DESTINATIONS COLORADO | THE US
stay WHERE TO
MOUNTAIN LODGE TELLURIDE This atmospheric, cosy spot feels like a luxury alpine chalet with wooden decor and a peaceful location away from the main town, connected by gondolas that whisk you over in about 30 minutes. Rooms, split into separate lodges, are huge (my suite had a kitchen, living area, bedroom and balcony), and there’s a pool area with mountain views. Rooms from $249 per night.
mountainlodgetelluride.com
SHERATON DENVER DOWNTOWN Located on 16th Street Mall – the promenade that leads through the heart of the city – and close to cultural hotspots such as Denver Art Museum, this makes an excellent base. There are 1,000-plus rooms spread across several sprawling buildings, with rates from $289 per night.
marriott.co.uk
THE ARMSTRONG HOTEL Renovated in 2019, this boutique spot in downtown Fort Collins feels more like a family house than a hotel, with stylish monochrome decor, a lobby that doubles as a library and a bar that hosts jazz bands. Rooms from $110 per night.
thearmstronghotel.com
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Mountain Lodge Telluride; Bohemian Nights, Fort Collins; Blue Lake, Telluride PICTURES: Bohemian Nights
TELLURIDE While I’d come to Telluride to experience the Jazz Festival, I soon learnt it wasn’t the only event happening over the coming weeks. In summer, this laid-back, liberal mountain town – once a hub for silver mining, now an exclusive ski resort where the likes of Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey have homes – transforms into a cultural extravaganza almost every weekend. Among its biggest celebrations is the four-day
Bluegrass Festival, which takes place in June and attracts up to 15,000 people daily. Others include rock ’n’ roll-themed The Ride Festival, the much-talked- about Mushroom Festival, and Blues and Brews, which happens in September and has seen everyone from James Brown to BB King grace its stage. “In the late 1960s and 1970s, this defunct mining town saw an influx of hippies and returning Vietnam war veterans,” explains Peter Bell, executive director of the Telluride Society for Jazz. “They wanted to create this nice, free culture in Telluride. But they didn’t want to be cut off from the world’s culture, so the festivals started as a way of having a steady run of culture coming in.” Roll on 47 years (the Bluegrass Festival began in
1973) and those festivals are clearly still going strong, with bands from across the country taking to the fairytale-setting stage each year. Grammy-nominated funk bands Lettuce and Cha Wa were among the headliners on our lineup, getting the crowds jumping as darkness fell.
travelweekly.co.uk
33In summer, Telluride – once a hub for silver mining, now an exclusive ski resort – transforms into a cultural extravaganza almost every weekend
But it’s not just the music that appeals here. Telluride is something of a dream for hikers and mountain bikers in summer, and between bopping along to the swinging sounds of the sax, I found myself exploring a network of trails to admire pine-covered slopes plunging into valleys, and glassy lakes glowing out in shocks of electric-blue. Gondolas whisked us between the trails as alpine-like panoramas unfolded below; on one occasion, we spotted a black bear skulking along the paths, a tiny black dot on a patchwork of greens that seemed to spread on into infinity, and it was truly memorable.
FORT COLLINS It wasn’t just Telluride that dealt us its share of music and culture, though. We’d spent the previous night in Fort Collins, a charming Wild West-feel university town, located an hour’s drive north of Denver, where Western- style saloons, dusty antique stores and leather-strewn cowboy shops line one main street. You can catch live bands pretty much every night
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