It is an easy circle to hit all three locations. If you are staying at the Gaylord (only resort I can think of), it is less than an hour to either Boulder or Ft Collins. Then RMNP is about 1.5 hours (can be 2+ with summer traffic). Hotels in Estes Park won’t be cheap either and could have a minimum stay but maybe not mid week. Longmont might be the most reasonable and you wouldn’t have to change hotels every day which might be more convenient. It is all very doable in 3 days.
Yes, many wealthy people attend CU and they make ‘drop off’ a vacation. Denver people aren’t renting hotel rooms to drop off their kids but people from Colo Springs and Grand Junction are (NOT the $550 ones). My nephew’s girlfriend just stayed in the St. Julien for Christmas with most of her family, despite her having an apartment in Denver, a family condo in Vail, and relatives living in another part of Boulder, and her sister a student there (with a house). Yes, her parents may have stayed at the Boulderado when they dropped their kids (three went to CU) for freshman year.
Another quirk about Boulder is that only about 1/4 of the students live on campus (mostly freshmen) but most of the apartments/houses have 11.5 month leases, so everyone is moving in mid August too. The sorority houses have move in that weekend. It’s a zoo. It doesn’t affect the $550 hotels, but does mean more traffic. Aug 16 should be the ‘bad’ day this year for off campus flips. Boulder is a pretty small town when you try to move 30,000 students in one week.
As a Hilton Honors program member with lots of accumulated points, I stay at its affiliated hotels whenever I travel. In the past when I had to travel to Denver, Boulder and Estes Park areas, I stayed at Hampton Inn at Longmont and DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Denver-Westminster on separate occasions. If you’d like easy access to both Boulder and Denver, then I’d recommend the latter. If you’d like easy access to both Boulder and Estes Park, then the former. From either, the drive is relaxing, pleasant and short. One thing I wouldn’t recommend is staying in Boulder or in Estes Park unless you’re willing to pay a lot more.
Hilton and its affiliates have never let me down no matter the location. Every one of them has been clean, quiet, with free wi-fi, parking, great service and decent breakfast. Since I’ve only stayed at these hotels with points, I don’t know how much in terms of dollars, but they usually are on average about $100 for a room with 2 queen beds.
Just updating. We are all set. Will be staying not in Boulder but near enough. Easy access to the other things we will be doing.
Just FYI, we are staying in Denver at the Inverness…at a very reasonable negotiated rate but it’s only for the nights involved in the wedding. The price more than doubles for additional nights. We figure three days in Denver is enough, and look forward to moving on after the wedding festivities end.
And yes, I realize the distances aren’t huge.
So this won’t help thumper (August booked, and too big/expensive for 2 people). But for others I’ll post this interesting Longmont airbnb link. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/27469547?adults=1&children=0&infants=0&source_impression_id=p3_1577570046_aHWwoRFIn%2FGwTRKD
I know EXACTLY where it is, above the Martini’s Bistro a few blocks from Longmont Main Street (restaurants, shops). The owner used to live in the apartment, and we once had our cocktails served there when long waiting list for dnner. Example price check: Two nights for two couples (2BR/, 2 baths) in June would total $412 incl fees … a bit cheaper than most hotels.
You’ll be happy at the Inverness–lots of parking, right off of I-25, beautiful grounds, and a couple of restaurants/bars on the property. We’ve stayed there twice and have enjoyed our stay. A big and airy feel.
If you decide to reconsider Boulder, the Hyatt Place Boulder on Pearl Street is usually reasonably priced. We’ve been able to use points there and, for central Boulder, is modern/new and has great light and outdoor space. The one downfall is that parking is separate from the hotel and requires going through a couple of doors and a short walk outside.
@ChezCurie if we had hotel points to use, this wouldn’t be an issue, because the costs wouldn’t be exorbitant per night.
But it doesn’t matter. At this point we are all set. Will be staying about 10 minutes outside of Boulder with easy access to the things we plan to do.
The prices per night at the nice places was high…but the three day minimum…4 days at those cute cottages…really put them over the top.
We are excited to be making this trip, and are glad we have the extra time to spend in CO after this wedding. We will try to stay away from the move in brouhaha!
“Just have to ask (an aside question) do parents moving their kids into college really spend $550 and up for hotel rooms?”
Sure do.
CU/Boulder is 50% out-of-state students. Lots of kids driving BMWs with plates from CA, TX, NY, NJ around Boulder. CU is premium priced ($30k+) for in-staters in order to make sure there’s plenty of seats available for those kids who are closed out of UT/Austin, UCB and UCLA and willing/able to pay $55k+ for CU. The other flagship (CSU in Fort Collins) is a good bit cheaper for in-state and much less of a draw (80% in-state enrollment) for the spendy OOS market niche.
P.S. Good call to stay a bit outside of town on CU move in day if you don’t need to be downtown. It gets pretty packed. Rumor is that the single highest grossing Target store in the country is the one near the CU campus.
Louisville, Niwot and Longmont each have a nice little downtown and provide easy access to RMNP, downtown Boulder, and anywhere else you’re likely to want to go.