Tauck World DiscoveryDiscover Our JourneysWhy Travel With TauckPlanning Your Trip Ask and Share
Journey Finder

Search by Destination:

 
Search by Travel Type:
National Parks of the West
2007 Itinerary featuring 8 days from $1,995      Rail Journey  One Week  US National Parks  
Ask & Share

Request a Brochure - Join our mailing list to receive our free full-color brochures by mail.

E-Newsletter - Register for our e-newsletter and get the latest news and offers from Tauck delivered by e-mail.

Tauck’s exciting new Colorado travel adventure takes in five of the most spectacular national parks in the American West. While perhaps not as well known as some others, these varied scenic gems beckon with unique sights and experiences you’ll never forget.  Savor a remote area of the Rockies at Rocky Mountain State Park and indulge yourself with the sophistication of Vail and Aspen. In Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, try to spy the rare Peregrine Falcon swooping down on its prey as you take in the park’s unusually sheer crystalline canyon walls and the rushing river far below. Board a train with a vintage steam locomotive on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to travel along the Animas River and back in time between the two old mining towns. Mesa Verde National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, showcases and protects the fascinating cave dwellings of an ancient civilization. Breathtaking views of buttes, mesas and countless canyons await in Canyonlands National Park, followed by a two-night stay at a luxurious ranch resort on the banks of the Colorado River. Mother Nature outdid herself when she sculpted over 2,000 delicate arches from sandstone at Arches National Park, a sight that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world. This is truly a Colorado travel adventure like no other!
Need To KnowSimilar Journeys
Print friendly versionPrinter Icon

2008 Eastbound Itinerary

Click here for westbound itinerary, Denver to Grand Junction

Day 1: Welcome to Grand Junction
Your Colorado travel adventure begins at 3:00 PM at Grand Junction’s Walker Field Airport. Please join us this evening at our welcome cocktail reception and dinner at the luxurious Sorrel River Ranch Resort & Spa on the banks of the Colorado River, your home for the next two nights.
Meals: Dinner
Lodging: Sorrel River Ranch Resort & Spa, Moab, UT

Day 2: Amazing golden arches
After enjoying your choice of horseback riding or river rafting this morning, journey to spectacular Arches National Park. Mother Nature did some of her best work here as the elements carved over 2,000 seemingly delicate arches from the sandstone. This is a landscape unlike any other in the world, so be sure to have your camera ready!
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Sorrel River Ranch Resort & Spa, Moab, UT

Day 3: Canyons and cliff dwellings
En route to Mesa Verde National Park, your Colorado travel takes you through Canyonlands National Park to view the spectacular mesas, buttes and canyons in this immense wilderness of rock within the desert atmosphere of the Colorado Plateau. After sampling the typical cuisine of the Pueblo peoples at a special native heritage lunch, continue on to Mesa Verde National Park to visit the Spruce Tree House. The third largest of the ancient cliff dwellings protected by the national park, Spruce Tree House was built by the Anasazi, ancestors of the Puebloan peoples of the Southwest, between 1211 and 1278 AD. It contains approximately 130 rooms and is thought to have housed 60 to 80 people. At a private reception this evening, an archeologist will tell you more about these fascinating cliff dwellings chiseled out of the high rock walls and the people who built them.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Far View Lodge, Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Day 4: Clickity clack
After some time to explore the old mining town of Silverton, board the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. When a vintage steam locomotive blows its plaintive whistle and belches out a cloud of steam from its smokestack as it pulls Tauck’s private car, the Cinco Animas, through Colorado’s high country along the banks of the Animas River, you’ll have a good sense of what Colorado travel was like in the late 1880s during the Colorado silver boom. Tonight, you’ll be indulged in the Victorian elegance of the historic Strater Hotel in the heart of Durango.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: Strater Hotel, Durango, CO

Day 5: The Peregrine Falcon calls it home
Today’s Colorado travel brings views of one of the most unique national parks in the American Southwest, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. While sandstone was the medium into which rivers, winds and rain carved other canyons, the Gunnison River cut through much harder crystalline rock, creating the sheer black walls of a gorge only 1,500 feet wide but 2,000 feet deep. The world’s fastest bird, the rare Peregrine Falcon, nests on ledges high up on the canyon walls.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: The Inn at Aspen, Aspen, CO

Day 6: Amusing Aspen
After a busy few days of Colorado travel, today is totally yours to relax and discover Aspen, one of America’s most glamorous and glittering ski resorts and an internationally famous cultural center. You’re sure to find things to amuse or inspire you as you stroll its streets, browse in its oh-so-chic shops or take in the many works on display at the Aspen Art Museum or the numerous galleries. Even just “people-watching” is fun in Aspen and, who knows, you might just spot a celebrity or two. If you’re up for something more active, you’ll find optional (and, at additional cost) activities such as river rafting, horseback riding and biking readily available. Go forth and frolic as you please!
Meals: Breakfast
Lodging: The Inn at Aspen, Aspen, CO

Day 7: Discover the Pueblo peoples
While in Colorado travel to the pristine national forest lands surrounding the Maroon Bells. You’ll discover why these twin, 14,000-foot-high peaks are among the most photographed mountains in all of North America… and, you’ll want to have your own camera ready. Then, it’s on to Vail, another trendy Rocky Mountain resort town that attracts the rich, the famous and the ski-addicted. In charming, automobile-free Vail Village, you’ll have some free time to check out the happening scene and find your own “in spot” for lunch. You never know who just might be at the next table in Vail!
Meals: Breakfast
Lodging: Sheraton Hotel Denver, Denver, CO

Day 8: Rocky Mountain high
If there is an epitome of the Colorado travel experience, it might be the spectacular Rocky Mountain National Park. The Trail Ridge Road, called the “highway to the sky” by some, surrounds you with the sweeping vistas of the magnificent Rocky Mountains not seen anywhere else. As you ascend upwards, from flower-filled meadows to groves of aspen to forests of pine, the rapid changes in the ecosystems and environments are very noticeable and truly remarkable. Eleven miles of the road are above the tree line, offering views of plants usually found only in the arctic tundra. Keep an eye out for bighorn sheep, ptarmigans, elk and marmots.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: Sheraton Hotel Denver, Denver, CO

Day 9 – Homeward bound
Your Colorado travel ends in Denver. Because Tauck guests can choose from so many flight alternatives and will fly out at different times, airport transfers are not included. Please allow at least 2 hours for airport flight check-in formalities. We wish you a safe and pleasant journey home
Meals: Breakfast

Don’t miss this marvelous Colorado travel adventure visiting five of America’s most spectacular national parks!



Click here to  chat online with a member of  our Reservations Staff

Check Available Dates
2008 Prices
Book This Journey
View full size map
View Itinerary Map

Overnight Accommodations
Image gallery
Discuss This Journey
Email A Friend
Print Version
Tour Options
Extend This Journey
TauckAir
View Reading List
Tauck Travel Protection

Request A BrochureContact Us