Colorado Springs is known for being one of Colorado’s top getaways!
Not only is it about an hour from the main city of Denver, but it’s also home to tons of unique outdoor destinations, from Garden of the Gods to Pikes Peak.
This beautiful city is most popularly visited in the summer but is breathtaking year-round, especially in the winter when snow sits atop the mountains. There’s no bad time to visit!
A weekend in Colorado Springs is the perfect amount of time to dip your toes into all that this charming Colorado city has to offer!
Here is the perfect two-day Colorado Springs itinerary for your next trip!
Where to Stay for a Weekend in Colorado Springs
There are many chain hotels available in Colorado Springs, but frankly, I’m not the biggest fan of large chains.
I prefer to stay in more unique and boutique accommodations — here are my picks for where to stay for this Colorado Springs itinerary.
Pet-Friendly Boutique Hotel: SCP Hotel Colorado Springs
This affordable boutique hotel focuses on sustainability and design — and it’s also very welcoming of your pets, too!
The interior is beautiful — think murals, lots of greenery, and airy public spaces with a slightly industrial vibe.
The rooms, on the other hand, have a rustic simplicity to them that make it the perfect place to lay your head after a long day out hiking and exploring Colorado Springs.
Stunning Mountain Escape: Cheyenne Mountain Resort
With sweeping views of Cheyenne Mountain and amenities that encourage you to be outdoors, like five swimming pools and tennis courts, Cheyenne Mountain Resort is a home away from home for adventurers.
Oh, and it’s on a 25-acre lake where you can go sailing. What?
It’s the kind of place you never have to leave, with an on-site restaurant and in-house spa, Alluvia, where you can enjoy all sorts of treatments and massages.
Best of all, it’s less than four miles from downtown Colorado Springs, so you can enjoy city and mountain in a single trip.
Day 1 of your Weekend in Colorado Springs Itinerary
For your first day of this Colorado Springs itinerary, plan on spending a lot of the time directly in the city visiting some of the top attractions!
This is the perfect day to get to know the Springs more before you venture out to some of the area’s natural attractions tomorrow!
Eat a delicious breakfast at Urban Egg.
Start the first day of your two-day Colorado Springs itinerary by stopping for a great breakfast at none other than Urban Egg, a daytime eatery.
Before you ask, yes, it is a chain, but it’s a Colorado-only chain that’s known for having some of the best breakfasts in the state!
At Urban Egg, you can expect some of the best ingredients because they’re all locally sourced, which the restaurant chain prides itself in. This way, you can be sure that you’re supporting a local business, something Coloradans love to do!
Their menu has pretty much everything that you’d expect (and more) from a breakfast restaurant. There are tons of pancakes, eggs benedict, french toasts, and more.
If you’re more of a “eat lunch at breakfast” type person, there are also great sandwiches and soups or salads to choose from.
Some of their more unique dishes include Fred’s Hawaiian, a pancake with pineapple, coconut, cinnamon butter, and vanilla cream, or the chicken and waffle eggs benedict, which is served with free-range chicken, waffles, bacon jam, maple butter, and hollandaise.
All of the prices at Urban Egg are mid-range, so you won’t have to worry about paying a ton for your excellent breakfast.
Do a morning hike OR a jeep tour at Garden of the Gods.
After breakfast, head to Garden of the Gods, one of the most popular destinations for hiking in Colorado Springs that you won’t want to miss!
As an insider tip, it’s always best to visit right in the morning if you can. This way, you can miss out on many tour groups and other tourists that tend to file through later in the day.
There are a few ways that you can explore the Garden of the Gods. You could literally just drive your car through it if you wanted, go on a hike (I highly recommend this!), go on a Jeep tour, or you could even go on a tour with a park ranger.
Arguably, the best way to explore Garden of the Gods is to go on one of their many hikes, and there are so many to choose from!
What’s so great about the hikes at Garden of the Gods is that none of them are difficult.
The hardest one is only rated moderate, so even if you’re not an expert hiker, you’ll easily be able to have your choice of trails when visiting here.
Spend the morning doing one of the trails at Garden of the Gods and consider stopping along the way so that you can take in the fantastic views!
