Travel Highlight: 20 Reasons to Take a Snow Trip to Summit County, Colorado
If you want to see snow, we know where to do it. Lots of pictures here from our family's travels in Breckenridge and beyond :)
As I’ve shared before, our family lived in an RV for 16 months. One of those months was spent camped out in Breckenridge, Colorado. Summit County—Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, Dillon, Keystone—is a fantastic stop if you want to see snow. Breck has 300 days of sunshine and 366 inches of average annual snowfall, so you’ll almost certainly have good weather. Here are some reasons it’s worth a visit. (And remember, as with everything we do, this isn’t sponsored. Just a genuine recommendation 😊
20 degrees in Breckenridge doesn’t feel like 20 degrees. Below-freezing temperatures with sunshine and low humidity feels very different than the biting wind you might’ve experienced elsewhere. Our kids actually got sunburns from wearing tank-tops in the snow.
Summit County is less than 2 hours from the Denver airport. Nonstop Frontier flights to DEN can be surprisingly cheap—like $98 round-trip from Nashville or $84 from Orlando. (Google Flights is always our go-to for looking up prices.)
You don’t have to rent a car. You can get a shuttle to the area, and from there, the towns themselves are very walkable and compact. Summit County has buses that take you around town or between the different cities. They’re also all connected by an epic 55-mile biking path (which, admittedly, might be covered in snow in some places.)
Breckenridge is most famous for being a ski and snowboarding resort. It’s truly so great, but it can be miserably crowded if you’re going on a weekend. The locals tend to prefer Copper Mountain; my husband spent a decent amount of time at both, and as a skilled boarder, he preferred Copper since it had a terrain park and it was less crowded. But if you’re going carfree and staying in Breck, it’s nice being able to hit the slopes from your hotel room.
Breckenridge has a free sky ride gondola to take you to a midway point up the mountain. It’s a pretty view and a fun little adventure.
Sapphire Point Overlook Trail is a gorgeous hike and it’s only about half a mile. You don’t even need snowshoes.
There are so many fun random hikes to do. Isak Heartstone is a 15-foot troll you can find in the woods. You can also stumble upon random hills to sled down. (We sometimes dragged our littles ones in sleds when we went on hikes!)
Frisco is a very charming small town. There are some good shops and eateries and a really neat historic center that lets you visit old buildings. You can also do some neat hikes straight from downtown, as well as walk on the biking path to a nice playground.
Breckenridge has some nice historical things to see, too. We were inspired touring the home of Barney Ford, a civil rights pioneer and successful pioneer. There’s even a pet graveyard in his backyard, and we had fun giggling over the pets’ names.
There are great playgrounds all over the area…as long as they’re not covered in snow. Our favorites were River Park, Dillon’s Marina Park, Breck’s Highline Railroad Park, and Frisco’s Meadow Creek park. You have options aplenty; the random playplaces in downtown Breck are special, too!
Eating out is extremely expensive in Breck, so we didn’t do much of it. But getting a crepe at a ski resort is a special joy, and no one makes sweet or savory crepes better than Crepes a la Cart!
An overlooked aspect of visiting an affluent area is that thrift shopping is great. My kids and I visited nearly every thrift store in summit county, stocking up on Patagonia apparel, snow suits, and cute boots! Resaddled in Silverthorne is very affordable and the Clothing Exchange in downtown Breck is full of brand-name, stylish items.
There is sledding aplenty! Though our kids preferred the Frisco sledding hill, the Breckenridge sledding hill has free sleds to borrow.
You’ll see animals that might be new to you, such as bighorn sheep or foxes. Even the dogs that people have as pets are really cool to look at. (Colorado people really like their dogs.)
There are so many places to wander off and have fun outside. The aforementioned biking path has some really neat areas that you can walk to from the Chipotle in Dillon.
The Dillon Reservoir is breathtaking from every angle that you see it. If it’s frozen over and you see other people doing it, you can even walk across it from island to island…that’s quite an experience!
Snow is so plenteous and easy to find that you can easily do all the things you’ve dreamed. We loved making snow slushies with orange juice, applesauce, Coke…we tried everything. We also liked eating snow by itself, ha!
Ole Man Berkins in downtown Breck is a gloriously disorganized bookshop. It’s the type of place where you expect to find a portal to another world. Nature’s Own is a wonderful rock shop that would help make excellent contributions to your kids’ mineral collections.
You can make an easy day trip to Vail. The ski resort is very uppity, but it’s so fun walking around the city, admiring the European architecture, and checking out the world’s highest botanical gardens and gorgeous walking paths aplenty.
A day trip to Leadville is well worth it, too. It looks like everything you want an old western town to be. You can visit the saloon where Jimmy Buffet wrote a song for John Wayne. Their sledding hill was probably our favorite. And the National Mining Museum? Uhh phenomenal.
Some Final Tips
A few things to keep in mind:
My biggest travel tip is this: you will have a better trip in non-peak times. Breckenridge is an extremely popular stop at peak times, but—in our experience—there are plenty of low-traffic times, too. If you can, plan your days off work so that you can support the local economy when they’re not slammed…plus, you won’t have to wait in line either. Everyone wins.
As with most places, Colorado’s rules have been fluctuating with masks and restrictions. Even though Breckenridge’s rules were more strict than anywhere else I’ve been, however, we didn’t mind wearing masks all the time because it kept our faces warm. People often cover their faces in cold weather; that’s what balaclavas and ski masks are for! Also, even if indoor dining is closed when you’re there, they have lots of ways to keep you warm in outdoor dining if you need it.
If you plan on doing the whole snowboard/lodging/shuttle experience, you might want to get a bundle deal through Snowpak.
If you go in March or even April, you will almost definitely see a ton of snow. It starts to get muddy and things begin to close in late April, but then things start to thaw and it’s beautiful in new ways all over again! We would love to visit in summer.
The air is thinner and many people complain of altitude sickness. It’s a little tougher to breathe.
I hope you enjoyed the first travel highlight email! Would you like one of these once a month? You can give me feedback by replying to this email! Thanks for reading.
Warmly (pun intended),
Hope from Family Scripts
