Colorado's 5 Best-Kept Secret Destinations To Visit, According To Travel Bloggers

According to The Colorado Sun, the Centennial State drew in more than 93 million visitors in 2023. Winter sports, the delights of the Denver metro area, and day-tripping opportunities are just a few of the major factors that contribute to the state's appeal. One thing is for sure: There's plenty to get through, and you could spend a lifetime exploring it all. Colorado has the soaring peaks of the ever-popular Rocky Mountain National Park, the hiking mecca of Pikes Peak, and arguably the absolute best skiing in the U.S. as a whole.

But what you might not know is that there remain hidden gems, off-the-beaten-path draws, and local secrets in this land between the desert plateaus, the Great Plains, and the Rockies. That's where this guide comes in. We've put together a list of five of Colorado's best-kept secrets, all of which are consistently mentioned by the travelers and locals who know them best, as mentioned across a range of blogs and publications dedicated solely to this topic.

Prepare for a seriously varied mix of things. Great canyons meet vast geology parks on this list, and bison-trodden reserves sit alongside curious fairy-tale castles built deep in the forests. It's a list of lesser-known destinations that we've curated to stoke wanderlust in hikers, history buffs, family travelers, and adventure lovers alike.

The number one most recommended hidden gem in the Centennial State we came across while scouring the internet was this wild cut-out of canyons, mesas, and valleys on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. Situated some 12 miles to the northeast of the town of Montrose, and just shy of 1.5 hours' drive from the city of Grand Junction, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a natural wonder whose cliff views will leave you breathless.

Visitors come here to gaze over the edge of a great gorge that drops 2,000 feet into the canyon and the Gunnison River below. It was forged over the course of billions (yep — billions!) of years, so it showcases some of the oldest geological formations on the North American continent. But even with those impressive features, the place still doesn't draw such big crowds as other regional reserves, such as the famous Arches National Park over the state line in Utah, directly to the west.

The South Rim Scenic Drive is a jaw-dropping intro to the whole park. It's only 7 miles long, but it leads to a series of precipitous lookout points, such as Pulpit Rock, with its head-on views straight into the canyon, and Dragon Point, where the rock's veins are said to form the shapes of mythical creatures. Some well-rated hiking trails skirt the edge of the canyon, too. Take the Rim Rock Nature Trail for a fairly flat romp of just 2 miles with good views the whole way. Alternatively, there's the harder Oak Flat Loop Trail, which dips a little into the canyon on paths shrouded by oaks and aspens.

Several of the travel bloggers we reviewed in our search singled out the architectural marvel of Bishop Castle as one of Colorado's best-kept secrets. It's hardly surprising it gets so much praise — it's like something you'd find in a fantasy story. Rising from the edges of the San Isabel National Forest just off the Greenhorn Highway about an hour south of Cañon City, it has everything you'd expect of a bona fide fairy-tale castle, from a sprawling great hall fronted with floor-to-ceiling windows to soaring turrets and roofs adorned with metalwork dragons.

The whole thing is the brainchild of just one man, a certain James Roland Bishop, dubbed "Jim Bishop, the Castle Builder" over on the official website for the unique destination. The story goes that Jim originally built a humble, one-room abode for himself and his wife, but kept adding more and more additions over the years to eventually create the citadel seen today, which rises to 160 feet.

Apparently, folks can come to visit during daylight hours without any charge, but there are also strict notices that they do so at their own risk, since this remains an active building zone. Former visitors on Reddit are also quick to point out that the castle might not be the safest place around, with one comment on the r/Colorado subreddit reading: "I went to the very top of each tower during the winter when it was icy... about the scariest and most dangerous thing I've done in my life".

The Wheeler Geologic Area is hidden amid the huge, 1.8-million-acre vastness that is the Rio Grande National Forest of southwestern Colorado. Only it's but a small dash of that larger whole, covering a humble 60 acres in all. But small things can come in gasp-inducing packages in this state, and so it is here, where a series of hoodoo spires and strangely formed peaks are framed by the San Juan massifs above and green swathes of evergreens below.

The area is the product of around 30 million years of erosion and volcanic metamorphoses, which flooded this part of the mountains in silt, minerals, and mud that time, wind, and rain would erode to form the curious tuff-stone shapes you come face to face with now.

How's all that remained such a well-kept secret, you ask? Simple. It's not easy to get to. The magazine and guide to Denver and the Rockies, 5280, hails this spot as one of the state's "most beautiful — and least accessible — landscapes." Indeed, getting here is a bit of an ordeal, but an adventure nonetheless. You'll have to drive up Highway 149 and then skirt the Rio Grande River before parking the car at Hanson's Mill. There, you either switch to an off-roader or hit the trail — a 7.5-mile romp through the wilderness to reach the first lookouts over the unique geological wonders of Wheeler.

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge also managed to clock several mentions across the top-ranking blogs about Colorado's best-kept secret destinations and is further proclaimed a "hidden gem" by Colorado.com, the state's official tourism site. The refuge remains a relative secret despite (or perhaps because of) its somewhat out-in-the-open location, sitting a mere 20 minutes' drive from the very beating heart of Denver.

It seems as though some Denverites can't quite believe it's still under the radar, either. One local commenting on a thread about Rocky Mountain Arsenal on the r/Denver subreddit said, "It baffles me that the Arsenal is not a lot more popular among Denver folks. I go there for trail running and biking and see more amazing wildlife ... than people."

Sitting on 16,000 acres of former weapons-testing territory left over from World War II, the refuge is now one of the most intriguing ecological sites in the U.S., a mosaic of swaying prairie grasses, wildflowers, and restored native habitats. The highlight has to be the designated driving route that cuts through the heart of it, on which you'll whizz past bison herds, see coyotes, and even, maybe, rare ferrets. The spot is open every day from sunrise to sunset, but it closes for major holidays.

Bringing up the end of this list of Colorado's most under-the-radar destinations is the Paint Mines Interpretive Park of El Paso County. Like the Wheeler Geologic Area before it, this one shines on account of its unique rocks and natural geological features. It's a land of strangely colored stone spires, rainbow-tinted canyons, and mushroom-shaped sandstone bluffs that loom over the trails. It also happens to be where you can find some of Colorado's best stargazing.

The Paint Mines is one of the few sites on this list to be located on the eastern side of Colorado. It sits just off Highway 24, about an hour's drive out of Colorado Springs. It covers 750 acres, offers multiple parking lots for visitors, and is free to enter.

Pulling on the hiking boots is the best way to really delve into the heart of the reserve. The Paint Mines Interpretive Trail is the site's most popular path, stretching 3.4 miles from start to finish. It involves pitstops at a series of informative plaques, one of which tells the story of the 9,000 years of human habitation recorded here. Keep watch for lizards and red foxes as you walk — they're often in attendance over in the eastern prairie.

This list of the most enticing hidden-gem destinations in Colorado comes from our analysis of top-ranking blog posts on the topic and cross-referencing those mentions with testimonials from locals and travelers who have been to these places. 

We trawled through each blog and listicle that we could find that we also deemed relevant to the topic. Every time a location was mentioned, we awarded it a point, adding extra points for each subsequent mention of the same place. We ended up with a list of over 50 candidates, but only seven emerged with two or more points. 

We then sprinkled a little editorial magic into that final grouping, placing spots with the most mentions toward the top and breaking ties based on our own hands-on travel knowledge of the American West.