at the base of Pikes Peak.

Visit Garden of the Gods.

Explore Cave of the Winds.

Go to Seven Falls in the evening.

Take a walk across the Royal Gorge Bridge.

Check out dinosaurs at Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center.

Feed the giraffes at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

Ride the rapids and go whitewater rafting.

Take photos at the Air Force Academy.

Check out the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.

Go back in time to the 1800s at Ghost Town.

See how pottery is made at Van Briggle Pottery.

Shop in Old Town.

Ride a horse.

Go to the Flying W Ranch, eat dinner, and see a Western show.

Like $$$? Visit the Money Museum!

When arriving in the city, Colorado Springs tourists should stop by the Convention and Visitor's Bureau located at 515 S. Cascade Avenue for helpful information about the city of Colorado Springs.

Here, you will find an Official Visitor Guide to Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region, along with many colorful brochures detailing attractions in the Colorado Springs area.

These brochures are very helpful to have. Colorado Springs has so many tourist attractions that you may not be aware of them all.

When you see all of the brochures in the Visitor Center, you will wish you had more vacation time as you will want to go to every attraction! You will be amazed at how many attractions one small city can have. You and your family will have to go through them all and pick and choose what you will have time and money to see during your visit. Save the rest for your next trip to Colorado Springs.

The Visitor Center is open seven days a week during the summer months from 8:30am to 5pm. The rest of the year, it is open Monday through Friday, from 8:30am to 5pm. It is worth the trip.

If you have a GPS, it will easily get Colorado Springs tourists to the Visitor Center. If not, pick up a good map of the area, preferably before you travel to Colorado Springs. If you get on I-25, take exit 141, which is Cimarron Street. Go east on Cimarron Street and turn on Cascade Street. Again, the address is 515 S. Cascade Street. Their phone number is (800)888-4748 or (719)635-7506.

The Colorado Springs Ghost Town is a step back in time, right in the middle of Colorado Springs.

This museum was built back in 1954. It has all sorts of interesting buildings and pieces to teach guests about how Colorado Springs was back in the 1800's. The Ghost Town Museum is built inside of a stone building that was built back in 1899. The town includes a rooming house, a general store, a barber shop, a livery, a blacksmith shop, a saloon, a jail and a sheriff's office and a shooting range. We took about three hours to tour it and see everything.

There is a sidewalk and some carriages, you know, the horse and buggy kind, but without the horse. There is an old-fashioned phone like you see on Little House On The Prairie in the later years. The general store is filled with the type of merchandise you could buy back then. Really cool stuff and what a great thing to teach your kids up close and personal.

In the summer months, you can pan for gold, just like the prospectors did back in the 1800's. The kids will love it. So this is not only educational and interesting, but a lot of fun.

The Colorado Springs Ghost Town is located at 400 South 21st Street. It is easy to get there. Coming from I-25, take Exit 141 and go west on Highway 24 for 1.5 miles. Turn left on 21st Street and take an immediate right into the Van Briggle Pottery/Ghost Town entrance.

Admission is $6.50 for adults and $4 for children, ages 6 through 16. Kids under 6 get in free. From June through August, it is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday through Saturday and on Sundays, it is open from 11am to 6pm. For the rest of the year, it is open from 10am to 5pm from Monday through Saturday and from 11am to 5pm on Sundays.

The Van Briggle Pottery studio is right next to the Ghost Town Museum, located at 600 South 21st Street. From I-25, take Exit 141 and head west on Highway 24 for 1.5 miles and turn left on 21st street and then take an immediate right.

This is the oldest continually working pottery studio in the United States. It was established in 1899 by Artus and Anne Van Briggle. Artus was a fine painter and potter. He developed a type of art nouveau in clay and his pots and pieces became world-famous and sought after very quickly. They still are today.

We got to go in for free and take a tour. Potters work right out in the open so you can watch them shaping clay into beautiful pieces. They fire and also glaze the pieces as you watch. The kilns are in the back and bake pieces all day long.

Of course, there are many beautiful and expensive pieces for you to buy. I wanted to buy a lot of them. If you enjoy pottery, make sure that you stop in to pick up a few gorgeous pieces for your home. You will have a hard time making a decision.

Seven Falls in Colorado Springs is gorgeous during the day and even more spectacular at night. Seven different waterfalls cascade down the rock wall for 181 feet. At night, the falls are lit up and the water against the mountains is breathtaking.

There is a one mile drive through a narrow canyon. At its narrowest point, it is 42 feet across. The falls are best viewed from a platform called Eagle Nest. An elevator will take you up to the platform.

