12 Best Family Ski Resorts in Colorado
Colorado is one of the best chances for a fantastic family ski holiday, with more than 300 inches of snowfall annually and at least 28 ski resorts.
It is easy to see why Colorado is one of the top destinations for skiers and snowboarders, given that the state’s high mountains provide over 29,500 acres of white, fluffy slopes to skiers of all skill levels.
You’ll undoubtedly run into a problem with lodging when you make plans for your family ski trip to Colorado.
Which Colorado ski resort of the various options should you choose for an unforgettable snow holiday there?
Even if each resort is a fantastic option in and of itself, some manage to rise above others.
This list of Colorado snow resorts will offer alternatives for the ideal winter getaway, whether you’re looking for kid-free nights in front of the fireplace, ski routes for tweens and adolescents, or spectacular activities that enchant your small ones.
Here are my top suggestions for Colorado’s family-friendly ski resorts without further ado.
- Crested Butte
The resort offers a variety of activities for both the little ones and the not-so-little ones, making Crested Butte a popular option for both independent skiers and families.
With activities like the Zero Gravity BagJump, rides in the Adventure Park, bungee trampolines, and rock climbing, to name a few, the resort’s Youngsters Night Out keeps kids entertained while allowing parents to spend some quality time alone without the kids.
Additionally, they offer amenities like Camp CB, a program for children aged 3 to 14, a daycare for young children, and a fantastic summer adventure program where children may engage in a variety of sports, including hiking, trekking, mountain biking, river rafting, paddle boarding, and climbing crags.
The resort also has kid-friendly ski tracks, a bear cave, a Forest Service Lodge, a gold-mining structure, and a miniature Elk Avenue where kids may play or ski.
In addition, both children and adults may take ski lessons from Olympian Wendy Fisher and other qualified instructors in Crested Butte, who also provide private instruction and coaching.
Visitors may embark on a tour of the snowy slopes or visit the resort’s Adventure Center for information on its numerous skiing programs.
- Snowmass
One of the best ski resorts in Colorado is Snowmass, which features a restaurant called Elk Camp that, on Ullr Nights, transforms into a winter wonderland complete with a slide and a ghost ship made of lights, snowshoe tours, a Viking sledding hill, and the perennial favorite of kids everywhere: roasting s’mores, drinking hot chocolate, and listening to Old West tales by the crackling fire.
In Snowmass Village, the hotel also includes the Treehouse Kids Adventure Center, which is home to Camp Aspen Snowmass. Here, young children may play in themed playrooms or learn to ski and snowboard to get a taste of the beautiful outdoors.
For the parents, Snowmass also provides a variety of winter and summer activities, including the Lost Forest, gondola rides, paintball, guided tours, and a bike park.
Snowmass is one of the finest places for families to visit in Colorado because of the abundance of services, facilities, and things to do there.
There won’t be many boring moments during a trip here!
- Beaver Creek
Whatever else about Beaver Creek you may or may not find appealing, their 3 p.m. cookie program will!
As visitors return after skiing and make their way to their rooms or one of the many other things the resort offers, the hotel gives them warm cookies.
Every Thursday, visitors may participate in the glow-stick ski parade or the on-hill story time, followed by a fireworks show.
Additionally, they may go ice skating, have fun at the tubing hill, or get lost in the Marmot Maze (figuratively speaking, of course).
In addition, Beaver Creek offers the Ski Girls Rock program, created by Olympic gold medalist and world champion alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, just for girls and women.
The program includes classes specifically created based on the skier’s skill level and age.
The resort has very nice daycare and nursery facilities for parents who need a break from watching the kids.
- Keystone
The ideal destination for the family- and kid-friendly activities is Keystone.
Kidtopia, the resort’s kids program, provides children with various activities, including constructing forts, going on treasure hunts, disco tubing, cookie hour and getting their faces painted, to mention a few.
If the family stays at Keystone for more than two nights, the little ones may also take advantage of free skiing on the resort’s icy slopes.
