Holiday getaways available close to home

Holiday revelers who want to celebrate the season away from home — but not out-of-state — find that Colorado offers a variety of festive destinations.

Northern Colorado residents need look no further than their own backyards for a holiday getaway. Estes Park features wide-ranging accommodations and all the winter-wonderland atmosphere of many Colorado resort destinations without the downhill skiing hype.

“Estes Park is a gorgeous place in the winter time. It’s not as glitzy a place as a Vail or a Breckenridge or an Aspen,´ said Harry Graham of Landmark Hospitality. Graham serves as media contact for the town of Estes Park.

“It’s much more of a family-type atmosphere,” Graham said, noting that the holiday season in Estes is accompanied with the feel of “the old-style Christmas that a lot of us remember when we were kids.”

Most accessible resort

Perhaps best of all, Graham said, Estes Park is “by far the most easily accessible mountain resort, especially to the Fort Collins-Loveland area. It’s 45 minutes and obviously no mountain passes to go over.”

Estes rings in the holidays with a parade of lights in late November that draws thousands from across the Front Range, Graham said. Throughout the holiday season, visitors can expect that the town’s halls will be decked in full Christmas-season regalia.

The civic calendar, meanwhile, bustles with holiday events including a home tour, a downtown Christmas festival and a fancy ball.

For accommodations, choose from mom-and-pop motel cottages and motels, a broad range of condo and suite properties, bed and breakfasts or the historic elegance of the Stanley Hotel.

Romance, solitude and a stunning natural environment are attributes that visitors find frequently touted by innkeepers in Estes. Lodging packages offer amenities that range from fireside dinners to snowshoe rentals to massages for two. Visit www.estes-park.com for information about accommodations, lodging packages and activities in Estes Park.

“The other thing is, since we’re not a ski area, to come up here and stay for a night or two is a lot easier and less expensive than one of the I-70 corridor towns,” Graham said.

“If people are looking for nightlife, Estes generally isn’t the best place to come,” he said. “But if you’re looking for a beautiful, quiet, scenic place that’s close to home and right on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes really has got a lot going for it.”

Time to refresh and recharge

If a trip away from home isn’t necessarily the most traditional way to spend the holiday season, it can offer a gift in itself, travel-industry experts say.

Thanks to school vacation schedules, the holiday season gives many a chance to take advantage of extended days off.

“Some people use it as an opportunity to go away someplace and refresh and recharge,´ said Craig Cook, president of Travel Organizers American Express, a Denver-based wholesale tour operator.

A journey over the New Year’s holiday can add significance to that observance with the chance to ring in the new year in a new place.

Attitudes during the holiday season tend to be different, Cook said. “People are friendly. They’re happy. They’re nice. All of the things that go on during the rest of the year don’t go on during the holiday.”

Colorado resorts offer a wide range of holiday possibilities, Cook noted. Making a choice depends on specific needs. He said holiday travelers in Colorado typically factor in criteria that include family size and needs, budget and other special events such as anniversaries or birthdays that coincide with the holidays.

“There isn’t any definitive one place. It’s going to depend on what they want to do,” Cook said.

Steamboat, Aspen and Vail are probably the most popular Colorado ski destinations at holiday time. Each has a somewhat different atmosphere — from Steamboat’s family-friendly feel to Aspen’s glittering celebrity scene. But all three feature all of the holiday trappings.

Finding available accommodations is one of the challenges for Colorado residents who identify one of these resort locations as their holiday destination. The resorts frequently are geared to hosting out-of-state visitors who are likely to plan longer trips. A three-night minimum stay is often a requirement, particularly during the holidays.

For those looking for a non-skiing destination, Cook also points to the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. Factor out ski resorts, and “no question the Broadmoor is definitely a prime place because of the romance, charm and character of the facility there,” he said.

Holiday activities and entertainment are part of the plan at the Broadmoor. Caroling, dinner-dance events and ice skating are all on the Broadmoor’s holiday slate. A cozy, romantic atmosphere tends to pervade the venerable inn, Cook said.

Downtown Denver offers urban fun

Colorado’s capital city also serves as a popular holiday getaway destination for Coloradans. “People will go into downtown Denver just as a one-night getaway,” Cook said. The chance to experience the urban lifestyle, even for a few days, frequently appeals to Northern Colorado residents.

Visitors can choose from a number of hotels; Cook ticked off the Westin, the Hyatt, the Adams Mark and the Brown Palace. Packages can include all kinds of urban holiday-type activities from caroling on the 16th Street Mall to viewing the lighting display at the Denver City and County building to enjoying a cozy horse-drawn carriage ride.

These packages might also feature tickets to sporting or cultural events in Denver, Cook said.

Travel Organizers American Express, (303) 771-1178, arranges Denver Vacation Packages for the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau.

As cozy and charming as spending the winter holidays in Colorado might be, Betty Coble of Loveland’s Coble Cruise and Travel said she usually finds that Coloradans want to head for someplace warm over the holidays.

Coble said cruises are increasingly popular as holiday travel packages because everything, including the holiday dinner, is taken care of. “Our most popular holiday vacations are to the Caribbean,” she said. “Some people like to go over New Year’s. Then they can have a celebration on the ship.” And again, she noted, “nobody has to cook.”

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