36 Hours
36 Hours in Breckenridge, Colo.
Breckenridge, Colo.
Envision the quintessential Rocky Mountain ski town and you may picture Breckenridge. Colorful Victorian buildings line the streets of this former gold-mining town, and the backdrop of the Tenmile Range includes Breckenridge Ski Resort, where three new lifts have opened in three years. But Breck, as the town is commonly known, offers other winter recreation, too, with easy access to trails for cross-country and backcountry skiing, snowshoeing and fat biking. There is also an evolving arts scene, centered around the downtown Arts District campus with studios and classes in 19th-century cabins. There are plenty of winter traditions, too, like the 60-year-old Ullr Fest each December (the record was just set for the world’s longest shot ski, with 1,377 imbibers) and the annual International Snow Sculpture Championships, where the art is ephemeral (Jan. 22 to 31).
Recommendations
Key stops
- Breckenridge Welcome Center includes a quirky collection of memorabilia that traces the ski area’s evolution from its opening in 1961 to today.
- Isak Heartstone, also known as the Breckenridge Troll, is a very popular 15-foot outdoor sculpture made of reclaimed wood.
- The Arts District Campus is a creative hub with artist studios in restored 19th-century cabins, exhibitions and several large-scale outdoor sculptures.
- Breckenridge Ski Resort offers 187 runs on almost 3,000 acres and includes North America’s highest-elevation chair lift (the Imperial SuperChair, at nearly 13,000 feet).
Restaurants and bars
- Radicato puts an inventive spin on seasonal Italian food in a second-story dining room with views of a plaza below.
- RMU Breckenridge, a tavern run by a ski maker that operates its retail shop next door, is frequented by a younger crowd that comes for live music.
- The Tavern Underground is a bistro and bar on the lower level of the new Carlin hotel complex serving craft cocktails and local beer.
- The Gold Pan Saloon, one of the oldest bars west of the Mississippi River, has an Old West vibe. It also houses a tasting room for Colorado’s Carboy Winery.
- Amazing Grace is a breakfast and lunch spot, run by the endurance athlete Monique Merrill, where regulars catch up over scones and biscuits that are baked in-house.
- Briar Rose Chophouse and Saloon, with a bubblegum-pink exterior, is a classic steakhouse that offers half-price drinks at happy hour.
- Blue River Bistro dishes up contemporary American food in a setting with a slight industrial edge and has two-for-one martinis at happy hour.
- Aurum serves seasonal and creative New American fare in a chic cabin and offers nearly half-off small plates during happy hour.
- Tin Plate Pizza is a restaurant in a restored miner’s cabin that is known for its sourdough pies. Its sister business, Dynamite Cookies, sells treats from a walk-up outdoor counter next door.
- Breckenridge Distillery produces almost two dozen liquors, including whiskey, gin, vodka and rum, and offers tours, tastings and dinner at its own restaurant.
- Broken Compass Brewing has two taprooms in town, one on Main Street and one just north of downtown, that pour a dozen of the brewery’s beers on draft.
Outdoor activities
- Breckenridge Nordic Center is a family-run cross-country ski area that has 18 miles of trails for skiing and snowshoeing.
- Ridden is a ski and bike rental shop that runs year-round fat-bike tours to a brewery and distillery. It also offers e-bike rentals.
Shopping
- Fresh Soap Company is a store where all the soaps, bath salts, scrubs and more are made on site.
- Midsommar Hat Company sells handcrafted felt hats and takes custom orders.
- Folcland offers women’s clothing from independent designers and Colorado-made skin care products.
- Mountainkind stocks locally made gifts and artwork, and has a golden retriever shop dog.
Where to stay
- One Ski Hill Place offers accommodations ranging from studios to four-bedroom units with ski-in, ski-out access at the base of Peak 8. Amenities include three restaurants, a two-lane mine-shaft–themed bowling alley, movie and game rooms, spa services, a fitness center and two indoor pools. Rooms start at $399.
- The Carlin, open since summer 2023 on Main Street, was inspired by the European guesthouse concept of lodging above a restaurant — in this case, two. The four suites have modern, chalet-style décor and sleep from two to four people. No hotel services are on site, but room service can be ordered from the restaurants. Rooms start at $299 (plus $150 per visit cleaning fee).
- The Bivvi Hostel, a log-cabin-style accommodation just south of downtown, has shared and private rooms and an outdoor hot tub. Shared rooms start at $100, with breakfast included.
Getting around
- While it’s easy to walk around Breckenridge, the Breck Free Ride bus provides complimentary service through town, including access to Peak 7, 8 and 9 base areas. The free BreckConnect Gondola runs from town to the Peak 7 and 8 base areas.
Itinerary
Friday
Outside the Breckenridge Welcome Center
3 p.m.
