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8-Nights Western Rails & Canyons With Rocky Mountaineer

Price: $5,889 - # of Days: 8 days
All aboard for a spectacular 9-day adventure through the American Southwest! Your tour through Colorado and Utah begins with an overnight stay in the ‘Mile High City’ of Denver-5,280 feet above sea level. In Colorado Springs, board the Pikes Peak cog railway to reach the summit that inspired ‘Americ...

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10-Nights Historic Trains Of The Old West With Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Price: $5,429 - # of Days: 10 days
All aboard! Calling all trainspotters and railway enthusiasts! You’ll love riding the rails into the unspoiled scenic past of Colorado. This tour of the U.S. West is just the ticket to chug through the untamed beauty of the Royal Gorge aboard the Royal Gorge Route Railway; through the magnificent me...

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8-Nights The Best of Colorado

Price: $2,295 - # of Days: 8 days
The Best Of ColoradoIndulge your spirit of adventure on this Colorado trip across red-rock, prairie and plains-filled landscapes including Rocky Mountain National Park and Colorado National Monument, then go back in time in Durango and Ouray. Wild West railroads and Gold Rush towns dot this fun-fill...

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8-Nights Historic Trains Of The Old West

Price: $4,179 - # of Days: 8 days
All aboard! Calling all trainspotters and railway enthusiasts! You’ll love riding the rails into the unspoiled scenic past of Colorado. This tour of the U.S. West is just the ticket to chug through the untamed beauty of the Royal Gorge aboard the Royal Gorge Route Railway; through the magnificent ...

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9-Nights Welcome to Colorado

Price: $3,555 - # of Days: 9 days
Welcome To ColoradoEnjoy Colorado sightseeing visiting Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, and Great Sand Dunes National Parks, hearing captivating tales of the Gold Rush, ride aboard historic trains and drive the scenic "Million Dollar" and Peak to Peak Highways against the unforgettable backdrop of red-ro...

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Overview

Introduction

Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been a popular resort town since the 1870s. It is the second largest city in Colorado and is the seat of El Paso County. Located only an hour south of Denver near the base of Pikes Peak—a soaring mountain whose summit is famous for inspiring Katharine Lee Bates to write "America the Beautiful" in 1893—Colorado Springs is much more than a mere mountain escape.

Colorado Springs is important to the U.S. military. The U.S. Air Force and Army have nearby bases, as does the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, located somewhere inside Cheyenne Mountain. The area is also an important base for Christian conservatism and several major evangelical megachurches.

Tourism, however, is the reason Colorado Springs was established, and it continues to be a prime part of the economy. There are so many things to do and see in Colorado Springs and the nearby mountains that you can spend weeks there without getting bored. From jaw-dropping natural attractions such as Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods and Cave of the Winds to a plethora of man-made attractions that include ancient Manitou Cliff Dwellings, a host of eclectic museums, and The Broadmoor historic hotel and Glen Eyrie Castle—you'd be hard pressed to find another area with so many family-friendly things to do.

In Colorado Springs, Old West history lurks around every corner, and many visitors focus on visiting ghost towns, old gold mines, cowboy camps and dude ranches. Of course, this is also a modern city and there are fine arts, performing arts, competitive sports, and a wonderful bike and trail system. Colorado Springs is also the site of one of three U.S. Olympic Training Centers, open to complimentary tours year-round. A broad range of accommodations and restaurants serve your basic needs between adventures.

Must See or Do

Sights—Panoramic views from the top of Pikes Peak; awe-inspiring rock formations at Garden of the Gods, impressive cascades at Seven Falls; sheer canyon walls at Royal Gorge in Canon City.

Museums—Old West artifacts at the free Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum; variety of art exhibits at Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Manitou Cliff Dwellings museum; Victorian furnishings at Miramont Castle.

Memorable Meals—Dining in a U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-97 tanker at The Airplane Restaurant; breakfast all day at Bon Ton's Cafe; seven-course Chef's Tasting Menu at the Penrose Room at The Broadmoor; all-bacon burger at underground The Rabbit Hole; the best beignets at Springs Orleans.

