Start from 24 curated places around Montrose, CO, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Camp Robber
A family-owned Montrose institution doing eclectic American cooking with real craft — think green chile pistachio pork medallions, big salads, fresh-baked breads and creative wraps. The room is warm and unpretentious, the kind of place locals default to when they want something a cut above without fuss. The lunch soup-and-sandwich combos are consistently excellent.
Colorado Boy Pizzeria & Brewery
Montrose's beloved downtown brewpub in the historic Stockman's building, turning out wood-fired specialty pizzas alongside award-winning cask ales made on-site. The dough is made fresh daily, the mozzarella is house-made, and the beer list changes seasonally. It is the ideal post-hike stop in the heart of downtown.
Trails & outdoors
Oak Flat Loop Trail — Black Canyon South Rim
A 1.3-mile loop that drops below the canyon rim into scrub oak and serviceberry, giving you a canyon-floor perspective that the overlooks simply cannot provide. It starts at the steps of the South Rim Visitor Center, descends 300 feet to canyon-side level and loops back — enough vertical to feel like a real hike without demanding technical gear. The inner-canyon silence is worth every step down.
North Vista Trail — Black Canyon North Rim
A 6.8-mile moderate out-and-back on the quieter North Rim that climbs through pinon-juniper to Exclamation Point — a promontory with one of the most exposed and vertigo-inducing canyon views in the park. The North Rim sees a fraction of South Rim traffic, which means the trailhead is calm and the experience feels private. The summit perspective of the canyon is wider and more canyon-spanning than anything on the south side.
Things to do
Star Drive-In Theatre
A double-feature drive-in that has been screening movies under Western Slope skies for over 70 years, making it one of the longest-running drive-ins in Colorado. The food stand does old-school fresh cheeseburgers and the kind of popcorn that smells like nostalgia. It runs from spring through late summer and draws everyone from families in minivans to couples in pickup trucks.
Horsefly Brewing Company
Montrose's flagship craft brewery on E Main Street, pouring a rotating lineup of ales, lagers and seasonals alongside a food menu that goes well beyond bar snacks — wings, sandwiches, burgers and the notorious Rocky Mountain Oysters for the adventurous. The tasting room is spacious, the patio is lively and the beer quality is consistently solid. A natural gathering point for the local outdoor community.
Landmarks & sights
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park — South Rim
One of the most dramatic canyon landscapes in North America, where the Gunnison River has carved sheer walls plunging 2,000 feet into near-total darkness. The South Rim entrance operates year-round and offers twelve canyon overlooks along a seven-mile road, with the most accessible views of the canyon's inner gorge. The scale — combined with the silence — is genuinely startling for first-time visitors.
Ute Indian Museum
Set on the original 8.65-acre homestead of Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta, this History Colorado museum holds the most comprehensive collection of Ute tribal artifacts in existence — ceremonial dress, traditional jewelry, beadwork and dioramas that convey the scope of Ute territory across the Colorado Plateau. The grounds and the context of being on the actual homestead site give it a weight that a typical history museum rarely achieves.