Telluride (Summer)

So many hippies have settled in Telluride — with its exhilarating, clean air, 8,237-foot elevation, and waterfall-covered mountains casting shadows over Colorado Avenue — that this utopian middle-of-nowhere town has become a sort of laid-back, southwestern Colorado metropolis. The hiking, cycling and biking here is among the best in the country. In the summer, Telluride plays host to more than a dozen festivals, including, in June, the Wine Festival and the Bluegrass Festival. The latter is the flagship spectacle, filling the town and its many peripheral camping spots, starring the likes of Ralph Stanley, Bela Fleck, Sam bush and pop acts ...

So many hippies have settled in Telluride — with its exhilarating, clean air, 8,237-foot elevation, and waterfall-covered mountains casting shadows over Colorado Avenue — that this utopian middle-of-nowhere town has become a sort of laid-back, southwestern Colorado metropolis. The hiking, cycling and biking here is among the best in the country. In the summer, Telluride plays host to more than a dozen festivals, including, in June, the Wine Festival and the Bluegrass Festival. The latter is the flagship spectacle, filling the town and its many peripheral camping spots, starring the likes of Ralph Stanley, Bela Fleck, Sam bush and pop acts from John Hiatt to Wilco. The town is so festival-heavy that residents have declared a weekend in late July "The Nothing Festival." In recent years, Telluride has earned the nickname "The Next Aspen," as celebrities such as Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Oprah Winfrey, and Donald Trump have moved to the area (at least part-time) and home prices have skyrocketed. While hippies continue to peruse the "free box" at the center of town, they're pretty much priced out of the housing market.

About the Expert

Steve Knopper is the Denver-based author of Moon Handbooks Colorado as well as a contributor to numerous Fodor's city guides.