A Guide to 7 of Colorado’s Top National Parks and Monuments

A Guide to 7 of Colorado’s Top National Parks and Monuments

By Katie of Trafalgar

Colorado’s national parks and monuments are home to the state’s greatest treasures. You’ll find everything here from dinosaur bones and ancient ruins, to stunning scenery ranging from snowy mountains and river gorges, to rocky canyons and golden sand dunes. Whether you want to go hiking, kayaking, sandboarding, stargazing, or wildlife spotting, the Centennial State is the ultimate American adventure. Planning a trip? Read our guide to seven of the best national parks and monuments in Colorado – and be sure to add some to your bucket list.

1. Rocky Mountain National Park

As one of the world’s most extraordinary landscapes, the Rocky Mountains National Parks is regularly hailed as one of Colorado’s top national parks. It’s filled with snowy peaks soaring more than 12,000 feet high, alpine lakes and waterfalls, and gorgeous meadows dotted with moose, elk, bighorn sheep and more. If you can tear your eyes away from the views, you’ll also find campgrounds, fishing spots and 350 miles of scenic trails ranging from short walks to multi-day treks. The central area of Beaver Meadows and Moraine Park are great places to start your Rocky Mountains adventure. And be sure to take a drive along the Trail Ridge Road, a spectacular scenic byway crossing the continental divide, famed as the highest continuous paved highway in the USA.

GET INSPIRED BY: Welcome to Colorado

2. Mesa Verde National Park

If you’re looking for the best national parks in Colorado, you can’t go past Mesa Verde. Set in the stunning Four Corners area of Colorado, Mesa Verde National Park offers both natural beauty and fascinating history. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, here you can trace the ancient footsteps of the Ancestral Puebloans who carved cliff dwellings out of the sandstone canyon walls. The park is home to some of the country’s most well-preserved archaeological sites, including more than 4,000 ruins dating back hundreds of years. Drive along the Mesa Loop Road to see the amazing carved dwellings or walk the Petroglyph Point Trail for stunning views and the best rock art in the park. You can also take a ranger-led tour to see more impressive archaeological sites, including the Balcony House with 40 preserved rooms and Cliff Palace, with 150 rooms and 23 kivas.

3. Colorado National Monument

The Colorado National Monument protects one of the most breathtaking landscapes in the US. Set in the northeast of the Colorado Plateau, you’ll come face to face with sheer-walled canyons plunging as deep as 500 feet, and granite rock monoliths towering to 450 feet. It’s all red rock and green juniper forests, and as you gaze out over this mesmerising landscape, you might even spot soaring eagles, mountain lions and bighorn sheep. You won’t want to blink as you drive the 23-mile Rim Rock Drive along the spectacular plateau lined with spectacular views. Or get on solid ground with the 14 hiking trails in the Colorado National Monument, including the popular Serpent’s Trail, a zigzagging trail that takes you along the original dirt road into the monument in just 2.5 miles.

4. Dinosaur National Monument

Ever wanted to see a dinosaur? You’ll find them in Colorado’s national parks. Well, the bones at least. The Dinosaur National Monument is one of the few places where you can see and touch massive dinosaur bones sticking out of the rocks where they were found, and even see ancient petroglyphs. But dinosaurs aren’t the only attraction here. You can hike along miles of trails, and go swimming, fishing and boating around the gorgeous area where the Yampa and Green rivers meet. Take a drive along Harpers Corner Road for mesmerising views over the rivers, or grab a raft and float along while admiring the ancient canyon walls and spotting elk on the riverbanks. Dinosaur National Monument is even an International Dark Sky Park, and astronomy lovers flock here for stargazing and night hikes in summer.

5. Great Sand Dunes National Park Preserve

With 149,000 acres of sand dunes, forest and wetlands, and home to the tallest dunes in the country towering 750 feet high, the Great Sand Dunes National Park Preserve is one epic sandbox. While the incredible scenery provides plenty of photo opportunities, this is also one of the most fun national parks to visit in Colorado, with outdoor adventures like sandboarding, sand sledding and four wheeling. Start at the fantastic Visitor Centre to see the exhibits and short film about the park or meet a Park Ranger to uncover the secrets of this unique natural phenomenon formed more than a million years ago. If you want to go climbing or sandboarding, make your way to High Dune and Star Dune, or head to the 22-mile Medano Pass Road for a four-wheeling experience across sandy creeks. After the spring snowmelt, the Medano Creek is also great for swimming, sunbathing and relaxing after your ride down the sand dunes.

6. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
It may not get the hype of the Rocky Mountains, but this national park is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. The park surrounds a 53-mile gorge plunging 2,700 feet into the earth, with the marbled rock walls carved out by the Gunnison River. The deepest points of the canyon barely receive sunlight, and it’s a mesmerising experience to stare into the dark depths. For the best views of the gorge, head to Devil’s Lookout and Dragon Point. You can also walk the Chasm View nature trail on the north rim or stop at the viewpoints along the South Rim Drive, where you’ll also see the striped Painted Wall. Besides the scenery, there’s also plenty of wildlife including golden eagles, elk and mule deer, a railroad museum that tells the story of the railroads that used to cross this gorge. It’s even an International Dark Sky Park with sky parties and astronomy festivals in summer.

7. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
If you want to get closer to Colorado’s prehistoric life, the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is the place to be. You’ll find thousands of fossils dating back millions of years, including plants and insects, and huge petrified redwood stumps up to 14 feet wide, which are best seen along the 1.1-mile Petrified Forest Loop. Other hiking trails reveal the natural beauty of the park, with alpine forests, granite outcrops and lush meadows spread across 6,000 acres. You can even explore the pioneer history of the area, with a fantastic museum and an early homestead that shows what life was like during Colorado’s settlement. For the perfect mix of history and nature, this has got to be on your Colorado bucket list.

Are you dreaming of visiting Colorado’s national parks and monuments? Guided touring company Trafalgar Tours offer incredible travel experiences to many of America’s great National Parks. Visit their website or get in touch to start planning your next vacation today.

Katie is a regular contributing writer for Trafalgar’s The Real Word blog, based in sunny Perth, Australia. She lives for and writes about all things travel, culture, food and nature, and loves to inspire people to discover the world through her travel blogs.

Ten Great Gardens of Europe

By Audley Travel

*Monet spent decades painting views of this pond in his garden in Giverny, France*

From formal palace grounds with meticulously trimmed box hedges and Renaissance statuary to dreamy bucolic landscapes dotted with drifts of hollyhocks and roses, Europe is home to a wild variety of gardens. Here, we’ve compiled a list of ten excellent options you can add to a European trip, ranging from well-known to well off the garden path.

1. Giverny, France: water lilies in Monet’s garden

Impressionist superstar Claude Monet spent the last four decades of his life painting and gardening in Giverny, and his gardens are now maintained as they were during his life. A stroll through here is like a walk through his paintings — sun-dappled and dreamy. Arrive when the garden gates open at 9am, half an hour before the museum itself opens, to beat the crowds.

2. Loire Valley, France: French formalities at Château de Villandry

The formal and geometric gardens of Château de Villandry seem to be the polar opposite of Monet’s bed, but they still somehow share the same joyful exuberance. A guided tour can help uncover the Renaissance symbolism woven into the shapes and structures of the sprawling gardens. Be sure to leave time for the monastic-influenced kitchen garden, a work of art in its own right.

3. Blarney, Ireland: the poison garden of Blarney Castle

Blarney Castle, just outside Cork, is known primarily for its eponymous stone. But I suggest bypassing that and spending your time browsing the gardens, especially the Gothic delights of the Poison Garden. Skull-and-crossbones signs warn you to beware of the plants, which include rue, mandrake, and wolfsbane, among other fatal flora, many of which are grown in black iron cages.

*Border of an English-style cottage garden*

4. Yorkshire, England: Studley Royal Water Gardens at Fountains Abbey

One of the only surviving examples of a Georgian green garden, the Studley Royal Water Gardens is a tranquil landscape of ornamental lakes, meandering canals, and scenic waterfalls. Together, they provide a progression of scenic vistas that lead you through the largest monastic ruins in England.

*The Generalife is an independent palace located east the Alhambra (pictured) that forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage site*

5. Granada, Spain: Moorish grandeur at the Palacio de Generalife

Located at the summer palace of the Nasrid rulers in Andalusia, the Generalife gardens showcase the Moorish genius for manipulating water, shade, and breeze to stay cool. Jetting fountains, gently flowing pools, and long trickling channels provide a constant soundtrack of watery burbling as you wander among the tumult of vines and blossoms.

