Planning Your Visit to Boulder Beyond Your Tour

I've spent my whole life in Colorado so I thought I'd share some tips and my favorite places to take people visiting from out of town. If you're staying outside of Boulder I would suggest you take the daytime before my tour to explore Boulder. It's a wonderful area with lots of hikes, scenic drives, a pedestrian mall with lots of arts/culture/buskers, and the celestial seasonings tea factory. You do not need to have access to a car to enjoy Boulder as most everything is within walking distance and there is a nice, cheap, & fast bus called "the flationflyer" that connects Denver to Boulder. You will however need to lyft/uber the last few miles to my tour site.

• Good hikes​​
  

  • Chautauqua park - {20min to 5+hrs, all difficulties} Walking distance from downtown Boulder. Most of the trails are medium to hard difficulty and really worth it, I have been coming here for years and still haven't seen it all. If you want something easy just check out the grounds and have a nice stroll around. The best hike I would say is Royal Arch it's a hard 3 miles out and back hike and will likely take ~2.5hrs. Chautauqua hosts many performances, cultural events, lectures, and was the site of my parent's wedding! It is a beautiful park where you can access a large system of trails and climb all the way to the top of the flatirons.

Chautauqua

• Boulder Falls - (~8min, fairly easy} Accessible by bus up a winding canyon road, ~half way to Nederland, is a really nice water fall. It's very short hike with just a few steps from the road, but it has hazards of rock slides to be aware of.

Boulder Falls

• Boulder Creek Path - {10min to ~1hr, very easy} path that goes from downtown Boulder up Boulder canyon a ways.

• Sights of the town​
  

  • Pearl St Mall - A pedestrian mall ​in downtown Boulder,with many fun shops and street performers. My favorite shops are 'into the wind' (kite/toy shop), Nature's own (rock shop), liberty puzzles (puzzle shop), and my favorite place to eat is Mountain Sun Brewery.

• Mork and Mindy house - If you're a big Robin Williams fan defiantly stop by the Mork and Mindy house just at 16th and Pine for a picture in front of Mindy's house!

Mork and Mindy House

• Boulder creek - many parks are dotted along the boulder creek path many holding community events such as free fairs, concerts, and farmer's markets. The creek can be tubed down when the water's high.

• Phill Lewis art studio - My favorite local artist https://phillewisart.com/

Phil Lewis's Flatirons (actual picture at the start of this article for Chautauqua)

• Dushanbe Tea House - A tea house given to Boulder from our sister city Dushanbe Tajikistan

Tea House

• Tours offered from Boulder's industry
  

  • Celestial Seasoning's Tea Factory​ - Fun tour with unlimited tea samples be sure to visit the "mint room" to take some deep menthol breaths.

Sleepy Time Tea Factory

• National Center for Atmospheric Research - Science, exhibits, and architecture tours are offered Monday Wednesday Friday.

• Leaning Tree - greeting cards with nice western art.

• Liberty Puzzles - puzzle factory that makes very unique wood puzzles.