What to Do

The downtown is basically stretched out along Main Street with lots of shopping for your co-pilot and passengers as well as a large selection of lounges and restaurants.  You can easily spend a day just walking Main Street in Durango.

If you want a train ride of your life, book yourself on the Durango & Silverton Railroad located at 479 Main St. is a must do.  It does not parallel the highway to Silverton as many people think and goes through some spectacular canyons along rivers to beautiful Silverton.  You can do all of Silverton in a few hours and then return on the same train.

If you'd rather, drive yourself up the highway 550 from Durango to Silverton.  The drive is breathtaking with lots of places to view the ragged San Juan Mountains.  Spend a few hours in Silverton and if you are adventurous, continue your trip up to Ouray, an even more charming town with some shopping and restaurants.

On Day 2, travel west to Mesa Verde National Park.  The park is about a 1 hour drive on  pleasant Colorado highway 160.  Leave in the morning as you will need most of the day to enjoy the park.  You can view most of the park without reservations, but there are 2 dwelling locations, Balcony House and Cliff Palace that require you to buy tickets as they are ranger-guided.  Both of these tours are well worth the $3 and the best guided tours in the park.

If you have time for Day 3 and don't mind a 2 hour drive, then by all means drive south to Chaco Canyon National Park in New Mexico.  These Anasazi ruins are completely different, in architecture, than Mesa Verde and by our measure, even more spectacular as they are located in a high desert setting that once had water.