The Beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park
Colorado’s magnificent Rocky Mountains offer no shortage of unforgettable national and state park destinations, including underrated national park sites like the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Great Sand Dunes. However, the crown jewel of the Colorado Rockies for millions of visitors is undoubtedly the appropriately named Rocky Mountain National Park.
Protecting a particularly beautiful stretch of the Colorado Rockies Front Range just north of the city of Boulder, Rocky Mountain National Park is perfect for amazing solo trips and family adventures. And with scenic roads like the breathtaking “Highway to the Sky” of Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park even brings its towering mountain peaks within driving distance.
Rocky Mountain National Park is much more than its iconic Rocky Mountain scenery, however. Right next door awaits one of the most acclaimed national park towns in the United States. Sitting right at the edge of the picturesque Front Range, the town of Estes Park would be an incredible destination for background scenery alone.
And yet, Estes Park offers visitors quite a bit more than just its breathtaking mountain scenery. With exceptional opportunities for outdoor recreation, unique cultural and historic sites, and oodles of places for shopping, dining, and sightseeing, Estes Park is the perfect gateway to the Colorado Rockies, and the epitome of Colorado’s small-town treasures.
Estes Park Is The Main Gateway To One Of America’s Most Beloved National Parks
Rocky Mountain National Park covers around 415 square miles of pristine mountain terrain, close enough to major cities like Denver to be accessible via a day trip, while still wild enough to showcase the mighty Rockies as they are meant to be seen. Given its size, Rocky Mountain National Park has four main entrance stations. Different entrance stations give visitors opportunities to explore lesser-seen sides of the park, and with them, lesser-visited communities that border the park. The park’s under-the-radar western border, for instance, borders the scenic but underrated Colorado town of Grand Lake.
However, for most visitors, Rocky Mountain National Park’s eastern side is the main gateway. Conveniently, two of the park’s four entrances are within a few miles of Estes Park. The Beaver Meadows entrance station, usually the park’s busiest, is only 3.5 miles west of Estes Park, while the Fall River Entrance Station is a mere four miles west of town. From these entrance stations, visitors can access many of the park’s main thoroughfares, including US Routes 34 and 36 (the former serving as the high-elevation Trail Ridge Road through much of the park).
The Estes Park entrance stations give visitors prime access to many of Rocky Mountain National Park’s most famous attractions, like the heavenly Emerald Lake and its associated trail (currently the highest-rated trail in Colorado, according to AllTrails.com).
South of Estes Park, along Colorado State Highway 7, stands the 14,257-foot Longs Peak, the highest mountain in the park and the only Rocky Mountain National Park peak to exceed the 14er threshold. Though Longs Peak has claimed the lives of more than 75 people over the years, it remains the park’s premier destination for challenging mountaineering adventures, particularly via its breathtaking Keyhole Route.
Unfortunately, with such acclaimed sights and experiences, Rocky Mountain National Park can suffer from overcrowding, particularly during the peak summer season. If national park crowds aren’t for you, but you still want to experience the grandeur of Colorado’s Rockies during your Estes Park trip, you do have a much less-crowded alternative nearby. Just north of Estes Park, straddling the border of the acclaimed national park, sits the unsung Roosevelt National Forest.
Though Roosevelt and its neighboring Arapaho National Forest are among the most-visited national forests in the country, they still get far smaller crowds than the extremely popular Rocky Mountain National Park (which saw more than four million visitors in 2024 alone). If you’re willing to make the roughly 90-minute drive north of Estes Park, you can enjoy Roosevelt National Forest’s 800,000+ acres of glorious mountain peaks, pristine forests, and recreational opportunities, all without the crowds and vehicle traffic that can afflict the far more popular Rocky Mountain National Park.
National Park Aside, Estes Park Has Plenty Of Amazing Attractions Of Its Own
An outdoor paradise as grand as Rocky Mountain National Park will usually get most of the attention—for fairly obvious reasons. However, Estes Park has plenty of extraordinary sights and experiences within its own borders, perfect for visitors who would prefer to admire the nearby mountain peaks from afar without having to make the trek out to the park itself.
