Things to do / Travel Guide
Here's something that will certainly be music to your ears: just as the Colorado Rockies region delights travelers year-round, it's also a crowd-pleasing region 'round the clock. With après-ski locales perfect for a mellow (or upbeat) kind of winding down after a day on the slopes, pool hall-bars, live music locales, and top-notch drama and musical theater available, the region has many a venue at which to vivify your vacation with some after-hours action.
Après-ski Nightlife in the Colorado Rockies
While the slopes are sleeping and the ski-lifts take a snooze, the posh Northwest Colorado ski resort of Aspen has no trouble staying awake. Wood-paneled lodge lounges throughout the ski resort areas offer martinis and fireplaces while Snowmass Village boasts rowdy joints with trendy cocktails and late-night bands, jazz, and DJs. For a high-end hangout in Aspen, head to the J-Bar at Hotel Jerome, where you'll likely spot a celebrity or two. Also in Northwest Colorado, Steamboat Springs offers slope-side pubs (with drinks and dancing) that stay open until the wee hours of the morning; try Lincoln Avenue or Mt. Werner Road. Vail offers a couple of solid après-ski options to keep your blood warm on those cold winter nights: sit in front of a crackling fire at a village lodge or stop into one of the hangouts featuring live music groups. Vail's après-ski nightlife venues are centered around the Village or Lionshead. Telluride, in Southwest Colorado, offers après-ski locales ranging from hip and happening nightclubs (try the area near the Telluride Station gondola-ski lifts) to chilled-out cocktail-sipping lounges on Colorado Avenue.
Bars and Saloons in the Colorado Rockies
After a long and arduous day adventuring amidst Mother Nature's finest, the Colorado Rockies region has more than a few places where you can order a nice martini on the rocks or just throw back a couple of cold ones. Nearly every town has bars or saloons where you can either hang out, play pool, or unwind, but if it's a dank dive bar with a little local atmosphere you are in the mood for you can try the hardcore Wooden Nickel in Crested Butte, or the Last Dollar Saloon in the Southwest Colorado town of Telluride. Beer connoisseurs can also swish and swig samples of the savory suds produced in the region. Nearly every town has their own microbrewery including Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge in Northwest Colorado, and the Southwest Colorado communities of Telluride, and Durango. For a yuppie, upscale brew try Hyman Street and Copper Street in Aspen.
Live Music in the Colorado Rockies
You want to tap your feet, bob your head, and slap your thigh in time to the beat? The Colorado Rockies region has plenty of live music hotspots that are both harmonious and happening. In Northwest Colorado's Steamboat Springs, get your free copy of Steamboat Today or Steamboat Whistle (published daily) for an update on the evening's entertainment, or you can check out a bar or club in Ski Times Square. Restaurants in the Northwest Colorado town of Vail often host bands; the Vail Daily newspaper will give you the lowdown. Also in Northwest Colorado, Grand Junction's popular Main Street locales will get you in the mood for blues and jazz, and many of the area's hotels feature live music nights in their bars and lounges. Aspen's Whisky Rocks regularly rocks with the local jams and the night owls in Southwest Colorado's Durango flock mainly on Main Street.
Performing Arts Venues in the Colorado Rockies
Colorado Rockies' thespian talent runs the gamut of local players to award-winning productions. Suzanne's Broadway to Branson in the Southwest Colorado town of Ouray has a multi-genre musical show featuring country, big band, and Broadway tunes, and generally runs throughout the week. The Silverton Theatre Group in Southwest Colorado's Silverton offers a wide range of drama from George Bernard Shaw- to locally-written plays. Northwest Colorado's Grand Junction, as it turns out, is a junction for fine musical theater. The Cabaret Dinner Theater showcases the belting bravado of local and Broadway talent, performing musicals and comedies, whereas Greenshoe Theatre has more avant-garde, serious dramas. There's also the Avalon Theatre, which seats close to 1,000 for its top-notch live productions, concerts, and performances. For musical theater in a unique, café-style setting, try the Empire Theater.
Every summer, the Southwest Colorado community of Durango's Strater Hotel offers the Diamond Circle Melodrama, which Time magazine lauded as one of the top three sing-along, slap-stick comedy melodramas in the country. A town that prides itself on a commitment to the arts, nearly every night of the week in Durango you can find live theater, dance, or music performances at Durango Arts Center Theater, the Diamond Circle Theater, and the state-of-the-art Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. Durango is also home to a wide variety of dance ensembles; the Durango Ballet Academy, the Durango Round Dancers, and the International Folkdancing Club perform at venues throughout the city.
Wheeler Opera House in Northwest Colorado's Aspen nicely rounds out the Colorado Rockies entertainment scene with its big-name acts ranging from opera performances to Bonnie Raitt and Lyle Lovett concerts.
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