I have to idea how to Colorado. Help me plan a party/ski trip.

Hello Colorado!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and any advice you can offer.

Here's the deal. My best friend is getting married in the spring of next year. I'm planning his bachelor party. My group of friends doesn't plan simple, one-night, short and sweet bachelor parties. When one of us gets hitched, we go all out. We go somewhere awesome for a week or so and live it up. For this one, we're going to your beautiful state to ski a little and party a lot.

I know nothing about Colorado. I do know that planning a trip there using google is just going to lead us to the most expensive, crowded, touristy spots there are (Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, etc.). That's fine if that's the best there is, but if there are better options, I'm all ears.

Here's what I'm looking for...

Like I said, we're going to ski a little and party a lot. All of us are from TN so even the worst skiing there is probably 100x better that what we are used to. I don't necessarily need the best of the best skiing to be happy. I would like to be somewhere with awesome food, bars, and nightlife. You know, bachelor party stuff and things. I don't want to have to drive once we get where we're going. That's pretty important.

In a nutshell, where should I go for the best bang-for-buck CO ski/party extravaganza?

Tag the skiers if you know any. Thank ya'll in advance!

 

As he said.. also be aware of altitude sickness, I wouldn't go all out the 1st day and be stuck in bed the rest of the trip

I would check into 3-4 day passes at certain resorts. Keystone has an awesome village and public transportation gets you around if needed. The village has awesome bars, ice rink, hotels you can walk right out to the lifts. Maybe look at an AirBnB and uber/bus around. You can get a 3 day pass for $100 a day.

Contact the guys at Epic Mountain. Ask about package lift ticket deals with rentals, transportation (they have shuttles from town up to the resorts) ect.
https://www.epicmountaingear.com/

 

A less touristy place to ski would be Keystone, they have a base camp village called River Run which has a couple of bars and there are some local bars around it too. There is also a shuttle that will bring you to Breckenridge too.

I had my bachelor party in Breckenridge in June for a weekend. I know its not in the winter but a lot of the things I did are still available in the winter.
Breckenridge distillery for a free tour and tastings. They have lawn games and fire pits outside. If you let them know its for a bachelor party they can set it up so its just your group on the tour, you may also get a free drink or merch. We also hit Broken compass brewery which is across the parking lot.
Second day we went skeet shooting at Aspen Canyon Ranch, but they had a lot of other activities to avail of too.
Last day we just hit the town of breck, it has a lot of bars and restaurants.

 

I personally like some of the more distant destinations:

Crested Butte
Telluride
Aspen

Yes, they are going to be very touristy, but somehow they retain their "small town" vibes, so it doesn't feel like you're in a mega-resort. Telluride especially. Downside is that they're crazy expensive. Aspen especially. And it's pretty late in the season to find deals on lift tickets or to find weekend housing within the town centers. Finally, unless you're flying in on your own private jet, you have to drive past some pretty epic ski country to get to them from DIA (Keystone, Breckenridge, Vail, ...).

Wherever you go, keep in mind there's a lot to do beyond skiing and drinking. Most all major resort destinations have nearby tour operators where you can rent snowmobiles, go dog sledding, cross country skiing, snow shoeing... probably lots more I haven't tried yet.

 

Oh, and here's another pro tip. If you're not already an advanced skier, consider getting a package deal with lessons included. And if you go this route, you'll have a WAY better time if you schedule that lesson for your FIRST day. Everybody wants to head straight to the slopes with all their friends on their first day, but if you're like me, by day two you're exhausted, hung over, possibly injured, and in an overall less receptive state to learn from the lesson.

 

Dude...if you want to party, ski and the absolute best, go to Aspen. If you're taking your girl skiing, Crested Butte or Telluride are sweet. But to party your face off, eat good food, see some good music and have 4 mountains to ski on the same pass...Aspen. Bonus is you getta make Dumb and Dumber jokes all week.

 

Thank you all so much. I have a ton of studying on it to do, but now I have somewhere to start.

