Happenin’
Places › Colorado › Ouray
Ouray

Photo: Tony Webster / CC BY 2.0 · source

Attractions

Ouray

Ouray, CO · San Juan MountainsFreeFree to explore; street parking in town is free

About

Ouray's main street is a row of 1880s mining-boom buildings, the Wright Opera House and the Beaumont Hotel among them, with red-rock walls climbing straight up behind the roofs. At 7,792 feet the town is wedged so tightly between the San Juan peaks that it got the nickname Switzerland of America. The Million Dollar Highway starts here and runs south, and Ouray Hot Springs is in town for a soak when you get back. The walk to do is Box Canyon Falls, where Canyon Creek drops 285 feet into a quartzite slot.

Highlights

Historic 1880s mining-town main streetNorthern end of the Million Dollar HighwayOuray Hot SpringsBox Canyon Falls (285-foot drop)Switzerland of America in the San Juans

Getting there

1230 Main Street, Ouray, CO 81427

Related places

Telluride Attractions

Telluride

Telluride, CO · San Juan MountainsFree

Telluride sits at the dead-end of a glacial box canyon, a former silver-mining camp boxed in on three sides by 13,000-foot San Juan peaks with Bridal Veil Falls, Colorado's…

Aspen Attractions

Aspen

Aspen, CO · Aspen / Roaring Fork

Aspen's four ski mountains cover more than 5,700 acres around a town 7,908 feet up in Colorado's upper Roaring Fork Valley. The Silver Queen Gondola runs up Aspen Mountain to the…

San Juan Skyway Mountains

San Juan Skyway

Durango, CO · San Juan Mountains

The San Juan Skyway loops 236 miles from Durango through the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado, about six hours of driving by CDOT's count. US 550 takes the east side over…

More in Colorado

Others worth the drive in Colorado.

All of Colorado →
Independence Pass Mountains

Independence Pass

Aspen, CO · Aspen / Roaring Fork

Independence Pass carries Colorado 82 over the Continental Divide at 12,095 feet, between Aspen and Twin Lakes. CDOT usually opens it the Thursday before Memorial Day and closes…

Colorado National Monument Canyons & deserts

Colorado National Monument

Fruita, CO · Grand Valley, Western Colorado$

Colorado National Monument sits above the Grand Valley, where Wingate sandstone cliffs drop into red canyons. Rim Rock Drive runs 23 paved miles between the Fruita and Grand…

Rocky Mountain National Park Mountains

Rocky Mountain National Park

Estes Park, CO · Rocky Mountains$

Rocky Mountain National Park, in northern Colorado, has 77 named peaks over 12,000 feet. Trail Ridge Road crosses it for 48 miles between Estes Park and Grand Lake, eleven of…

Maroon Bells Mountains

Maroon Bells

Aspen, CO · Rocky Mountains$

Maroon Peak (14,163 feet) and North Maroon Peak (14,019) stand over Maroon Lake, about 12 miles southwest of Aspen. Their color comes from Maroon Formation mudstone, a weak rock…

Garden of the Gods Canyons & deserts

Garden of the Gods

Colorado Springs, CO · Rocky MountainsFree

In 1909 Charles Elliott Perkins' children deeded 480 acres of Garden of the Gods to Colorado Springs as "a free and public park forever," and it's still free. The paved Perkins…

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park Canyons & deserts

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Montrose, CO · Western Slope, Colorado$

The walls of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison drop as much as 2,722 feet and stand so close together that parts of the floor see only minutes of sun a day. From the South Rim's…

Part of these collections

The Rocky Mountains21 places

The Rocky Mountains

A summer list, mostly. Several of the high roads here close for the winter. July and August are the safe bet for driving all of them.