Three Colorado towns named among best summer getaways in the U.S.

Colorado claimed three of the 10 spots on Travel + Leisure’s list of the best small towns in America for a summer weekend getaway, with Crested Butte, Telluride and Salida each earning recognition for the kind of mountain-town experience the state has quietly perfected.

Crested Butte landed at No. 2 on the list. Telluride came in at No. 6. Salida rounded out the ranking at No. 10.

No other state placed more than one town on the list.

Travel + Leisure described Crested Butte as “untouched and unhurried in ways many mountain towns just can’t replicate,” highlighting the columbines, lupines and mule’s ear that bloom across its valleys each summer and anchor the annual Crested Butte Wildflower Festival in July. The magazine also noted the town’s transition from ski season to summer adventure, with the resort switchover in June bringing mountain biking, an adventure park and hiking along alpine trails.

Telluride, the box canyon town known for world-class skiing in winter, was praised as “an ideal playground for outdoor adventure” where “summer temperatures stay comfortably cool.” Travel + Leisure pointed to biking, hiking, swimming, paddleboarding and the town’s deep cultural calendar — including the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Telluride Film Festival — as reasons the town delivers year-round. The resort shifts to summer operations with ziplining, spa treatments and fine dining, while scenic opportunities for golf and tennis round out the experience.

Salida, situated along the Arkansas River about two and a half hours southwest of Denver, was described by Travel + Leisure as Telluride “with a more off-the-beaten-path feel.” The magazine acknowledged that the town lacks the thousands of hotel rooms and rental properties that ski-area communities offer, but said Salida more than compensates with access to outdoor adventures and an “easy-going” character that larger resort towns have outgrown.

The three towns share a common thread: each is a former mining community that reinvented itself around outdoor recreation, arts and the scenery that drew people to the Colorado mountains in the first place. But they occupy different niches. Crested Butte leans into wildflowers and mountain biking. Telluride trades on its dramatic setting and cultural programming. Salida offers the same mountain-town soul at a fraction of the price — and with considerably fewer crowds.

The recognition comes at a complicated moment for Colorado’s mountain communities. A historically dry winter left snowpack at record lows, water restrictions are rolling out across the state, and wildfire risk has prompted 114 Red Flag Warnings so far in 2026 — more than double last year’s pace. Whether the summer tourism season these towns depend on will be affected by drought conditions remains an open question.