Colorado, One Week with kids itenerary (flying in)

What month you go has a lot of weight in this discussion.

I wouldn’t go all the way to Durango on your first trip out here. That’s a lot of driving there and back. From CS head over to Salida/BV area and raft Browns Canyon. Drive over Independence Pass into Aspen and see some of the Roaring Fork Valley, hit the amusement park in Glenwood and stay the night. Drive through Vail on the way to a Breckenridge for a day. From there I’d go through Winter Park and drive through RMNP. The RMNP day will be the longest day in the car but the park will make it seem short.

It's a heavy snow year.

I've always loved RMNP and Estes Park, but I think that your trip sounds better.

I'm going to Southcentral Colorado then to RMNP for two weeks this summer.

June is peak rafting season. Include Chaffee County in your plans. Here's the best map of the area.

LINK

Fly into Colorado Springs, hit Royal Gorge on your way up the canyon to Salida. Tons to do in Chaffee County if you set base in Salida, or even Buena Vista. From there, you can head west to Black Canyon of the Gunnison or south to Great Sand Dunes NP.

You could try and time your stay in/near Salida for their annual FIBArk Whitewater Festival, which is an awesome time. You'll want to book your lodging now though.

You have to drive to Glenwood Springs. There’s an awesome view at every turn.

If you can, fly via Colorado Springs rather than Denver. It's a more convenient and peaceful airport. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo just west of the city is a
great smaller zoo. If you do loop through Denver the Natl History Museum is kid friendly, and there is a big zoo.

You might want to hold off on the 10,000 ft mountain tops for a couple of days while you get used to the higher altitudes. In June the mountains will still be cold.

two 11 year olds would absolutely love Great Sand Dunes National Park in early June. Make sure to stop at the visitor center to get your boards to surf down the dunes. The river will be running through the Dunes then as well, and it's just an incredible place to be at that time. YOu can easily spend all day there.

Mesa Verde is cool to see, but not necessary. YOu need to make reservations ahead of time if you actually want to get close to it.

Raft in Buena Vista on the Ar-Kansas river. It's going to be a lot funner rafting than anywhere else.

Drive from Durango to Ouray. It is breathtakingly beautiful. There's several waterfalls in Ouray you can go visit (Box Canon is the main one), and there's a city pool with hot spring water you can visit that the kids would love as well. The Durango train ride is ok, but the kids are going to get bored on it, especially on the way back, and you'll see beautiful scenery driving anyway. We stopped at a lake along the way to fish, right before Silverton, and stopped several other times on our way to Ouray for pictures and what not. It's just an unbelieveable drive that first time you do it.

If you have time stop in one of the tourist ski towns and do the mountain coasters.
If you can take the pass to Aspen that's also an awesome drive, and seeing Maroon Bells is an easy hike.


So you could land in Denver, do Breckenridge first, drive down to Buena Vista next, then Great Sand Dunes, go west to Durango/Mesa Verde, up to Ouray, then up to Aspen.
Not sure if you can even do that in a week though, and it would be a lot of driving.