A Place Like Nowhere Else
Tucked into a picturesque valley below the iconic Flatirons, Boulder is a world-class destination offering 300 days of sunshine and an impressive variety of recreation, shopping, dining, cultural and entertainment choices. It's no wonder National Geographic named Boulder the Happiest City in America.
Staying in Boulder Hotels
Hotels With Courtesy Blocks
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Cut-off
Additional Hotels In The Boulder Area
The Marriott (website)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES IN THE BOULDER AREA
TRANSPORTATION (local Hop, Skip & Jump Bus routes)
https://bouldercolorado.gov/services/bus#section-1075
Visit Boulder – Tourism Dept
https://www.bouldercoloradousa.com/
Getting Around
It’s easy to get around in Boulder with or without a car. The city offers more than 300 miles of bike and multi-use paths, plus frequent and convenient transit service.
Recreation
Boulder has preserved more than 46,000 acres of open space. Enjoy a casual stroll down Boulder Creek Path in town or get out and explore some our 155 miles of open space trails.
Fishing
Destinations
There are endless ways to enjoy Boulder's 300-plus days of sunshine a year, but here are some popular places to visit.
The city is filled with culture and arts, boasting a variety of museums, galleries, music venues, and theaters. And with a vibrant culinary scene featuring cuisines from every part of the world, you never have to worry about running out of places to eat!
https://www.bouldercoloradousa.com/events/live-music/
Boulder facts:
Pre-human inhabitants:
During the Cretaceous period, 135 million years ago, Boulder was an ancient sea and fossils from marine reptiles and other invertebrates are frequently found when digging to build new buildings or when renovating. Henderson Museum on the CU campus or the Museum of Nature and Science in Denver
Indigenous History:
The earliest inhabitants of the Boulder area were the Clovis People who lived here about 13,000 years ago. An exhibit of artifacts can be found in the Henderson Museum.
Indigenous people, predominantly the Ute (Nuciu) people traveled through most of Colorado and Utah for thousands of years. The Arapaho (Hinonoeino) people wintered in Colorado for hundreds of years before they were removed to reservations in Oklahoma and Wyoming in the late 1800s.
Sea invasion
A large inland sea, known as the Western Interior Seaway, moved into the Boulder area from the north and south, submerging it for millions of years. The sea deposited 9,000 feet of sediment, including beach sand and marine shales, that formed the Benton, Niobrara, and Pierre Formations. The sandy beaches of the sea hardened into the Dakota sandstone, which can be seen in Boulder today with ripple marks that indicate the area was once coastal.
Swamp forests
Swamps and forests existed beyond the shores of the sea, where early flowering plants and three-horned Triceratops dinosaurs foraged. The remains of these swamp forests are now underground coal deposits that were once mined in the Boulder area. The first known Triceratops fossil was discovered in Denver in the late 1880s, and a full Triceratops skeleton is now on display in Boulder.
Marine life
The Western Interior Seaway was home to many marine organisms, including algae, fish, molluscs, and marine reptiles like the mosasaur and plesiosaur. Fossils of these organisms can be found in the soft sedimentary rocks of the Benton, Niobrara, and Pierre Formations.
DINOSAUR RIDGE:
Near to Boulder, Triceratops and Stegasaurus tracks have been found
This National Natural Landmark is the site of more than 300 dinosaur tracks, with 250 at the main tracksite, and is now ranked by paleontologists as #1 dinosaur tracksite in America. This is also the location of the world’s first Stegosaurus fossil discovery! A quarter of a million visitors explored Dinosaur Ridge in 2021, helping us fulfill our dual missions of education and fossil preservation.
The Dinosaur Ridge Trail is a paved section of West Alameda Parkway, which is open to pedestrians, bicyclists, and hikers, and closed to motorized traffic. The site is world-famous for its Cretaceous period tracks and Jurassic period bones and remarkable geologic features. With more than 15 fossil and geologic sites, each marked by interpretive signage, that can be accessed by foot, bike, or guided bus tour, there is nothing in the world like it. Walking the Ridge Trail takes 1-2 hours and is just over two miles round-trip on an inclined paved road.
Construction of West Alameda Parkway was finished in 1937. The road cut into the Dakota Hogback uncovered rock layers with fossilized dinosaur and prehistoric crocodile footprints. Designated by the National Park Service as a National Natural Landmark and named by the State of Colorado as a Colorado Natural Area, Dinosaur Ridge welcomes approximately 250,000 people per year.
Triceratops Trail is a 1.5-mile, gravel hiking trail located one block east of 6th Avenue and 19th Street in Golden, Colorado. The trail winds between large, vertical walls of sandstone in old clay mining pits. The hike takes about an hour round-trip.
Along the trail are several interpretive stops highlighting the geology and clay mining as well as dinosaur, bird, mammal, insect, and invertebrate tracks and traces. The site is also famous for palm frond and other leaf and plant impressions left behind when this was a delta-like, wet environment.
Other Attractions
- Colorado Shakespeare Festival at the University of Colorado Boulder outdoor theater
- Wednesday evenings: Bands on the Bricks outdoor concerts June 12-July 31
- Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater – about 30-40 minute drive from Boulder
- Rocky Mountain National Park – 45-60 minute drive from Boulder
- Rocky Mountain towns – 1 hour to 1.5 hour drive from Boulder - on the I-70 corridor
- Eldorado Canyon State Park- 15 minutes from Boulder
- Chautauqua Auditorium Concerts
- Micro Breweries
- Bike riding
- Climbing
- Running