You will oooh and aaah at the natural beauty during the day. At night, the light adds to the beauty of the water and the mountains.

Take your camera and get as many shots as you can of the water against the mountain. Up at the top is an incredible view of the city.

To get there, take I-25 to Exit 141 and travel west on U.S. 24. Turn south on 21st Street. After about three miles, turn west on Cheyenne Blvd. and turn left again on S. Cheyenne Canyon Road.

Admission during the day is $9 for adults and $5.50 for children from the ages of 6 to 15. Nighttime admission is $10.50 for adults and $6.50 for children. It is free for children 5 and under. Hours vary.

Do you love dinosaurs? I do. If so, you will love Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center located in Woodland Park.

Woodland Park is a small town about 18 miles northwest of Colorado Springs. The center is loaded with cool dinosaurs. I could spend hours there each time I visit.

Your young children will love the Children's Learning Center. Guess what they get to touch and feel? Give up? Dinosaur number two...yes, dinosaur pooh! Can you believe that? The kids (and probably most of the parents) will think this is the coolest thing, and it is!

The Children's Learning Center also has a dinosaur dig site to keep children interested. This is a hands-on place for kids so you do not have to constantly tell the kids not to touch. They will learn and practice their digging skills. Maybe one of your children is a future paleontologist.

The dinosaur exhibits are so neat and, yes, there is a T-Rex. They have a good collection of not-so-common dinosaurs so you will learn a lot of new dinosaur names when you visit.

There is a theater with 20 seats that shows various types of dinosaur, geology, and paleontology videos throughout the day. You will learn all sorts of fun and interesting facts and see how the dinosaurs looked and moved when they roamed our Earth.

There is a large gift shop with all sorts of cool dinosaur items for you to buy. They have some of the best souvenirs.

The Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center is located at 201 S. Fairview St. in Woodlawn Park, Colorado. It is easy to get to from Colorado Springs. If you are on I-25, take exit 141, which is Cimarron Street. At the ramp light, turn onto West Cimarron Street which is also known as Route 24 West. Stay on this street for 18 miles. The Dinosaur Center will be on your left at the third traffic light which is South Fairview Street.

Admission prices for all that you get to see and do are very reasonable. Adults pay $11.50, senior citizens who are 65 or older pay $10.50. Children from ages 5 through 12 pay $7.50 and children 4 and under get in free.

The Center is open 7 days a week, year round from 9am to 6pm Monday through Saturday and from 10am to 5pm on Sundays. They are closed on New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Chances are, you have never seen anything like Garden Of The Gods in Colorado Springs! This is an incredible place with unbelievable sandstone formations.

Above, my husband and son are under The Balancing Rock, a natural and totally amazing formation at Garden of the Gods. Can you believe this? Make sure you bring your camera. Your friends will never believe you as you try to explain what you saw here.

A little background information: In 1879, a man named Charles Elliott Perkins, who happened to be the head of the Burlington Railroad, bought this property and did not do any type of development to the land. He died in 1907 and left the property to his heirs. They decided to give the property to the city of Colorado Springs if it was preserved as a park and opened to the public.

Fortunately for all of us, this is what the city agreed to and it is now registered as a national landmark.

Garden of the Gods is a 1,300 acre rock garden. When I say "rock," I don't mean rocks the size of your hand or your head. I mean giant sculptures made by God using wind and rain over millions of years.

They identified a new dinosaur here in May of 2008, Theiophytalia kerri. How exciting is that!

Above, a photo of one of the huge formations at Garden of the Gods with my husband and son on the road to give you some perspective of how large and awesome these rocks are!

There are no words to adequately describe this rock wonderland. When my in-laws came up to Colorado Springs for my husband's graduation, they could not believe how beautiful this place is. All through school, some of my husband's fellow students would spend hours in this park studying. If we had not had three small children, we may have done the same thing...

Admission to the park is free. Can you believe it? But, there is an optional 20 minute bus tour of the park for $5 for adults and $2.50 for kids up through the age of 12.

There is also an optional 12 minute movie that costs $2 for adults and $1 for children, ages 5 to 12. It is called "How Did Those Red Rocks Get There?" By taking the tour and/or watching the movie, you are supporting the upkeep of the park.

There is a visitor information center where park officials will answer your questions. Here you will find restrooms and a cafeteria.

In the summer, park officials give free 45 minute walks, talking about the sandstone formations and the wildlife here. There are walking trails so you can get your exercise for the day. You can also drive through the park as the rock formations are spread out.

You can bring your dog on a leash as long as you clean up after him/her. The walking trails are mostly easy, some moderate. There are also some mountain biking trails and some horseback riding trails. Technical rock climbers have to register at the Visitor Center.