Keystone offers free family front-row parking only feet from the gondola and gear chauffeurs and wagons for transporting equipment to and from the Family Ski Trail’s slopes, which further sweetens the bargain.
Kids may also have fun with the Keystone resort’s avalanche rescue dogs and, if they’re fortunate, see Riperoo, the Keystone mascot.
On the other side, parents may use the spa and fitness center at the resort.
- Winter Park
Do you want to ski on Colorado’s icy slopes with your family and spend quality time together?
Take advantage of Winter Park’s Family Easy Start program, which enables the whole family to take classes at the resort’s Private Lessons Center.
In addition, the resort provides visitors with various activities, half and full-day training packages, equipment rental, and lift tickets.
Visitors may also have fun at the Coca-Cola Tubing Park, where they can warm their chilly fingers and toes while enjoying hot chocolate, four tubing lanes, and a conveyor lift for their weary legs after skiing!
Even though we all love a nice cup of hot cocoa, a mug of beer can be very comforting.
The resort has its own Oktoberfest, where visitors can enjoy a locally brewed beer while viewing Colorado’s snow-covered mountains.
- Vail
The Adventure Ridge kids’ and toddlers’ mountaintop snow park is one of Vail’s most alluring amenities.
The park is accessible by gondola, and the young members of your family may engage in various sports there, including tubing, using the miniature snowmobile course, bungee trampolining, ziplining, and ski riding.
Additionally, the park is home to Bistro 14, a family-friendly eatery with a menu that will please even the pickiest diners!
After a day on the slopes, Adventure Ridge is the ideal place to conclude the day since it is open until later in the evening.
The Walking Mountains Science Center Naturalists program, which Vail conducts well, enables students to learn about Colorado’s Rocky Mountains via practical instruction on the slopes.
- Copper Mountain
While mom and dad enjoy activities like complimentary snowshoe excursions and the Alpine Rush Zip Line, which soars 30 feet over the ice skating rink at West Lake at 30 miles per hour, Copper Mountain offers a fantastic Kids Night Out program, similar to that of Crested Butte.
At the foot of the resort’s tubing hill, kids may also enjoy Critterland, which has a small tubing hill, a tubing carousel, a snow cave with tunnels for tiny scampers, and a variety of other kid-friendly activities.
Additionally, Copper Mountain offers a sizable indoor playground called Woodward, where kids can enjoy year-round skiing, bike and skate programs, fly-bed trampolines, and foam pits, honing their skiing abilities in preparation for their upcoming fall down the slopes.
Done with the slopes?
Relax at the resort’s cutting-edge spa or work in the Athletic Club.
Like to experience adrenaline rushes?
Try the Rocky Mountain Coaster at the resort!
At Copper Mountain, there is something for everyone.
- Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Springs, often known as Ski Town USA, is one of Colorado’s top candidates for the greatest family ski resort title.
It’s simple to see why with the variety of on- and off-slope activities available to adults and children.
The resort offers family-friendly private skiing classes (full and half-day training), a Snowsports School for all ages, a magic carpet lift designed for kids, and Sunshine Family Trail’s Snow Monsters and Steamboat Olympians.
Additionally, they operate a fantastic Red Wagon program to make it easier for families to haul equipment to and from the slopes.
You don’t have to go out in the cold looking for food since the hotel offers supermarket delivery right to your room!
In addition, you may go on horseback excursions, gondola rides, snowmobile tours, cuddle up on a hot springs tour, ride the Outlaw Mountain Coaster, and, for the very daring, go night skiing.
Or are you just indulging yourself?
So go on a romantic sleigh ride with only your spouse (though you’ll have to tone it down since it’s a group offer), or bring the entire family to make it a family affair!
Is the lavish five-course Scandinavian supper that follows the sleigh ride not mentioned?