*The gardens around Quinta da Regaleira, in Sintra, Portugal, are unabashedly Gothic with an occult twist*

6. Sintra, Portugal: occult influences at Quinta da Regaleira

Wildly eccentric, the gardens of Quinta da Regaleira are loaded with a jumble of occult-inspired symbols and frankly Gothic features. Narrow footpaths twist between limestone caves and secret tunnels lead to grottoes illuminated by fairy lights. Don’t miss the pair of dry wells reached via a mossy, nine-tiered spiral stair — occult initiations are thought to have been held here.

7. Lisse, Netherlands: so many tulips in Keukenhof

Billed as the largest flower garden in the world, Keukenhof is a delight for anyone who loves the crayon-bright colors and sweet perfumes of spring flowering bulbs. More than seven million tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and lilies blossom for eight weeks each spring in vast rivers of lipstick red, deep purple, imperial yellow, and brilliant white.

8. Florence, Italy: Medici opulence in the Boboli Gardens

Tucked behind the Palazzo Pitti, the opulent Boboli Gardens are arguably the finest Renaissance gardens in the world. The sprawling grounds are studded with geometric box hedges, soaring cypresses, and statuary from the period, as well as shell-and-gem-studded grottoes and a pond with enormous goldfish.

*La Mortella Gardens in Ischia, Italy are enthusiastically casual, blending local and exotic species*

9. Ischia, Italy: a tropical oasis in La Mortella Gardens

La Mortella Gardens are enthusiastically informal. Common myrtle (the garden’s namesake) is given as much pride of place as rare specimens like Amazonian lilies, and they’re all tied together with narrow paths shaded by cycads and tree ferns. From the upper gardens, you’ll have sweeping views of the island.

10. Stockholm, Sweden: Drottningholm Palace gardens in Stockholm

Formal, elaborate, and spacious, both Drottningholm Palace and its gardens were inspired by Versailles. You can see the influence in the graceful proportions and the flanking rows of soaring lime trees. Elaborate box hedges form complicated knots around arching bridges, ornamental pools and notable topiaries.

At Audley Travel, we offer trips that have been created just for you. We understand that what motivates you to travel is deeply personal and have spent more than 20 years creating meaningful travel experiences that start with getting to know you and how you want to see the world.

Our specialists have traveled widely in their destinations and one of them will be your dedicated expert, from your first phone call until you return home. When they’re planning a trip, they won’t just ask you how you want to explore, they’ll ask you how you want to feel. And, by understanding the meaning behind why you want to travel, they can create experiences with the power to change your perspective — experiences that will stay with you long after you return home

A Guide to Sunny SouthWest Germany

By Terry Dale, President & CEO of USTOA

*Hohenzollern castle / TMBW, Gregor Lengle*

With ancient art caves, rolling green valleys, and vibrant cities, the lively region of SouthWest Germany offers a varied treasure trove of experiences for visitors. There is a wealth of luxury, culinary, and wellness opportunities for travelers who want to visit the sunny side of Germany. Here are some top tips and trips to keep top of mind for your next European vacation.

WHAT TO DO

SouthWest Germany is renowned for its Black Forest and Black Forest Highlands, where picturesque farms, villages, and vineyards dot the wide-open valleys and mountains. Crystal clear lakes and vineyards can be passed by bike, hike, or car. On the border of the Black Forest sits Baden-Baden, a spa town with traditional 19^th century baths. The region’s capital city of Stuttgart is home to wineries, artists, and attracts car-lovers for its world-renowned Porsche and Mercedes-Benz Museums.

*Hiking at the Swabian Alb © TMBW, Gregor Lengler*

HOW TO GET THERE

Located in the heart of Europe, it is easily accessible. Rail is the convenient alternative to flying and is often the quickest way of getting around Europe and SouthWest Germany. By air, travelers can fly into Stuttgart Airport, Frankfurt Airport, Munich Airport, Zurich Airport, and Basel Airport. SouthWest Germany has an excellent network of highways if travelers prefer a car. River cruises also often make stops in the region.

*Typical Christmas treats at the Christmas market © trickytine/Christine Garcia Urbina*

WHEN TO GO

SouthWest Germany is a four-season destination with a pleasant and mild climate year-round. For spring, explore the blooming countryside and its forests and lakes. Summer is for watersports like tubing and paddle boarding, as well as city festivals. Fall foliage offers scenic hikes and cycling. During the winter, Christmas markets are a popular attraction.

*Porsche Museum, Photo Courtesy of Tauck*

INSPIRED TO TRAVEL?

Call your travel advisor or find a new one at www.ustoa.com/travel-advisor-directory and ask them about SouthWest Germany.

