17 things you should know before visiting Colorado

The 32nd annual Colorado Mountain Winefest took place this month in Palisade, Colorado, and with it came a showcase of just how far Colorado wine has come.

Spooky season is upon us, and leave it to historic hotels to tell some of the very best ghost stories about guests who never checked out. In fact, Historic Hotels of America keeps a running list of its 25 most haunted hotels and many hotels market their ghosts with tours and merchandise to help drum up revenue to cover historic preservation costs.

From the surf beaches of the Pacific coast and the snow-capped peaks of the Andes to the Galapagos Islands and the humid Amazon Basin, Ecuador serves up epic travel experiences in every season and all in an area only slightly larger than Colorado.

Would you rather spend the night in a luxury hotel or a wine barrel that's been converted into a tiny home? 

As bellhops grabbed my bags, a valet driver swiped my car keys, and a receptionist handed me a key to my room at The Little Nell, a five-star hotel in Aspen, Colorado, I was already feeling the pressure of time.

With its endless blue skies and hiking, climbing and exploring galore, Colorado is a wonderful place to introduce the kiddos to the great outdoors.

The best time to visit Colorado depends on how you want to spend your time in the Centennial State. From world-class skiing and snowboarding in the winter to picturesque hiking and mountain biking in the summer, Colorado is all about outdoor recreation, which is largely seasonal and weather-dependent.

Those looking to travel for the solar eclipse in October have an array of affordable options when choosing what city to head to.

Terry and Al Hershey can afford to live anywhere they please after their successful careers—she in the corporate offices of Time Warner, he running businesses in medical device manufacturing and contract research and development. So, when they loaded up their 34-foot RV at their Bonita Springs, Florida home and hit the road to scout a second retirement locale, they headed to what might sound like a surprising place: Traverse City, Michigan, a small town (population 16,000) 250 miles northwest of Detroit, that sits on a bay opening to Lake Michigan. In 2021, the Hersheys moved into a 132-year-old, 5-bedroom Victorian three blocks from Grand Traverse Bay, where they spend six months a year with their goldendoodle and Aussiedoodle. Now both 76, they hike, bike, kayak and motorboat and can choose from scores of musical performances a year at the nearby Interlochen Center for the Arts and by the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. “We wanted a summer base,” Terry explains. Why not spend all year in Traverse City? They don’t mind the cold (they lived for many years in Colorado), but find the lack of sunshine during the winters in Traverse City too dreary, she says.

Colorado is a large, geographically diverse state that’s best explored by car.

Colorado’s culinary scene is officially on the Michelin map: Five restaurants have earned Michelin stars and dozens more garnered recommendations from the esteemed guide.

Travelers are drawn to Arizona by the blinding desert sunshine, but the Grand Canyon state has so much more to offer. Under these flawless blue skies, everything you can imagine to entice, entertain and enthrall is up for grabs.