To get there, take exit 146 from I-25. Take Garden of the Gods Road west and then go south on 30th Street.

In the Garden of the Gods, you can ride horses at the Academy Riding Stables with real cowboys to assist you.

There are ponies for children from ages two through seven to ride. Children eight and over are welcome to ride the horses, along with teens and adults. Just so you know, there is a maximum weight for riders of 250 pounds. Reservations to ride the horses are not necessary, but are recommended because in the summer they get a lot of guests.

If you have a large family or a large group, make sure you reserve your horses in advance so you are not disappointed.

The way they do it is to take you out to the stables about 45 minutes prior to your ride and pick out a horse or a pony for you and then saddle it up. So make sure that you arrive at least 45 minutes before your ride is scheduled to begin.

Only one rider is allowed per animal. You will choose either a one hour or a two hour ride and the cowboys who work at the riding stables will help you in every way they can.

The current (March 2009) price for one hour of riding is $41 per person. The two hour ride costs $58 per person. The whole family will have a blast riding horses. I remember the first time I rode one. I was eight years old and it was very exciting! Your kids will love it. The scenery there in the Garden of the Gods is breathtaking as well.

You can make reservations by visiting their web site, or by calling (888)700-0410 or (719)633-5667. Academy Riding Stables is located at 4 El Paso Blvd. Have the time of your life!

One of the first places we visited in Colorado Springs was the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It was started in 1926.

This is just a few miles up the road from the Broadmoor if you happen to be staying there. It is a beautiful drive up the mountain and the zoo is one of the nicest I have been to in the United States.

My biggest memory of this zoo is the exhibit of giraffes. In the photo above, my son, Andrew, poses by some of the giraffes. I have always loved giraffes and at this zoo, you can buy crackers and actually feed the giraffes. They lean right over the fence where you are and take the crackers out of your hand with their huge black tongues. They are fascinating creatures up close and personal and are so much fun to feed.

Your kids will either be extremely excited or screaming in terror. Mine were thrilled to pieces to see the giraffes that close and to feed the crackers to the giraffes. They laughed at those long black tongues sucking up the crackers. Other kids were so afraid that they just screamed. We thought that was pretty funny.

Be sure that you wear good walking shoes like sneakers or tennis shoes and thick socks. There is a lot of walking uphill. You get a good workout, especially if you are pushing a stroller with two babies in it, like I did on one visit. (My two youngest are a year apart.) Plus I had to keep running after a four year old!

This was one of the most enjoyable places we have ever gone. The kids had a great time all over that zoo. The monkeys and the elephants are always enjoyable. There are even penguins.

There is a kiddie playground and an area where kids can touch the animals. This zoo is big and spacious with over 650 different species of animals. Lots of the animals are in man-made realistic looking nature habitats. Others are in cages.

There is a tram you can ride to tour the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for an extra fee.

Take a stroller or plan to rent one there for the little ones because they will get tired. Bring a camera, hats, and sunscreen because you will be in the sunlight most of the day. It will be nice and cool up on the mountain, but you still will want to protect the little ones from the sun's rays.

Tickets are currently (December 2008) $12 for adults and $6 for kids, ages 3 to 11.

Do you like money? Who doesn't, right? Did you know there is a Money Museum in Colorado Springs? While you are here, make sure you stop by.

The study of money is called numismatics and The American Numismatic Association has opened this museum so you can learn more what jingles in your pocket.

This is an interesting learning adventure, particularly for coin collectors and for homeschooling students. What a great way for your kids to learn about money firsthand. They can learn about paper money, experimental coins, and gold coins. They will see rare coins and paper money and learn about the history of money. Learn how coins and dollars are formed and printed. Learn about the types of materials used in making various types of money.

Children will gain a greater understanding of the value of money. Perhaps this museum will start them on a lifelong hobby of coin collecting.

Would you believe they have an 1804 dollar? Would you believe we used to issue $3 bills? How about seeing a 1913 Liberty nickel? How would you like to see some money printed in 1866 without a series number? The museum has all of this and more. Some of their exhibits are permanent and others are visiting so there is always something new going on, even if you have visited this fascinating place before.

Plan to spend at least a couple of hours looking and learning about the subject that is near and dear to us all in these economically hard times. Parents, don't rush your kids; allow them to explore and ask questions. Use your vacation as a learning experience for them. You, also, will learn a lot of things that you did not know about.

The Money Museum is on the campus of Colorado College, right by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. They are open on Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10:30am until 5pm, and admission is $5 per person, and $4 per person for senior citizens, students and military personnel with ID. The address is 818 North Cascade Avenue.