Top choice
Set on the rim of a craggy canyon is this developed cavern concessionaire. You’ll forgive the cheesy entry and elevator music because here are the stalactites and stalagmites of your dreams. Most opt for the 45-minute Discovery Tour, but the Lantern Tour goes twice as deep, gets twice as dark and lasts twice as long.
There is also a ropes course and a zipline ($20 per person), open March to October.
2.75 MILES
This gorgeous vein of red sandstone (about 290 million years old) appears elsewhere along Colorado's Front Range, but the exquisitely thin cathedral…
7.02 MILES
Pikes Peak (14,110ft) may not be the tallest of Colorado's 54 fourteeners, but it's certainly the most famous. The Ute originally called it the Mountain…
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College
5.41 MILES
This expansive museum and 400-seat theater originally opened in 1936. The museum’s collection is surprisingly sophisticated, with some terrific Latin…
7.86 MILES
High up on Cheyenne Mountain, the largest private zoo in the country was launched with holdovers from the private animal collection of Spencer Penrose …
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
19.78 MILES
In 1873 Dr AC Peale, as part of the USGS Hayden expedition, was on his way to survey and map the South Park area, when he reputedly discovered these…
8.9 MILES
A visit to this campus, one of the highest-profile military academies in the country, offers a limited but nonetheless fascinating look into the lives of…
Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Center
10.91 MILES
This fun dinosaur center is located in Woodland Park, 14 miles west of Manitou Springs. The kids won’t want to miss this private museum owned by working…
3.04 MILES
A former quarry and part of the sandstone vein that runs through the Garden of the Gods, this 787-acre park was nearly developed into a golf course and…
0.74 MILES
This set of Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings was carved into the red-rock hills just east of Manitou Springs off Hwy 24. You’ll see the adobe facades…
0.93 MILES
Manitou got its name from the numerous mineral springs that bubble up from limestone aquifers along Manitou Ave. In some cases, it's believed that the…
2.63 MILES
This living history museum near the Garden of the Gods park entrance is worth a visit for those interested in the lives of Native Americans and 19th…
2.75 MILES
This gorgeous vein of red sandstone (about 290 million years old) appears elsewhere along Colorado's Front Range, but the exquisitely thin cathedral…
3.04 MILES
A former quarry and part of the sandstone vein that runs through the Garden of the Gods, this 787-acre park was nearly developed into a golf course and…
3.64 MILES
There's a small historical display in leafy Bancroft Park, which is set smack in the middle of Old Colorado City. The centerpiece is the Old Pioneer…
7. Old Colorado Historical Society
3.69 MILES
Located in a former Baptist church, this tiny museum and bookstore introduces visitors to the history of Old Colorado City and is a good way to add…
8. Old Colorado City Historic District
3.77 MILES
The neighborhood known as Old Colorado City is where the original town was founded in 1860. It's former Wild West dens of vice (21 saloons in four blocks!…