The most famous attraction within Estes Park itself is arguably the notorious Stanley Hotel. If you’ve never heard of the Stanley Hotel before, this lovely historic building looks serene enough at first glance, with an eye-pleasing white exterior decorating a historic Colonial Revival facade, and backed by a gorgeous panorama of the Rocky Mountain foothills. Dig a little deeper into its history, however, and suddenly you’re entering horror movie territory.
Though it dates back to the first decade of the 20th Century, the Stanley Hotel’s notoriety begins in the 1970s, when it hosted an up-and-coming novelist by the name of Stephen King on one particularly harsh winter’s night. The hotel’s creepy atmosphere, made all the more suffocating by the bleak winter weather, left a clear impression on King, inspiring him to write a little horror novel called The Shining. That novel, and its 1980 film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick, made the Stanley Hotel a major pilgrimage destination for horror fans across the globe.
With the hotel’s long history and close horror association, many visitors still report seeing ghosts in its antique halls. As such, the Stanley Hotel ranks high on the list of iconic American “haunted” hotels with alleged paranormal activity. Even if you’re not a believer in the supernatural, you can still learn more about the hotel’s pop culture impact on a guided Shining tour.
Outside its famous hotel, Estes Park also has a vibrant downtown area that’s perfect for urban walking tours amid a stunning mountain backdrop. After you’ve visited some of the town’s more than 300 shops, you can head over to the Estes Park Riverwalk for a gorgeous stroll in a magical urban park right at the confluence of the Big Thompson and Fall Rivers. Art lovers can admire Estes Park’s superb street art displays and art galleries on an enriching art walk. And if your ghost tour of the Stanley Hotel didn’t quite quench your thirst for spirits, you can head over to one of Estes Park’s many breweries, wineries, and distilleries for a grand tour of the town’s intoxicating side.
Finally, the best way to see Estes Park is via the spectacular Estes Park Aerial Tram. During its operating season (usually between May and November), the Estes Park Aerial Tram provides a heart-pounding ascent several thousand feet above the town, via a cable car that travels up to the side of the 8,900-foot Prospect Mountain. Adult tickets for the Estes Park Aerial Tram begin at $42.95 and can be purchased online during the operating season.
How To Have The Perfect Estes Park Getaway
For all of its impeccable mountain charms, Estes Park is not too far away from one of the nation’s largest and busiest airports. Beginning from Denver International Airport, the drive north to Estes Park is only about an hour and a half via US Route 36. The town itself sits at an elevation of around 7,500 feet above sea level, just below the normal threshold for altitude sickness (though visitors with certain medical conditions should still take precautions), but high enough to provide an inviting atmosphere of crisp mountain air.
With such prime mountain real estate, Estes Park is the perfect base camp for all sorts of once-in-a-lifetime outdoor adventures. The town’s Rocky Mountain setting quite obviously provides abundant rock climbing opportunities. At the same time, Estes Park’s location near several prominent mountain rivers offers both excellent fishing opportunities and adrenaline-inducing whitewater rafting adventures.
If you want to indulge your inner cowboy, Estes Park outfitters offer excellent horseback riding trips through the mountains. And if you and your significant other are looking to tie the knot in style, Estes Park also features some of the country’s most visually stunning wedding venues.
Estes Park’s extensive collection of attractions, big and small, means a diverse range of overnight options for visitors. Multi-day guests of Estes Park can stay at everything from luxury hotels and resorts to rustic campgrounds and RV parks in the heart of the mountains. If you want to experience Estes Park in its small-town glory, you can book a stay at one of its lovely bed and breakfasts.
And if you want to experience the mountains first-hand without forgoing all modern luxuries, you can reserve one of the many excellent cabins and cottages spread across town. For example, Estes Park’s acclaimed YMCA of the Rockies offers cozy, multi-room cabin rentals with unsurpassed views of the town’s sublime mountain beauty!
