Start from 32 curated places around Estes Park, CO, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Bird & Jim
Colorado-ingredients kitchen on Moraine Avenue with a rotating menu built around Front Range produce, locally sourced proteins, and craft cocktails. Smoked pheasant chowder, buffalo burgers with tomato-bacon jam, and cast-iron chicken are the kinds of dishes this kitchen is known for. The most thoughtful cooking in Estes Park.
Hunters Chophouse
Family-owned steakhouse on Big Thompson Ave that hand-cuts its steaks and chops daily, with a wild game menu that rotates through elk, bison, and boar. The relaxed, no-fuss atmosphere makes it a consistent local favorite over the downtown tourist options. The burger is frequently cited as the best in town.
Trails & outdoors
Emerald Lake Trail
The park's most celebrated beginner-to-moderate hike: 3.3 miles round-trip from Bear Lake, passing Nymph Lake and Dream Lake before reaching Emerald Lake in a glacial cirque. Rated 4.8 stars by more than 26,000 AllTrails users. Each lake is progressively more dramatic.
Sky Pond via Glacier Gorge Trail
The park's most technically demanding day hike: 9 miles round-trip through Alberta Falls, The Loch, and Timberline Falls before a steep Class 4 scramble to Sky Pond at 10,900 feet. Rated 4.9 stars by over 17,000 AllTrails users. The scramble up Timberline Falls is short but real.
Things to do
Stanley Hotel Ghost & History Tours
The Stanley Hotel's formal tour program covers historic, paranormal, and Shining-themed experiences in the 1909 building — access to the concert hall, basement corridors, and the hotel's documented paranormal history. The night tour is the atmospheric one; the historic tour is the substantive one.
Estes Park Aerial Tramway
A 1955-era gondola carrying visitors to the 8,900-foot summit of Prospect Mountain for views of Estes Park, Lake Estes, and Rocky Mountain National Park. The Hungry Chipmunk Cafe operates at the top, and light hiking trails radiate from the summit. A quirky local institution with a retro vibe.
Landmarks & sights
The Stanley Hotel
1909 Georgian Revival hotel on a hill above town, built by F.O. Stanley of steam-car fame and still owned as a cultural institution after a 2025 acquisition. Stephen King stayed here in the 1970s and wrote The Shining as a result. Tours run from historic to paranormal; the lobby bar and Music Room are worth exploring without a ticket.
Rocky Mountain National Park - Bear Lake
The park's busiest entry point at 9,475 feet, where a paved half-mile loop circles a glacially carved lake with direct views of Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain. Serves as the staging area for Bear Lake Road's most popular trailheads, including Glacier Gorge, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake.