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So I'm just now to the point where I am exiting some stressful situations in my life and I think this is round about the time for me to start planning a vacation. I live in central Kansas and I'm thinking I'm just about due for a road trip over to Colorado and have a 'return to nature' type trip with no cell phone, no laptop, no internet. Right now my current thought is to take a 4 day trip out to a hot spring resort and set that up as my base camp. Going out hiking / kayaking / whatever during the day and coming back and soaking in a hot spring / sauna in the evening. As it just so happens, cursory research has told me Colorado has an overwhelming number of hot springs and I need help picking one out. My current thoughts. -Number of people going: 1, just myself. -Budget on lodgings: ~200/night is around my upper limit, though I'm willing to flex if there's somewhere exceptionally nice. I'd rather not have to rent out a 2 bedroom cabin or something because of the above though. -Would like to be reasonably close to a least a handful of local attractions / trails / activities and not stuck 2 hours out in the boonies from anything interesting -My preferences would be not to be at a 'family friendly' resort that has a bunch of kids around harshing my chill, though if there is a family place that comes highly recommended I would certainly consider it. -Tentatively this trip is being planned for the end of September, hopefully when it starts cooling down but before the mountains turn into snowy hell. So can anyone with personal experience give me any suggestions for what to look for? DeathSandwich fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Jun 23, 2017 |
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Jun 23, 2017 14:52
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 22:52 |
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Glenwood Springs is probably the major attraction. Big springs and poola with a variety of lodging options and located in the middle of the mountains near lots of outdoor and hiking attractions. However, it is family friendly and you'd probably see a lot of families and kids. It's more of a pool scene than thermal baths. I'm told that Indian Hot Springs in Idaho Springs is dumpy and not what you're looking for. The aptly named town of "Hot Sulphur Springs" has a little resort that looked decent when i saw the website recently, but I've never actually been there. Looks to be in your price range. Lots of hiking to do in the area. There are others that I'm not familiar with and will try to think about.
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Jun 28, 2017 20:45
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Brief research confirms that there is another spring area in Glenwood that is more spa like: Iron Mountain Hot Springs. No personal experience but looks decent. It doesn't have an attached hotel, so you could stay wherever.
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Jun 28, 2017 20:53
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I think most of these have lodging attached or nearby. Steamboat Springs has Strawberry Hot Springs which is a sulphur spring so it does smell, unlike some of the others, but I've heard from family that it was pretty cool. Near Salida-ish, there's Valley View Hot Springs that I think has some hiking trails in the nature preserve but is pretty isolated. Also a naturist facility so you're probably going to encounter more nudity here than in other places. Near Ridgway there's Orvis Hot Springs which is the only one I've been to, but I really enjoyed it. There were kids, but they weren't terribly obnoxious when I went. One large pond-like pool, an indoor pool (clothing required), a few smaller pools and a sauna. The place was gorgeous and I wish I had stayed as an overnight guest so I could have soaked at 2am with no one else around. The water was clear and didn't smell, I believe that it's a lithium spring rather than a sulphur. You're like an hour away from Telluride which has a ton of festivals and other stuff to do. The ones above are either fully clothing optional or clothing optional after dark. Pagosa Springs has a resort-style springs that is suit required. Also has an adults-only area. Ouray has a few, but mainly the one that comes to mind is their public-pool type that was recently renovated. There are also some natural ones that you can hike, Conundrum Hot Springs is one that comes to mind but apparently has an overcrowding problem. This article covers a few more.
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Jul 1, 2017 08:48
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Oh, this is interesting. Which of the places would be the most similar to hot springs in Japan? Specifically: 1) Naturist, mostly for adults and in general very quiet and uncrowded. 2) Nude 3) Very high temperature, 108-114F 4) Obviously, lack of chlorine 5) Can stay there for the evening These are some great ideas.
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Jul 5, 2017 21:59
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Thesaurus posted:Brief research confirms that there is another spring area in Glenwood that is more spa like: Iron Mountain Hot Springs. No personal experience but looks decent. It doesn't have an attached hotel, so you could stay wherever. Can confirm, I prefer Iron Mountain vs. the Glenwood pool. The smaller spas at Iron Mountain make for a better experience than the giant pool at Glenwood imo, and Iron Mountain also serves booze.
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Aug 24, 2017 21:25
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 22:52 |
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I went to Glenwood Springs over last New Year's and it was great! The town itself is very nice and friendly, and Hanging Lake is nearby. I forget which hot springs we went to, but they had a bunch of different pools so maybe it was Iron Mountain. The view was incredible, as was being in the water when it was like 10 degrees out. We'd love to go back and visit again sometime, maybe during the summer months to see how it is different. edit; oh jeez, I didn't realize I'd be bumping a possibly dead thread.
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Oct 23, 2017 20:34
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