Where to Stay: The Best Mountain Lodges in Colorado

There’s certainly no shortage of options for accommodations here in the Centennial State. 

That can make it hard to choose one for your stay here, and plenty of people get frozen up with paralysis-by-analysis so that they never actually choose a place and get here.

We want better for you. 

So, we’ve written up this list of some of the best mountain lodges in Colorado to help you make that oh-so-important decision. 

We’ve also narrowed the accommodations down to mountain lodges because, let’s be honest, that’s the Rocky Mountain ideal that you’re probably fantasizing about. 

Oh, and to narrow things down even more, one of the prerequisites of a mountain lodge is that, in addition to offering overnight accommodations, it must be located in the mountains. 

That means this list won’t be including any places in the still very scenic but flat parts of the state (sorry, Sterling).

1. Freight Leadville (Leadville)

There are a few different traditional aesthetics you can go for here in the Rockies, but we’ve chosen to embrace that of our namesake high-altitude mining town. 

Built back before cars were really a thing, and the railroads were still America’s arteries, Leadville is small but dense and designed to be walkable. 

And smack in the middle of this iconic and historic town, occupying the former rail freight depot, is Freight Leadville. 

If you want to explore the distinctive vibe of one of those Old West railroad towns that so many enthralling historical dramas have been set in, then there’s no better place to do that than here. 

But being located in a charming historic town is not enough by itself to be counted as one of the best mountain lodges in Colorado. 

No, to win that title, you need to have something more. 

And that’s why we invested so much into restoring the historic parts of our property and ensuring that anything new we built would be in keeping with the traditional style that gives this town a sense of place. 

Other than the running water and other modern amenities, there’s nothing at Freight that would have looked out of place back in the late 1800s. 

And that authentic historical vibe is one of the primary reasons you’re coming to Leadville in the first place. 

So, why not get the maximum amount of it while you’re here?

After all, you don’t come to a town like this if you just want everything to look and feel like a cookie-cutter hotel in Anywhere, USA.

Get the real experience!

3. Redstone Inn (Redstone Historic District)

We’ve mentioned them before, and we’ll mention them again now because we really do think that they are one of your best options here (besides Freight, of course). 

There will undoubtedly be at least a few among you who are very nerdy about history and yearn to get a glimpse of a few different chapters of this region’s story. 

We totally get it, and we’re the same way. 

Where Freight Leadville specializes in the Anglo-American pioneer mining and railroad town aesthetic (and we’d say we do it best), Redstone Inn is one of the best at exemplifying the more Germanic, Alpine side of Colorado’s settler history. 

What you’ve basically got here is a local take on the characteristic Bavarian chalet style that the German-speaking countries of Central Europe are so renowned for. 

See, when Colorado was initially being settled and expanded into by the then-fledgling and recently reunified USA, several different groups were venturing out into the undeveloped Rocky Mountain region to create new lives for themselves. 

You had the Anglo-Americans from the Northeast, the Mormons (also mainly from the Northeast and Midwest), and some other major groups. 

One of those main groups was German speakers, and like everyone else, they brought their customs and traditional building methods with them. 

Their traditions and their hope for new possibilities in a new land are what Redstone Inn exemplifies.

4. Colorado Bear Creek Cabins (Evergreen)

Evergreen is a small town, but it punches well above its weight when it comes to fielding some of the best mountain lodges in Colorado. 

Like Juniper Lodges & Treehouses, Colorado Bear Creek Cabins is located about 2 hours east of Leadville by car, making them much closer to the big city of Denver than we are. 

Depending on what you’re looking for, that could either be the reason you choose Bear Creek or the reason you don’t. 

The upside is that, since Evergreen is effectively a suburb of Denver, you can reach downtown Denver in about 40 minutes (depending on traffic). 

This means you are well within convenient reach of anything you might need from the state’s capital. 

However, the downside of this is that you’re only about a half hour from the most populated urban center in all of the Rocky Mountains. 

Like we said, that may be exactly what you’re looking for. 

If you’re trying to get away from it all without necessarily staying in some remote encampment without electricity, you might want to consider another place, like Leadville or Mount Princeton. 

But if you want to stay in a cozy and luxurious cabin within a relatively short drive of Denver, you’ll love Bear Creek Cabins.

Focus On The Fundamentals

This list is unfortunately short, and we couldn’t include all of the best mountain lodges in Colorado on it. 

But we hope we’ve at least given you some good ideas and a bit of inspiration. 

You can’t go wrong with any of the options here in this article. 

If you want to keep searching for others, though, we’d recommend using the points we’ve mentioned as guides to aid you in your search. 

That means considering how far a particular place is from Denver (or another large city), what kind of architectural aesthetic it embodies, and what natural features are within easy reach (lakes, rivers, etc.). 

Best of luck on your search, and we hope to see you while you’re in the Rockies!