Colorado Springs sits at 6,035 feet at the base of Pikes Peak — a 14,115-foot summit that Katharine Lee Bates climbed in 1893 and called the inspiration for America the Beautiful. The city is defined by its geology: Garden of the Gods, a city park of 300-foot sandstone fins that took 300 million years to form, sits at the edge of the suburbs as if placed there deliberately. The mountains begin directly behind everything.
What to do there
- 01
Garden of the Gods at sunrise — the red and white sandstone formations glow orange at first light, and on a weekday morning before 7am you can walk the main loop almost alone. The Balanced Rock formation, the Three Graces, the Kissing Camels — all within a mile of the visitor center. Free, open year-round, one of the most spectacular city parks in America.
- 02
Pikes Peak by cog railway — the world's highest cog railroad, built in 1891, climbs 14 miles from Manitou Springs to the 14,115-foot summit. At the top on a clear day you can see four states. The Bates-Russell Visitor Center at the summit serves the best high-altitude donuts in Colorado (the altitude affects the recipe). Book weeks ahead.
- 03
Seven Falls in South Cheyenne Canyon — a series of seven cascading waterfalls in a granite box canyon accessible by trail or elevator. The canyon walls close to 130 feet apart at the narrowest point. Best in spring and early summer when snowmelt swells the falls. The evening light show runs nightly in summer.
- 04
Cave of the Winds — a cave system discovered in 1881 in Williams Canyon above Manitou Springs, with guided tours through caverns of calcite formations. The lantern tour runs Friday nights in summer — an hour by candlelight through rooms the electric lights never reach.
- 05
The Broadmoor hotel grounds — a 1918 Forbes Five-Star resort at the base of Cheyenne Mountain with three lakes, hiking trails, and a spa that's been operating for over a century. You don't need to stay there to walk the lake loop at dusk or have a drink on the lakeside terrace.
Best time to go
May through October for hiking and outdoor access. June and July are peak but the altitude keeps temperatures manageable. December through February for Pikes Peak in snow — the cog railway runs year-round and the summit view in winter is unforgettable.
Insider tip
Manitou Springs, the small town just below Garden of the Gods, has eight natural mineral springs with free public drinking fountains — each one tastes slightly different. The town is genuinely weird in the best way: Victorian mineral spa culture meets hippie enclave. The Cliff Dwellings museum nearby has actual Ancestral Puebloan structures relocated from Mesa Verde in 1906.
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