Colorado Travel Forum

We are flying into Denver on Sept 6th and back on Sept 20th. We have a reso for 2 nights in Estes. After that our basic plan is Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Black Canyon of Gunnison, Telluride, Ouray to Durango and Mesa Verde. Next, we will head back to Denver thru Canon City and Colorado Springs. We are 2 adults and are wondering if it is possible during that time NOT to make lodging arrangements in advance. We really would prefer not to stick to a schedule. Do you think this is possible or are we asking for trouble? Thanks. Sharon

Sounds like a really fun trip. I'd also add the sand dunes and make sure you spend at least two nights in Colorado Springs. It's a fun town and there's lots to do.
Per the lodging, September will be slightly slower, and I doubt that you'll encounter anything full, but it's close enough to Labor Day that it may happen for some of the more popular places, especially warmer areas like Durango. It's always best to book in advance, of course, but I like on-the-whim traveling as well. What I typically do is book hotels in advance which have a good cancellation policy (24 hours is pretty standard, but some of the chains allow you to cancel up to 6pm on the day of) then take my laptop with me. If I suddenly change my mind about a place, I just whip it out, cancel the old hotel and book the new one. Reason being that you are nearly always going to get better deals by booking the room in advance.

I did a similar route about 2 years ago, what we did was picked up hotel discount magazines en route at the rest areas or travel centers when we were certain we would be stopping at a place and called from the road prior to reaching our destination to see if they had rooms available. We had no problems except in Denver. We got there very late at night and several places were already booked, but we eventually found a very nice hotel (La Quinta Inn) and also had a discount coupon for them from the hotel booklet we picked up at a travel center. If you get to Denver it is also worth visiting Boulder which is very very close to Denver, you can even visit Boulder for the day and spend the night in Denver. It's a very nice city and great places to hike or just have lunch and do a little walking.
Good luck and have a great time.
P.S. Actually, it may be worth it to make advance reservations in Glenwood Springs. Now that I think back we did encounter some problems getting a nice place there, so we skipped spending the night there and just spent the day. But we were there during the month of August, so that may have made the difference.