Estes Park and the Peak to Peak Highway

During my time in Nederland, Colorado, I drove the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway to Estes Park.

The Peak to Peak Highway

What my hosts in Nederland simply called, “the highway” is the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway. It travels north to Estes Park and south to I-70 near the Black Hawk and Central City casinos. The drive makes a nice day trip from either Estes Park or Denver.

Starting in Nederland on the south end, I dipped down to drive through Golden and the casino cities before heading back north towards Estes Park. There are interesting stops along the way – here’s a good list – but my goal this trip was mainly Estes Park.

Suggested (very loose) Itineraries

Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park deserve days of their own. But I can imagine a loose Peak-to-Peak itinerary starting with coffee in Estes Park, dropping into the Seven Keys Lodge and the Chapel on the Rock before brunch at Meadow Mountain Cafe in Allenspark featuring their famous cinnamon rolls. Then an after-meal walk around Wild Basin with a view of Long’s Peak, and a hike at Ceran St. Vrain. Then down to Ward and a peek at Brainard Lake and Indian Peaks Wildnerness area. By then you’ve probably worked up enough of an appetite for lunch in Nederland, with a walk around town and a ride on the carousel. An afternoon can be spent in Central City and Black Hawk, even if you don’t gamble. Then Golden or Denver for dinner at the end of the day.

In the reverse, breakfast in Golden with a morning spent in Black Hawk & Central City, followed by lunch in Nederland and an afternoon walking around the Ward and Allenspark activities. There’s a nice charcuterie board at the Seven Keys Lodge before a proper dinner in Estes Park, maybe in the Stanley Hotel. (The distances aren’t great, so that may be expecting too many meals out of a short trip, but you’ve got time for a proper hike or museum tour!)

Estes Park

Estes Park, Colorado is the tourist mountain town near Rocky Mountain National Park, kind of like Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge is to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Though Estes Park didn’t go in for the fake Bavarian village look, thank goodness. It’s all mountain aesthetic here from wooden clapboard shops to a clear mountain stream flowing behind the main drag.

Stanley Hotel

What’s not on the main drag is the famed Stanley Hotel. I thought I’d be able to see it from the street but I actually had to plug it into my GPS! The Stanley Hotel is named for Freelan Oscar Stanley – of “Stanley Steamer” car fame – who opened the hotel in 1909. Then in the ’70s, a solitary stay at the hotel inspired author Stephen King to write his famous horror novel The Shining.

Now, it’s a popular spot for visitors and tours as well as offering four different options for guest accommodations and four restaurants.

Visiting the Stanley Hotel

If you’re a visitor and not a guest of the Stanley Hotel, you’ll have to pay $10 for parking but you get a medallion good for $5 off any purchase you make. There’s a small corner entrance to a lower floor with a coffee shop and tour offices and some bathrooms. But you can also walk through the front door to the grand hotel lobby to take pictures and look at the quirky gift shop there.

There are two tours at the Stanley Hotel, a 60-minute daytime history tour, and a 60-minute evening ghost tour because, oh yes, the Stanley is haunted. Definitely book ahead for the tours you want to take, especially the more summery and weekend-y your visit. (When I showed up mid-morning on a Saturday, the next available tour wasn’t until 3:00 pm.) Day tours are $24 per adult, $17 for ages 8-17, and $21 for hotel guests, seniors 55+, military, and AAA members. Evening ghost tours are $28 for age 8+, or $25 for hotel guests, seniors 55+, military, and AAA members. No one under age 8 is allowed on either tour. Book all tours on the hotel’s website.

Otherwise, you can have coffee or ice cream in the downstairs gift shop, look at historic pictures lining the walls, look around the lobby, and walk around the movie-inspired hedge maze out front. To be honest, it’s quite a bit smaller than I had expected, and there aren’t a lot of grounds to look around. But definitely try to take a tour if you visit the Stanley Hotel.

Downtown Estes Park

The rest of Estes Park is the convergence of 5 majorish roads, including the Peak to Peak Highway. A quaint downtown area provides lots of shopping and dining. The Estes Park website says there are 71 restaurants, 94 shops, and 108 places to stay, including cabin rental outfits and campsites. The main downtown stretch is along Elkhorn and Moraine Avenues, though the commercial areas extend out further. I had a great meal at Boss Burgers & Gyros nearer the entrance to the National Park.

Behind all the shops is a riverwalk with a clear mountain stream, plazas, bridges, benches, and statues. It’s really nice and a nicer way to walk between shops than the street side.

Parking in Estes Park

There are various paid and free parking lots around Estes Park – the closer to the center of town, the more you pay, naturally. But there’s a huge free lot at the visitor center with free shuttles around town. I ended up parking for free close to a playground on Ivy street near the base of the Aerial Tramway and walking along the river to Bond Park and up and down the main strip.

Mustang Mountain Coaster

While I was walking around, I found a window advertising the Mustang Mountain Coaster, about a 5-minute drive out of town. By buying at this ticket window near Bond Park, I saved $5 off a $35 ticket for three rides on the mountain coaster, which is definitely the way to go. It’s fast and fun, but it’s short. The Mustang is a new mountain coaster and the staff is a lot of fun! Parking at the coaster is free.

Estes Park Aerial Tramway

At the end of my day in Estes Park, I decided to ride the Estes Park Aerial Tramway, an old-style gondola ride up Prospect Mountain. It’s a popular ride and especially so at sunset, so be prepared for long lines! And when I say old school, I mean old school. It’s not like a big, modern ski resort gondola with lots of stabilizers up the hillside. It’s a bucket with looooong cables to the top. Which means when it’s windy or empty, there can be a LOT of sway.

Once you’re at the top, there is a gift shop and snacks, and you can walk around and take pictures. There’s not one particular spot that is a fantastic overlook to Estes Park below, but there are some good viewing spots with telescopes along the walkway from the gift shop. During the evening hours in the fall, the sun sets toward the national park and puts the whole valley in shadow. There is better light for photos of the valley first thing in the morning.

The ride on the Aerial Tram costs $16 for adults, $14 for seniors 60+, and $10 for kids 6-10. Children 5 and under ride free with a paying adult. Parking is free.

Driving the Peak to Peak Home

While the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway is a winding mountain road, it’s still major enough to be fairly easy to travel at night. Keep an eye out for elk or deer, but driving on it is not anything to be afraid of after the sun goes down, in case you’ve ended your night at one end and need to get to the other.