- Durango/Purgatory
Despite its rather sinister-sounding moniker, Purgatory is one of Colorado’s kid-friendly ski slopes. It was once known as Durango Mountain Resort.
The Burton Riglet Park, a playground/snowboarding terrain park that offers the ideal entrée into the sport for novices, is one of the most recent additions to its site.
The holiday-themed Polar Express train ride transports passengers to and from Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge, taking them to the “North Pole” to meet Santa and his little helpers, sing Christmas carols, and receive a Sleigh Bell gift. Passengers are dressed in pajamas and enjoy hot chocolate while eating cookies and singing carols.
In the Durango Dog Ranch, Purgatory also provides hour-long dog sledding trips that allow participants to go down the Old Flume Trail while being pushed by fluffy Alaskan and Siberian huskies.
- Breckenridge
Breckenridge has a lot to offer visitors, including broad, simple-to-navigate paths at the foot of Peaks 8 and 9, ice skating, an Alpine slide, a kids’ museum, and fantastic family-friendly restaurants, to mention a few!
Breckenridge, along with ski areas like Beaver Creek, Vail, and Keystone, is a participant in EpicMix, a smartphone app that keeps tabs on your family’s vertical feet covered, the number of lessons finished, the number of lift trips done, and other statistics of your ski trip.
Kids who ski unsupervised will appreciate the app tracking the last checked-in location on the mountain through the Epic Pass.
Breckenridge also has a fantastic spa and fantastic après-ski locations all year long.
The GoldRunner Coaster, 44 tours, an alpine slide, and Epic Discovery, a customizable adventure trail, are also available to guests during the summer. Mountain biking, a summer day camp for kids, and summer activities like rock climbing, trekking, and ziplining (tailored for kids and adults) are also available.
- Sunlight Mountain Resort
A few miles south of Glenwood Springs, on 680 acres of skiable land, is the Sunlight Mountain Resort, which also has one of Colorado’s longest ski slopes.
The resort is ideal for individuals on a budget since it has a helpful staff, enough room for the whole family to practice skiing, and various skiing courses tailored to the needs of various age groups.
The resort also provides Ski Swim Stay packages, which include housing in town or on the slopes, access to Glenwood’s Hot Springs Pool, a lift ticket, and free skiing for children under 12 whom a paying adult accompanies.
Sunlight offers a fantastic family snowmobile trip at one and a half hours, and the tour is just the right length to maintain everyone’s attention and participation.
Want to escape the outside?
Enjoy delicious meals at the restaurant, or let the resort’s elegant spa’s licensed masseuses massage your worries!
- Arapahoe Basin
Remember to include Arapahoe Basin on your list of the top family resorts in Colorado!
Arapahoe Basin, sometimes known as A-Basin, is notable for having a lengthy season; the resort typically operates well into June and occasionally into early July.
A-Basin, located south of Loveland Pass, is also well-known for its Snowsports School, which provides individualized skiing, snowboarding, and telemark training for learners of all ages and skill levels.
A-Basin also offers a kids’ section with an Ace-Ventura theme to keep the little ones occupied. In this area, small children may play for hours, discover interesting information about nature, meet Rio (the avalanche dog), or make friends with Ace, the resort’s mascot.
Additionally, visitors may enroll in any of the hotel’s Terrain Packs or unwind with their family in “The Beach” portion of the hotel.
Pack Your Bags and Leave!
These Colorado ski resorts provide a little for everyone, whether your priority is taking skiing lessons or escaping the stress of daily life.
There isn’t much more a tourist could want than guided tours, snowy, white slopes, skiing instruction, the warm, uncommon winter sun, family-friendly services and facilities, kids’ clubs and activity centers, and some fantastic eating alternatives.
You can be sure that whatever ski resort you choose from the list, you and your family will have a fantastic time in Colorado!
Go to these winter resorts and plan your vacation to the Centennial State for equal parts enjoyment, education, and family time, whether “winter is approaching” or you’re yearning for some snow to combat the summer heat!
