Aspen, Colorado, CO-USA Cheapest Hotels Motels Listed by Price
Coffee-table magazines might have you believe that a tollgate outside ASPEN only admits film stars and the super-rich. This elite ski resort , two hundred miles west of Denver via Leadville, is indeed home to the likes of Cher, Jack Nicholson and Goldie Hawn, but it can be an affordable and very appealing place for anyone visit in summer - unless you're on an absolute shoestring budget. Visiting in winter requires more cash, though you can save money by commuting to the slopes from Glenwood Springs, less than fifty miles away. From inauspicious beginnings in 1879, this pristine mountain-locked town developed slowly, thanks to its remote location, to become one of the world's top silver producers. By the time the silver market crashed fourteen years later, it had acquired tasteful residential palaces, grand hotels and an opera house. In the 1930s, when the population slumped below seven hundred, it was, ironically, the anti-poverty WPA program that gave the struggling community the cash to build its first crude ski lift in 1936. Entrepreneurs seized the opportunity presented by the varied terrain and plentiful snow, and the first chairlift was dedicated on Aspen Mountain (now known as Ajax ) in 1947. Skiing has since spread to three more mountains - Aspen Highlands, Snowmass and Buttermilk Mountain, and the jet set arrived in force during the 1960s. Development is a burning political issue: tight architectural constraints have been placed on businesses ( McDonald's is forbidden to have a neon sign), but the last decade has seen yet more Scandinavian-style lodges, condo blocks and giant houses that remain empty for most of the year.
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The town and the mountains
Despite the virtually limitless recreation opportunities in the surrounding mountains, there's not all that much to do in Aspen itself. Even so, sitting around the town's leafy pedestrianized streets, watching the world go by, or browsing in the chichi stores and galleries is a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. In summer, the Aspen Historical Society Museum, 620 W Bleeker St, offers walking tours of Aspen and nearby ghost towns. The Aspen Art Museum at 590 N Mill St holds changing exhibits, lectures and special events; Aspen Center for Environmental Studies , 100 S Puppy Smith St, is a wildlife sanctuary, which gives guided nature tours of some of the taller peaks in the Elk Mountain Range. Aspen's four mountains are run by the Aspen Ski Co; call 1/888-ASPENSNO for conditions. The mogul-packed monster of Aspen Mountain , looming over downtown, is for experienced skiers only; Buttermilk is great for beginners, with an excellent ski school that offers a three-day guaranteed "Learn to Snowboard" program; the wide-open runs of Snowmass , though mostly for intermediate skiers, feature some testing routes. Aspen Highlands has some new high-speed lifts and offers excellent extreme skiing terrain. Daily lift tickets for all mountains cost $45 (up to 27 years) or $65 (27 years and older). Rental of skis, boots and poles usually costs around $18 a day - you can also rent snowshoes in which to trek up and down the mountains. However, the town's best value has to be its fifty miles of groomed Nordic ski trails - one of the most extensive free cross-country trail networks in the US.
Aspen, Colorado, CO-USA Cheapest Hotels Motels Listed by Price
Cycling is the main summer pursuit; The Hub, 315 E Hyman Ave has a wide range of bikes, while Timberline, 204 S Galena St is the cheapest for mountain bikes, and also organizes tours. The Roaring Fork River , surging out of the Sawatch range, is excellent for kayaking and rafting, but sections can be dangerous and every summer sees a few fatalities. Blazing Paddles is not the lowest-priced company, but it does have a good safety record. If you fancy walking in the mountains, the Silver Queen gondola climbs from 601 Dean St to the summit of Ajax (daily 10am-4pm; $18), where guided nature walks set off on the hour from 11am to 3pm. Occasional free lunchtime concerts and talks are held up here, and there's a good restaurant. Even more alluring is the landscape around the twin purple-gray peaks of the Maroon Bells , fifteen miles southwest, soaring above the dark-blue Maroon Lake. The road is closed between 8.30am and 5pm, except for overnight campers with permits, travelers with disabilities and RFTA buses, which leave daily from the Rubey Park transit center (every 30min 9am-4.30pm; $5 round-trip, or $19 combination ticket with gondola ride). Details on hiking are available from the ranger station.
Aspen, Colorado, CO-USA Cheapest Hotels Motels Listed by Price