The most popular trail is the Perkins Central Garden Trail, but the Ridge Loop Trail are also great, and Chambers/Bretag/Palmer Trail goes throughout the park.
Exploring Garden of the Gods will most likely take your whole morning. Be sure to stop by the visitor center to learn more about the rocks and also grab a map so you can stay on your trail.
If you prefer a more adrenaline-pumping way to tour the Garden of the Gods, or you’re just not a big hiker, the Jeep Tour is an incredible choice!
You’ll careen through the gorgeous red rock formations found in Garden of the Gods before heading up North Cheyenne Canyon, where you’ll find the gorgeous Helen Hunt Falls.
Afterwards, you’ll follow the Shortline Railroad, which takes you down to Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, before heading back to Colorado Springs where you’ll have a sweeping view of the city below.
Grab lunch at Black Bear Diner.
After spending a few hours of your morning at the beautiful Garden of the Gods, you’re probably ready for some lunch already!
The best spot to eat lunch near Garden of the Gods is only a short drive away at Black Bear Diner.
From the outside, Black Bear Diner kind of just looks like an average restaurant, but don’t be fooled. Once you go inside, you’ll be treated to traditional American diner food, and you can order pretty much anything you could think of.
There’s breakfast served all day in addition to a ton of other dishes, like burritos, cheeseburgers, sandwiches, salads, and more. They’re open all day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner too, so if you love it so much that you want to come back for another meal, you totally can.
Visit the spectacular Glen Eyrie Castle.
Now that you’re all set with a full stomach, it’s time to go back out and explore again!
A short drive from Black Bear Diner is none other than Glen Eyrie Castle. I know what you’re thinking: what, a castle near the Rocky Mountains in Colorado? But yes, it is literally a castle!
This historic castle was built in the 19th century by a man named General William Jackson Palmer.
He’s the one who founded Colorado Springs back in the day, so it only made sense that he had a mansion there! The mansion is huge and is made up of around thirty different rooms.
The best way to explore Glen Eyrie Castle is to go on a tour. These happen daily and usually occur about one to two times a day in the afternoon, but times vary depending on which day you visit.
There are tours on the weekend too! Tickets only cost $12 a person and can be reserved online.
If you want a super fun place to stay the night, you can also rent a room!
Take a tour of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center.
Many people don’t know that there are Olympic and Paralympic training centers right in Colorado Springs, but there are!
They’re located on Olympic Plaza, and there are also other ones out in New York in Lake Placid.
When visiting Colorado Springs, you should absolutely try to go and take a tour of them if you can!
They have a variety of tours available, with names that make a lot of sense given the theme: bronze, silver, or gold.
You can also just book a ticket independently for a lower price if you just want to tour the facilities independently.
For a truly unforgettable experience, consider booking one of the athlete-guided tours!
Prices aren’t listed on the website for this experience because pricing changes depending on which athlete gives your tour.
While you will likely not get Simone Biles as your guide, it’s still a super fun way to actually meet an Olympic or Paralympic athlete and learn all about the training center from someone who uses it!
Go inside and learn at the Ghost Town Museum.
Colorado has its own fair share of ghost towns. I mean, the Wild West was very alive and well in this area of the United States quite a while ago, and there are remnants of them still available to see today!
To learn all about the Wild West, head to the Ghost Town Museum. It’s located near downtown Colorado Springs and is a famous museum to visit especially if you’re traveling with children.
Inside, you can check out an entire town to see how it would’ve been a few hundred years ago.
One of the more fun things to do at the Ghost Town Museum is to learn all about gold panning! Plan on spending at least an hour or so here to truly get all that you can out of your visit to the Ghost Town Museum.
Explore downtown Colorado Springs.
Spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing and just exploring the downtown area of Colorado Springs.
Truthfully, exploring downtown areas is one of the best ways to get more acquainted with a town or city. It’s best to even discover these areas on your own without much of a plan because you never know what you’ll come across during your trip!
If you are the type of person who likes exploring with more of a plan, there are a few places that you won’t want to miss.
Stop by Cacao Chemistry for delicious Colorado Springs chocolate, head to Colorado Co-op for handmade local clothing, and go into Poor Richard’s Books and Gifts for some great souvenirs and toys.