Trips from USTOA tour operators include:

Collette’s Classic Christmas Markets includes a winter excursion to the scenic Black Forest before visiting the Christmas markets of Würzburg. The nine-day tour is available in November and December 2021 starting at $1,849 per person.
Grand Circle Travel’s Romance of the Rhine & Mosel is a 16-day river cruise of the Rhine and Mosel rivers with excursions to the Black Forest Open Air Museum via Strasbourg, and a cuckoo clock presentation. Departures are available from April to October starting at $4,495 per person.
CroisiEurope River Cruises offers a Bountiful Christmas in Alsace and The Black Forest with a four-day cruise along the Rhine to explore the Black Forest and Christmas traditions. Sailings are available in November and December of 2021 and 2022, starting at $736 per person.
Tauck takes travelers to The Rhine and Moselle on a 15-day river cruise to experience Heidelberg Castle, visit the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, and an optional excursion to the spa town of Baden-Baden. Departures are available October 2021 and April, May, August through October 2022m starting at $7,590 per person.
SITA Tours’ 12-day Germany’s Southern Highlights is a river cruise that includes visits to Baden-Baden’s thermal baths, the Black Forest, and more. Departures are available throughout 2021 and 2022 starting at $5,875 per person.

Cuckoo Clocks of SouthWest Germany, Photo Courtesy of Grand Circle Travel

ARE YOU A TRAVEL ADVISOR?

SouthWest Germany is offering a complimentary Going Cuckoo specialist program filled with interactive quizzes, games, and videos to become an expert on the region. Travel advisors will learn what to pack, when to go, where to stay, and what to do while visiting the region so that they can become a go-to agent for SouthWest Germany vacations.

Find more information about SouthWest Germany at www.tourism-bw.com.

Travel advisors can register for the training by visiting www.going-cuckoo.com

Travel Expert Terry Dale Chronicles His Trip to Turkey

What it’s really like to travel internationally in the age of COVID-19

By Terry Dale, President & CEO of the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA)

If there is one lesson I learned from my recent travels to Turkey, it’s that the value of tour operators has increased tenfold. Even though I’ve spent countless hours in airports and traveled to more countries than I can remember, I still experienced a wave of anxiety when I thought of traveling during the age of COVID-19. Between negative tests, quarantine requirements, and travel restrictions, it’s nearly impossible to manage it independently while trying to enjoy your travels.

While I successfully produced a negative COVID test in time for my departure flight out of Fort Lauderdale, others were not so lucky. I took the trip to Turkey because I had the honor of speaking at a travel conference in Istanbul. But on the opening night of the event, nearly 15 attendees were missing because they did not fulfill all the testing requirements to fly.

Each country has its own protocols that need to be followed, and it’s constantly evolving. With the ever-changing landscape of travel requirements and lockdowns, this is a challenge for airline employees, travelers, and destinations alike.

Surprisingly, I was not asked to show my test results at any of the airports in route to Turkey, even though they were requested while flying back to the U.S. It was clear that a global health credential system would be so useful for travel, so that each visitor and employee know exactly what is going on. It’s 2021, paper CDC cards with the dates of vaccines and written confirmation of test results seem primitive!

One observation was that every airport I visited was bustling with people wearing masks and social distancing. The pent-up demand for travel is real and immediate.

As for Turkey itself, the weather was rainy and grey, but the people brightened the destination each day. At a small, vibrant and colorful restaurant in Istanbul, the waiter treated us like royalty. The meal served left my stomach full of chicken kababs, hummus, and olives, and even though I don’t know much about Turkish food, I know it was delicious.

A river cruise of the Bohasmas is a must-do while in Istanbul. In the quick trip up the narrow straight, visitors can gaze at Asia on one side and Europe on the other. The two major continents come together where you stand, and it is stunning.

*Terry Dale of USTOA (left) with the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Ersoy (right)*

Turkey is ready to be open for business. At every hotel, the sanitization protocols were thoughtful and professional to make sure travelers feel safe. There’s a natural culture of service and hospitality that makes everyone feel welcome. Plus, there’s great value for American travelers given the exchange rate. After meeting with the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Ersoy, I felt confident that Turkey is going to bounce back quickly.

It was a learning experience to make the trip as a vaccinated business traveler. If it were a vacation or personal adventure, it would have been much more manageable and relaxing using a tour operator or one of our travel advisor partners.

In closing, I was grateful for the opportunity to meet some incredible people (see below) and experience the thrill of travel once again.