 

In Colorado, you can't go wrong. Many people follow the snow and book then, but you can't do that if you book and plan now. I coach a Freeride (ski) team and ski 10-15 different ski areas a year depending on our comp schedule. If I was planning a bachelor party and skiing wasn't the main focus, Aspen is hard to beat.

 

Totally agree with this, Aspen is by far the best ski town for partying/skiing. I'd say second place goes to Vail, Shakedown and Bridge Street Bar are awesome and you'll have a lot of fun there. The skiing is awesome as well and way closer to DIA

 

What DesertRatliff said! You can't go wrong. I have my season pass that include 7 Days to Aspen Snowmass and it was gnarly. I've attached a picture below at the top of the mountain on blacks.

 

Aspen is by far the best Rocky Mountain ski resort party town, also one of the more expensive and a bit of a drive. (3.5-8) hrs from Denver in ski season depending on weather/accidents. I'd say best bang for your buck party/proximity to Denver is Breckenridge. Also you don't have to go over Vail pass which can be dicey or shut down if snow is dumping. Vail is a fun party town but has become increasingly family oriented in recent years and pretty close to equally expensive to Aspen. Just a heads up, there will be 50 other bachelor parties up here that same weekend and 150 other "guys ski weekends" and just the general 8/1 guy to girl ratio that resides in a ski town so don't come here expecting ski bunnies in hot tubs everywhere. Although spring time does have a better ratio as Fla and Texas and front range schools come to town for spring break. If you are the stripper kind of crew, you'll have to order them from Denver as well which can be costly. Long story short if it was me planning it and skiing wasn't the main focus I'd go Breck for convenience or Aspen for a real extravaganza. As stated above be aware of the altitude as far as booze goes and go easy on the edibles cause they can F you up real quick, especially if used in combination with booze. In any event sounds awesome and have fun!

 

Daily ski rates are crazy expensive for most big resorts these days, so have your crew look into buying ahead of time. Ikon pass, epic pass, MTN collective pass to get the best bang for your buck for 3 plus days skiing. Also if you wanna call an audible and go visit our neighbors up North, I've heard Whistler has great nightlife!

 

Thank y’all so much for the recommendations. It’s looking like Breckinridge is going to be the destination because one of the crew has a hookup for substantially discounted lodging there. More money for playing that way.

I’ll be booking everything within the next couple weeks.

“Order” then from Denver? Like, they bring them to you?

 

I volunteer my services for transport of the ladies.....for a small fee of course.

 

Yeah, they'll drive up. I don't know the exact details or companies but i've been to a couple bachelor parties over the years where the entertainment came up.

 

OP, I just happened to stumble upon this thread for the same exact reason. My best friend is getting married in May of 2020 and I’m the best man. He wants to have his bachelor party in Denver. Sounds like your group of friends and my group of friends are one in the same. We go all out. We’ve done Vegas twice, Keywest, Austin, New Orleans a million times (I live an hour from New Orleans) and Destin, Florida. We want a little change of scenery and decided to hit Denver this go round. I’ll be following this thread for updates and ideas. We might need to kick some ideas back and forth once it gets closer to next spring.

 

Awesome! I’m glad we’re not the only ones who go all in.

I have our plans firmed up and everything booked. It worked out really well. I ended up happening upon a killer deal through a friend on a condo in Breck so we’re going there.

One of our group is already going to be out there, so he’s going to come pick us from the airport. Won’t have to work about transportation, so that’s nice.

Now, we wait...

 

That’s convenient. I don’t fly (my friends give me a hard time about it) so I’m taking my Tacoma. My friends will fly in and I’ll pick them up from the airport. I’m coming from the Mississippi Gulf Coast so it’s a good 20 hour drive for me. All those places I mentioned earlier, I drove there too. We’re from the beach so decided to go north for this one. We plan on going off road, hiking, white water rafting during the day and party like crazy at night. It’s gonna be a blast!

 

I considered driving, but it was going to be at least 20 hours for me as well. No way. One of our friends is very scared of flying. No idea how we’re going to deal with him.

 

Avoid heading west on 70 on Friday and Saturday. Also don't go east on a Sunday unless you enjoy traffic.