There are also many different great restaurants in downtown Colorado Springs. This area is known for its international eateries and restaurants, so feel free to pop into a few for a quick bite.
Just make sure you don’t eat too much because there’s a great restaurant on the itinerary for dinner!
Grab a tasty dinner at Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub and Restaurant.
Once you are done exploring downtown Colorado Springs and you’re ready to start settling down for the night, it’s time to grab a delicious dinner.
Look no further than Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub and Restaurant! There are quite a few different Irish pubs in Colorado Springs, but this is the most loved.
Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub and Restaurant has a very traditional Irish feel — which you’ll appreciate if you’ve ever been lucky enough to go to Ireland!
It opened back in the 1870s and has been a staple restaurant ever since. Plus, a lot of the building itself is from Ireland, which only adds to the ambiance and atmosphere.
Their menu is absolutely scrumptious. They have great starters like Irish nachos, frickles and frings, poutine, pretzels, and cheese.
Their entrees are just as tasty, with Guinness beef boxty, bangers and mash, pub mac, and of course, alehouse fish and chips. Don’t forget to have a Guinness to top it all off!
Day 2 of Your Weekend in Colorado Springs Itinerary
For the second day on this two-day Colorado Springs itinerary, it’s time to venture slightly outside of downtown and check out more of the epic natural scenery.
Sure, you saw Garden of the Gods yesterday, but it won’t even compare to the attractions you see today!
Have breakfast at Rudy’s Little Hideaway Restaurant.
Before starting your day two of adventures, be sure to fill up on breakfast. The most fantastic spot near your first attraction of the day for breakfast is a place called Rudy’s Little Hideaway Restaurant.
It’s a Mexican restaurant that serves up some of the tastiest breakfast you could ever imagine!
Their breakfast menu consists of everything from pancakes and french toast to egg dishes with tasty meats like country fried steak, sausage, and bacon.
For a real treat, have one of their fantastic breakfast burritos. Trust me; you won’t regret it! Anything with green chili is usually an A+ too: it’s a favorite among Coloradans.
All of the food at Rudy’s Little Hideaway is very affordable, with most meals costing under $10!
Marvel at the breathtaking Broadmoor Seven Falls.
After breakfast, head to the Broadmoor Seven Falls.
As the name suggests, there are seven waterfalls here, and they’re breathtaking. They’ve been owned by The Broadmoor since they were opened to the public in the 180s.
To get tickets to the Seven Falls, stop by The Broadmoor first. After getting your ticket, there’s a short one-mile trail that leads up to the Seven Falls.
It’s paved and only has a tiny incline, so it’s not super difficult to get to it!
If you’re really feeling up for a challenge, consider doing one of the many activities at Seven Falls.
You can hike on one of the longer trails or even go on a zipline adventure, which is not for the faint of heart!
Take a trip up to the top of Pikes Peak.
Colorado is home to quite a few 14ers (mountains with higher than 14,000 feet of elevation), but Pikes Peak truly takes the cake!
It’s the tallest one and is located a short drive from Colorado Springs. Take a trip to the top for some of the best views!
One way to get to the top is to drive Pike’s Peak Highway. If you’re not a fan of heights, you’ll most likely not enjoy this scenic drive, but the views are well worth it. Be sure to check the mountain conditions before your trip. It’s not always the safest in the winter.
Another great (and more popular) way to see the views from Pikes Peak is to book a ride on The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway. This is one of the most popular train rides in the entire country, so you won’t want to miss it!
The entire trip is about 3.5 hours, so if you opt to take the train instead of driving, you may have to rearrange this itinerary slightly.
Note that tickets for the cog railway tend to book out at least a week in advance, so book as soon as you can!
Eat lunch at the unique Airplane Restaurant.
After a morning of outdoor exploring, you’ve probably worked up a great appetite!
You’re in luck because today, you’ll be eating at one of the most unique restaurants in Colorado Springs: the Airplane Restaurant.
It is a bit of a drive from the Pikes Peak station, but it’s well worth it.
The Airplane Restaurant is exactly what it sounds like: a restaurant located inside an airplane. It serves traditional American food, but the atmosphere and location alone are reason enough to visit this place.
Children will especially love it, because how often can you say you’ve eaten inside of a historic plane?
