8 Comparisons of Aspen vs Telluride

Downtown Telluride

Location of Aspen vs Telluride

Both Aspen and Telluride are considered Colorado mountain towns, but they are not located near each other. Telluride is more toward southern Colorado while Aspen is not terribly far off I-70 in central-western Colorado.

Aspen

To get to Aspen (from Denver), you’d take I-70 west to Glenwood Springs. Then head south on CO-82 (Grand Ave in Glenwood Springs). You’ll stay on this about 40 miles until you roll into Aspen!

All-in-all, Aspen is about 3-1/2 hours from Denver (3 hours 50 minutes from Denver airport). It’s a pretty easy drive…

…Unless you go during winter ski-traffic time. Ski traffic will block I-70 for a while, mostly on weekends from 6:30-8:30am and 3:30-7pm, give or take. So avoid I-70 during those times if you can.

While Aspen is a good 40 miles from I-70, it doesn’t feel isolated. Aspen is a decent sized mountain town, plus Snowmass Village is just down the road.

Telluride

Telluride is located just over 6 hours from Denver to the south and west. The location is much more isolated, not having many towns around it. The largest town near Telluride is Ridgway, located about 45 minutes away. Ouray is just a little farther at about 1 hour.

Telluride is a historic mining town nestled among mountain peaks. It sits in a beautiful, wall-in mountain area with a postcard-perfect setting.

👉🏼 If you’re looking for the closest drive from Denver, Aspen is the best choice.

Hanging Lake in Glenwood Springs

Day Trips from Aspen and Telluride

Both towns offer some great day trips. If you’d like to get out and explore a little beyond your home base, here are a few day trips from each.

Aspen

Glenwood Springs- If you need a day trip to explore some more, head to Glenwood Springs just a quick 55 minute drive away. Here you’ll find an adventure park (want to swing off the side of a mountain?), hot springs, caves, and a gorgeous hike to a gorgeous lake with a gorgeous waterfall (pictured above).

Vail- You could also drive over to Vail, just about 1 hour and 50 minutes away. This fun town is a major ski resort (one of the best in the US). Summer will give you hikes, lakes, and a cool Bavarian-style village to enjoy.

Leadville– If you visit in summer then you can make the quick journey over Independence Pass and up to Leadville. Leadville is known as the highest (elevation) incorporated town in America. The journey is about 60 miles and 1-1/2 hours when the pass is open. Otherwise you have to go all the way around, so I don’t recommend this day trip in winter.

Buena Vista– Again, this day trip relies on Independence Pass being open, so it’s a great summer day trip. Once you go over the pass, you’ll head south to Buena Vista. It’s roughly the same amount of time as getting to Leadville.

Snowmass– I’ll add Snowmass Village even though I don’t really think of it as a day trip. I think of Snowmass more of an extension of Aspen. After all, when we went to Aspen, we stayed in Snowmass (it’s more affordable!) since it’s just down the road.

Ouray hot springs makes a great day trip from Telluride

The famous Maroon Bells in Aspen

Family Activities in Each Town

Both towns pack plenty of nature, activities, and family-friendly fun.

Aspen

If you are visiting on a budget, then you’ll probably want to stick to hiking as it’s free in Aspen. We found plenty of family-friendly trails around town, one which has been my kids’ most favorite trail overall! (more on that in the hiking section below).

A lot of people also like to visit the John Denver Sanctuary, a quiet little garden area right in town.

Maroon Bells is, of course, the main attraction people come for. This highly-photographed area and mountain range is perfect for families as the shuttle takes you there and the hike is flat and easy, if you choose. Otherwise, you can just enjoy the view from right off the bus.

San Miguel River, Telluride

Telluride

Telluride is a great place filled with family activities. You can do all the fun mountain activities like horseback riding, river rafting, and biking on the rec path.

There is also an awesome park at the end of town (named Town Park) filled with fun, festivals, fishing, horseshoes, volleyball, and more. It even has an ice rink to use in winter.

Find relief on hot summer days by floating down the San Miguel river that follows along the side of Telluride.

One activity you must do is ride the free gondola up to Mountain Village and explore for the day.

Winter in Telluride brings fun activities like skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating, sledding, or sleigh rides. You can even book an ice climbing tour that kids can participate in as well!

👉🏼 If family activities is your main goal, Telluride definitely has more to offer!

The Tom Blake Trail near Aspen

Hiking

Both places have amazing hiking. Here are a few hiking hi lights of each

Aspen

We personally love the variety of hiking in Aspen.

Maroon Bells is not just a destination, but also a great area to hike in. Take the easy loop around the lake at arrival, or hike in further to Crater Lake.

The Ice Caves (grottos hike) have been my kids favorite hike, maybe ever! This easy trail leads you to caves carved into cool patterns, plus the cascading turquiose waters near the end.

Hunter Creek is a beautiful area that leads you through the trees, then golden meadows, and eventually some old abandoned cabins.

And the Tom Blake trails over in Snowmass are so very colorful come fall.

Bridal Veil Falls, Telluride

Telluride

Telluride has a lot of hiking as well, though the majority are not as family-friendly as the impressive amount in Aspen.

Bridal Veil Falls is the tallest waterfall in Colorado and offers a kid-friendly OHV road to walk up. It’s about 2.5 miles up and then 2.5 miles back down.

Bear Creek Trail is a popular trail. It’s moderate and a bit longer at 4.5 miles roundtrip. But it’ll take past some cool spots (ask a local how to get to “Little Hawaii” off the trail!)

Hope Lake is longer as well at 6 miles r/t, but such a great payoff to see the gorgeous turquoise waters.