Late Night—Guinness on tap at Jack Quinn's Irish Alehouse & Pub; billiards at Phantom Canyon Brewing Company; line dancing at Cowboys; piano sing-alongs at the Golden Bee; karaoke at Mansion nightclub.

Walks—Take the leisurely loop trails in Garden of the Gods; conquer Barr Trail on Pikes Peak; stroll The Broadmoor resort grounds; window shop along West Colorado Avenue in Old Colorado City; locate all the natural mineral springs in Manitou Springs.

Especially for Kids—Feed the giraffes at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo; ride a horse at Academy Riding Stables; play games at the Manitou Springs Arcade; go underground at Cave of the Winds.

Geography

At 6,035 ft/1,840 m above sea level, Colorado Springs resides at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains just as they meet the plains, at the base of 14,115-ft/4,302-m Pikes Peak—one of 54 mountains in the state higher than 14,000 ft/4,267 m. The weather is generally dry, sunny and mild. The mountains to the west often absorb storms and moisture before they reach the Front Range, and the plains to the east sometimes generate warming winds in the winter.

The city spans 194 sq mi/504 sq km, most of it fairly flat but also including a few rises and rock formations; Colorado Springs spreads east from the Fountain Creek canyon mouth, where the snow melt and mountain rains run into the plains.

The north-south range of foothill mountains, which eventually ascend west into snow-capped peaks, contain the first line of interesting geographical features—including the Garden of the Gods, a cluster of fascinating red-rock formations just outside the city.

Interstate 25 cleaves north-south through Colorado Springs, roughly following Monument Creek, which merges with Fountain Creek at Confluence Park then continues flowing southward as Fountain Creek.

History

The first human visitors to the Pikes Peak region were hunter-gatherer nomads on the trail of buffalo and wooly mammoths. The first farming-based cultures to settle the area were the Ute, Comanche and Arapaho. The Native Americans' way of life ended in the mid-19th century when the white man discovered gold in the mountains and began settling in large numbers.

Fortune-seeking gold miners set up a base camp, which developed into a downtown area called Colorado City, to help service their expeditions into the nearby high country. In fact, modern Colorado Springs was created in part to distance the city's new elite from the rough-and-tumble saloon and brothel scene in Colorado City, which existed from 1859 to 1917. Today "Old Colorado City" is a National Historic District filled with shops and restaurants. When the gold rush gave way, sanatoriums began springing up in the latter part of the 19th century and early-20th century. These attracted the first wave of health tourists, many of whom were tuberculosis patients seeking a clean, dry, sunny climate.

Colorado Springs' founding father was Civil War Gen. William Jackson Palmer, who arrived in the area from Pennsylvania in 1870 and proceeded to establish the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Palmer helped plan the city grid, donated money for churches and schools, and treated himself to a 76-room castle he called Glen Eyrie.

The first military base in Colorado Springs, Camp Carson, was created in 1942 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. That began the area's military boom, which included Peterson Air Force Base and Training Academy, NORAD and Air Force Space Command, all located within a few miles/kilometers of downtown Colorado Springs. A small tech and communications boom has added to the economy, with companies such as Verizon, Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies maintaining large campuses.

Potpourri

Colorado Springs isn't all cowboys and bravado—it was also home to Van Briggle Pottery, founded in 1899 by Artus Van Briggle, internationally renowned in art pottery circles for more than a century.

The Pikes Peak Marathon, held each August, is an ubertough footrace from the streets of Manitou Springs to the summit of Pikes Peak—a climb of 8,000 ft/2,438 m.

Colorado Springs boasts more than 300 days of sunshine each year.

There are no public natural springs in Colorado Springs. However, you'll find nine sparkling mineral springs in nearby Manitou Springs. They are accessible fountains, so when you visit, take a water bottle to fill and sample the water.

The defense industry has a major footprint on Colorado Springs' economy; some of the country's largest defense corporations and aerospace companies have facilities there, including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Dynamics.