The airplane itself is a Boeing KC-97 tanker! It was built back in the 1950s and is still in pretty excellent condition considering it’s been turned into a restaurant.
The restaurant menu includes everything from soups and salads to great sandwiches.
Don’t forget to check out their “jet fuel” drinks section to quench your thirst!
Visit and walk around Manitou Springs.
Now that it’s the afternoon, it’s time to go out and explore one of the most popular spots to visit in the Colorado Springs area: Manitou Springs.
It’s a beautiful Colorado mountain town with a population of around 5000 people. As the name suggests, it gained popularity because of its natural mineral springs.
This town offers some of the best views of Pikes Peak, which was on the itinerary earlier today!
There are quite a few things to do when you visit Manitou Springs.
You could stop by Cave of the Winds Mountain Park for amazing zip-lining and spelunking, head to the fascinating Miramount Castle Museum, or hike or bike in Red Rock Canyon Open Space.
If you’re the type of traveler who likes visiting a place without much of a plan when visiting new towns, you can totally do that here too. Spend some time downtown and just explore to really get a feeling for small-town Colorado life.
The locals here are always so kind and welcoming to visitors! You never know either; you might just run into someone who knows of an epic spot that only locals know about, which you can add to your Colorado Springs itinerary.
Stop by the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.
Before leaving Manitou Springs, stop by the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.
This tourist attraction is a replica of old cliff dwellings that have now been turned into exhibits for visitors to see and learn more about this area’s history. They’re privately owned but are open to the public for visiting.
During your trip, don’t forget to stop by The Pueblo, where you can learn about more history. Other museums here include the Pueblo Museum and the Cave Museum. Then, consider going on a tour to check out the cliff dwellings!
Hours change a lot throughout the year depending on the season, so be sure to check online and make sure they’ll be open during your trip. Sometimes they can also get pretty busy in the afternoon, but if you visit shortly before they close, it’s not too bad!
Have dinner at Colorado Mountain Brewery, a local favorite.
For the last dinner of your trip to Colorado Springs, stop by Colorado Mountain Brewery. This is a traditional brewery that you won’t want to miss out on. They even claim that they are the “true taste of Colorado!”
Everything you’d expect to see on a brewery menu is available as an entree here.
Enjoy one of their interesting starters to begin, including everything from bison poppers and sweet chili glazed Brussels sprouts to loaded kettle chips and bison queso!
Their entrees are just as delicious. You can order meals like beer can chicken, chipotle maple glazed salmon, bison meatloaf wellington, or one of their well-known 14er burgers. With your meal, don’t forget to have one of their local beers!
They have different ones throughout the year, so be sure to ask a bartender what one they most recommend. They never steer guests wrong!
Spend some time here reminiscing on all of your great memories from this trip before heading to one last stop to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Satisfy your sweet tooth at Amy’s Donuts.
End your weekend by stopping by none other than Amy’s Donuts.
It may look unassuming from the outside, but trust me, this is one of those donut places that have donuts that go viral online because of the crazy flavors!
Amy’s Donuts is a local favorite, and it’s open 24/7, so no matter how long you spend at Colorado Mountain Brewery, you’ll still be able to stop here before heading off after your trip is done.
All donuts at Amy’s Donuts are made from scratch, so you can only expect the best of the best here.
Plus, they have tons of crazy flavors, like almond banana caramel, Andes mint, Amy’s Almond Joy, strawberry pearl, and more.
Of course, they do still have traditional flavors, too, if that’s more your thing, like cinnamon glazed twist, glazed donuts, apple fritters, and plain sugar.
If you happen to be visiting Colorado Springs around a major holiday, you won’t even have to worry because Amy’s Donuts has regular hours no matter the time of year. Before heading off tomorrow, consider picking a dozen for your ride home!
Krystianna is a brand and web designer who runs her own studio and is always chasing her wanderlust. After studying abroad in Dublin for six months, she was bitten by the travel bug and hasn’t looked back. She runs the travel blog Volumes & Voyages.
Thank you! Any suggestion for where to stay for a family if visiting in October?
I would suggest the Mountain Resort I have linked in the post – the fall colors should be really pretty then!
thank you for the great tips.
You’re welcome Carla!