Things to do in  Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs is most well-known for two things: Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak. Garden of the Gods, a sandstone, red-rock playground, is a registered National Natural Landmark and free to enter. Pikes Peak, aka America’s Mountain, is the highest summit of the Rocky Moutains’ southern Front Range. Visitors can drive to the top.

The top attraction in Colorado Springs is Garden of the Gods; its 300-foot sandstone cliffs make the park quite popular with both locals and visitors. A registered National Natural Landmark, the red-rock expanse is littered with great views, family-friendly hiking trails, and easy scenic drives. And it’s always free to enter.

Three days is a good amount of time to see Colorado Springs’ best sights. You’ll have time to get up to the top of Pikes Peak, explore Garden of the Gods, wander through Paint Mines Interpretive Park, and visit several of the city’s best restaurants and breweries.

Downtown is one of Colorado Springs’ most walkable neighborhoods—and is also bikeable. You can hoof it from the new U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum to performing arts centers, nightclubs and breweries, indie boutiques, hip eateries, green spaces like Monument Valley Park, the Colorado College campus, and more.

The cost of living in Colorado Springs is about five percent higher than the national average. That said, it’s still less expensive than nearby Denver, and travelers won’t notice a real difference between Colorado Springs and other mid-size US cities when it comes to costs for hotels and food.

That depends. Denver is closer to Rocky Mountain National Park, has Colorado’s main airport, and is full of the award-winning food and culture you would expect of the state’s trendiest city. Colorado Springs has many amenities similar to Denver—plus access to spots like Pikes Peak—but with a bit less traffic and congestion.