Telluride also has a river trail that runs along the San Juan and through town. This is an easy trail for walking or biking.

👉🏼 It’s tough to call a winner here, but we just loved the diverse destinations of family-friendly hiking in Aspen.

Telluride- nearby lodging in Ouray that’s more affordable!

Lodging

If you want luxury, you can find that in either town. If you want affordable, neither are great picks. But there are alternatives to both towns for something more in budget!

Aspen

Aspen is known as being a posh, celebrity-vacation kind of town. So lodging here is just really not affordable. If you want to stay in town, your best bet is something like the Aspen Mountain Lodge, which is quite a bit cheaper than other lodgings.

If you need something more affordable, though, I’d stay in Snowmass. You’ll have a lot more rental options and better-priced hotels like The Limelight.

Telluride

Telluride is really not a budget location. You can expect the “cheap” hotels to be around $300-$500/night in summer (like The Camel’s Garden).

Rentals in the off season start around $300/night for smaller places.

Don’t have that budget?

We felt the same.

We ended up visiting Telluride during the day, but stayed in nearby Ouray about an hour away.

Another option is to stay in Ridgway, just under an hour away.

Ouray offers plenty of rental options, many starting in the $200-300/night. This is what we chose when we visited and we loved having the extra space and somewhere to make meals.

See the rental that slept our family of 6 comfortably!

👉🏼 Telluride definitely had more lodging options, as well as slightly more affordable options

Telluride Hot Air Balloon Festival

Festivals and Events

From music and sports to mushrooms and balloons, each town offer some unique events throughout the year.

Aspen

The Winter X Games come to Aspen each year in January. This event welcomes some of the top names in skiing and snowboarding with different events to watch.

The Aspen Music Festival and School event comes each summer and is known as the largest classical music festivals in the country.

Aspen’s Food and Wine Classic makes its way in June with some of the world’s best winemakers and celebrity chefs. Spectators can come for cooking demonstrations and wine tastings.

As for winter, Aspen hosts the Wintersköl or a Toast to Winter. This has been running over 70 years where the town celebrates all the alpine excitement with a torch run down the mountain, fireworks, and mountain activities.

Telluride

Telluride offers events all year round as well. In summer, enjoy the hot air balloon festival with early morning lift offs and night glows in the colorful balloons.

Shortly after comes the Bluegrass festival, which sells out every year and brings tons of people to town.

Late June even brings a yoga festival for the yogi in you. All summer long you can enjoy movies under the stars in nearby Mountain Village.

Late summer brings a Jazz Festival as well as a mushroom festival.

Telluride’s Film Festival happens in early September, with the Blue and Brews following a week or two after.

When it comes to festivals, Telluride has a more unique selection for visiting this far off mountain town.

Check out the full selection of festivals and events in Telluride.

👉🏼 While both offer great festivals and events, Telluride has more that would be exciting for kids as well.

Telluride

Skiing in Aspen vs Telluride

Either choice will have less crowds than the typical ski resorts in Colorado thanks to their farther distance from the interstate.

Overall, Aspen will offer a better variety of beginner hills if that is what you’re needing.

Advanced skiers may enjoy Telluride more.

Aspen

A lift ticket in Aspen will run an adult about $200 for a day. The good news is that you can purchase multi-day lift tickets at a slight discount. The even better news is that these lift tickets are good at all 4 resorts: Aspen Snowmass, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, and Snowmass.

Aspen Mountain is more for experienced skiers, as there are no Green runs here.

Aspen Highlands doesn’t get as many people, making it better for those avoiding thick crowds. It has plenty of runs for everyone. Beginners will love hanging out around Cloud 9 chairlift.

Buttermilk is located right off the main road in Aspen outside of the downtown area. It hosts the Winter X games and is known for being a great playground for those seeking quarter pipes, jumps, and more.

And lastly, Snowmass is up the mountain in Snowmass. It’s one of the best family-friendly ski resorts in the US, making it the perfect winter family vacation spot.

Telluride Skiing

Telluride has an overall more steep terrain. The town is more isolated, making it less accessible.

Telluride features 19 lifts and 148 runs over 2,000 acres of terrain. The runs are nicely divided between beginner, intermediate, and advanced trails.

The average snowfall is 280″ per year, about 20″ less than Aspen Snowmass.

The Revelation Lift takes you the highest at 12,515 feet in elevation.

👉🏼 You really can’t beat being able to ski 4 resorts in Aspen under 1 ticket

Telluride from above

Overall Feel of town

The feel of these two towns is very different.

Aspen felt more of a quieter town that we really didn’t see many people until we were either up in the ski area or out on the trails. (note: we were there in summertime.)

There weren’t a lot of places in downtown that called our name.

As mentioned before, Aspen is known as a more posh town. We don’t travel with a ton of money, so maybe we purposefully avoided getting into any tourist traps.

Telluride, on the other hand, felt a little more rugged and welcoming. Even though it’s still on the more expensive side, we felt the town was hustling-and-bustling from morning till evening. There are great downtown shops and restaurants (we enjoyed the famous bakery Baked in Telluride.)

Which Should You Visit- Aspen or Telluride?

If you’d rather not travel all day from the Denver airport, then Aspen is probably the best option.

But other than that reason, I would recommend Telluride over Aspen. There are so many more family-friendly activities, plenty of hiking, free gondola (so fun), and really just a fun and active town.

Don’t get me wrong- Aspen is beautiful. If that’s where you end up, you’ll have a great time and check off the Maroon Bells and some great hiking and skiing.