5 Things To Do In Telluride, Colorado Beyond Skiing

Hemmed in by an amphitheater of 13,000-foot-high mountains beside the babbling waters of the San Miguel River, Telluride is a year-round destination that boasts front-row views of Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Most notably, it's famed around the planet for its epic skiing, which was ranked the second-best in all of CO by Skimag.com for its long groomed runs and comparative lack of crowds. Indeed, the stats don't lie: There's roughly 2,000 acres of skiable terrain here, with 148 individual pistes, and a vert drop of nearly 4,000 feet. When winter hits, this one's a real doozy.

But what is there to do in Telluride beyond skiing? What treasures await when you put your skis and salopettes away for a day? Loads, actually. Just take this guide, which digs into five of the top non-skiing activities in town.

It's got a real variety. There are pursuits that promise to get the adrenaline a-pumping just like skiing would — winter hikes and snowshoeing areas amid the Rockies. But there are also more relaxing offerings, like steaming hot springs with views of the mountains, or historic downtown quarters where you can uncover hundreds of years of mining and railroad history.

With its location some 8,750 feet up on the side of the San Juan Mountains, it's no secret that Telluride is a veritable mecca for hikers during the warmer months — the town has over 90 trails, with options for every level of walker. But, according to Telluride Tour Base, the peak season for traditional hiking is generally limited to the high summer, with the first trails opening with the snowmelt in early April.

Thankfully, you can still complete some of the most iconic trails in the region with the snowshoes in tow. Options include the Bear Creek Trail, an iconic waterfall trail through majestic Rocky Mountain scenery that has sightings of totally frozen cascades along the way, and the easy-going Valley Floor Loop, a 3-mile circuit of the snow-covered meadows that line the nearby riverway.

However, it's the web of trails in the Top-A-Ten area (the zone at the pinnacle of lift number 10) that gets the most plaudits of all for snowshoeing potential. One Redditor writing on a thread about winter walking in Telluride on the r/hiking subreddit raves: "You can ride chair 10 up with your snowshoes and hike the Topaten cross-country and snowshoe trails. They are groomed and offer miles of awesome walking in the resort side country and around Alta lakes. Super accessible if you don't feel like driving in the snow!"

Average temperatures in Telluride come January hover around 24 degrees Fahrenheit, while weather counters clock up around 200-plus inches of snowfall per season in this ski-mad mountain town. The bottom line: It's chilly. That's why a midwinter trip to one of the local hot springs can be a real joy on days when you're not hitting the slopes, and there's more good news, because there are five separate springs in the surrounding region.

Wandering Bel, a blog for solo travelers, picks out the Orvis Hot Springs as the best of the bunch for its mix of hot and cold waters, along with its head-on views of Mount Sneffels, which rises to the south. The pools there, which range from a cool 65 degrees Fahrenheit to a balmy 114 degrees Fahrenheit, have been lauded for centuries for their healing powers, which apparently come through in the natural lithium minerals in the water. Please note that the entire facility is clothing-optional. The drive from central Telluride is also just over 50 minutes each way.

Another great option in the area is the Ouray Hot Springs, located in Ouray itself, an awe-inspiring mountain town that's known as America's Switzerland. It'll take you about an hour to get to from Telluride proper, but the reward is three year-round bathing pools that have views over the icy ridges around town — one is a dedicated lap pool, heated so that lane swimmers can get their exercise surrounded by the snow.

One of the reasons that Telluride is so beloved is that it's not just about skiing from morning until night. Guides consistently wax lyrical about its small-town feel and rich heritage, which brings an added layer of enjoyment to the proceedings once you're done on the slopes. In fact, Telluride is surely among the most charming and walkable mountain towns across America, thanks to its compact historic core, which is now a designated National Historic Landmark District.

The people over at the official website of the Telluride Tourism Board have a self-guided historic walking tour of that National Historic Landmark District. It whisks you past a courthouse that dates from 1886, the site of an old miner saloon, and even the location where one Butch Cassidy robbed his first-ever bank.

Colorado Avenue is the vena cava of it all. It oozes history, and, as one Reddit post laden with historic snapshots of the town shows, still hosts multiple buildings from over a century ago. But it's also abuzz with life. Duck into the noir cocktail lounge of Van Atta to find drinks menus of mountain-inspired cocktails. Or hit the shops, which include curators of Scottish wool CashmereRED, and Between the Covers, an independent book emporium that's been going since the 1970s.

If you like the idea of whizzing around on ice but don't fancy pulling on the skis and heading up to the heights of Palmyra Peak, which is where the Telluride Ski Resort makes its home, then not to worry, for there are multiple ice skating rinks in and around the town center.

Telluride Town Park, which clings to the southeastern side of downtown Telluride across the banks of the San Miguel River, has two options. The first is an outdoor rink that's hailed as a great pitstop for casual skaters and families. The other is the full-on NHL-sized ice arena at the Hanley Ice Rink. That one's indoors, but has everything from public ice skating sessions to hockey training programs on the menu.

If you happen to be staying in the little highland enclave of Mountain Village, which serves as the main ski-in, ski-out accommodation hub for the Telluride resort, head across to the square behind the Madeline Hotel. The hotel runs a small, charming rink there with daily skating, usually open to the public between November and March each year.

December doesn't just kick-start the ski season in Telluride. It also ushers in the festive period, and this little Coloradan resort happens to be a real doozy of a winter wonderland. Family vacation letting site VRBO lists it as one of their top places to be when the winter holidays swing around, talking of the charming look of the old-school downtown and even potential face-to-face encounters with Santa himself.

There are stacks of community events to get through if you happen to be in town when the lights go on in early December. Head down to watch the illumination of the local "ski tree" — it's a tree, only made entirely of, well, skis. You can watch it come alive as you stand sipping a hot drink or mulled wine on the lawns of Elks Park, just opposite the town's courthouse. That dovetails with the official Noel Night, which heralds the holidays with tempting sales in the local boutiques and shops.

However, arguably the most legendary festive date in the Telluride December calendar is the Christmas Eve Torchlight Parade. It's run by local ski instructors, who all head up to the top of the gondolas at the Telluride Ski Resort and whiz back down again with glowing torches in hand. Don't worry, you don't have to pull on the skis yourself. Simply sit back and enjoy the show!