Discover Breckenridge’s ski town roots
View a pair of the shaggy Italian goat-hair boots that female lift attendants donned in the early 1970s, when skiing and sex appeal were intertwined. Or admire the hand-painted denim tuxedo jacket that a 1980s moguls athlete regularly wore on the slopes, reflecting the nonconformism of that era’s freestyle skiers. Downtown’s Breckenridge Welcome Center (free) displays these and more in a quirky collection of memorabilia that traces the ski area’s evolution from its opening in December 1961 to today. The center itself is unusual, too — during a renovation some 20 years ago, workers unearthed an entire 19th-century log cabin that had been enveloped by later additions. The cabin is now sandwiched between two larger buildings, and all three together encompass the Welcome Center.
Outside the Breckenridge Welcome Center
4 p.m.
Make friends with a troll and tour public art
When the Danish artist Thomas Dambo crafted a 15-foot troll for Breckenridge’s annual International Festival of the Arts in 2018, he couldn’t have foretold that his whimsical, recycled-wood sculpture (named Isak Heartstone) would become one of the town’s most visited attractions. It was so popular in its original location near a residential neighborhood that the artwork was moved to a secluded spot on the town’s southeastern edge, reached by an easy quarter-mile trail through the forest. After viewing the troll, see some of the town’s 32 other public art installations on a self-guided audio tour using the free Breck Create app. “Throne,” on the Arts District Campus, is a steel-and-stained-glass installation that riffs off a 1936 discovery that Breckenridge had been omitted from some 1880s U.S. maps — residents later deemed the town its own “kingdom” and the nickname stuck.
7 p.m.
Dig into seasonal Italian while looking over the river
In the past decade, Breck’s dining options have expanded from traditional western ski-town fare — burgers and Tex-Mex — to more refined offerings. Case in point: Radicato, opened in summer 2022 by the team behind Breck’s popular Rootstalk. The executive chef and founder, Matt Vawter, who grew up locally, puts an inventive spin on seasonally changing dishes like a starter of sauteed carrots with farro, apricots and brown butter ($13), house-made tagliatelle with a slow-cooked pork and tomato sauce ($24) and quail stuffed with fennel sausage ($46). If you can’t decide, opt for the five-course tasting menu ($99 per person), served family style. The long, second-story space gives a treehouse-like view of the twinkly light-strung firs on the plaza adjacent to the Blue River below.
9 p.m.
Bar hop along Main Street
For a classic ski-bum vibe, stop by RMU Breckenridge, a tavern operated by the local ski brand Rocky Mountain Underground (its renovated shop is next door). Order one of 10 craft beers on tap (from $6) in the dimly lit, brick-floored space that features live music most weekend nights and plays ski movies on TVs above the bar. A short stroll north is the Tavern Underground, where you can lounge against a banquette and sip on a craft cocktail (from $16). For a throwback to the mining era, hoist a Coors tallboy ($6) and listen to a local band at the Old West-style Gold Pan Saloon, slinging drinks since 1879, or sample a flight (from $16) at Carboy Winery, the Colorado winemaker, which opened a tasting room within the saloon.
Downtown Breckenridge glows on winter nights.
Saturday
8 a.m.
Warm up with fresh biscuits in a cheery cabin
She’s won championships in adventure racing, ski mountaineering and mountain biking, but these days the endurance athlete Monique Merrill spends her time chatting with customers and baking scones at Amazing Grace, the homey cafe she’s run since 2002 out of a yellow cabin built in 1880. Every morning, locals stream in to sip coffee by the wood-burning stove or claim a table amid the slightly sloping wooden floors. Breakfast options include fluffy buttermilk biscuits ($4.50) — as well as hearty breakfast burritos and egg sandwiches (both $14) and, later, lunch, with vegetarian and vegan options available.
9 a.m.
Take your pick from more than 180 ski trails
With almost 3,000 acres of skiable terrain draped across five peaks, Breckenridge Ski Resort, owned by Vail Resorts, offers runs for all levels, from gentle cruisers (try Monte Carlo and Angel’s Rest on Peak 7) to the high-alpine powderfields on Peaks 7 and 8 (lift ticket online from $169 or use Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass, if you have one). Lesser known is the challenging expert terrain, like the series of short, steep runs ringing Horseshoe Bowl or the hike-to Six Senses chutes, which plummet off Peak 6’s ridge. The newly upgraded Five SuperChair, now a high-speed quad, helps move skiers out of the Peak 8 base area more quickly. Refuel at lunchtime with a salsa verde plantain bowl ($22.59) at Peak 7’s Pioneer Crossing restaurant, which, in a pilot program for the rest of the resort, eliminated all plastic bottles and tableware this winter.
4 p.m.
Après ski with happy hour deals
Your legs are toast and your hands are freezing. The good news: It’s 4 o’clock and you have a wealth of happy hours to choose from. Behind the bubblegum-pink exterior of the decades-old Briar Rose Chophouse and Saloon, happy hour is from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the back bar, which has a stamped tin ceiling and animal heads on the wall. Drinks, like the smoked old-fashioned that’s blended tableside ($13; all prices reflect discounts), are half off, and on Friday and Saturday, so are appetizers. At Aurum, one of Breckenridge’s more upscale restaurants, small plates like the crispy curried cauliflower ($9) are about 40 percent off, with $3 off beer, wine and classic cocktails from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Long-time local favorite Blue River Bistro has two-for-one martinis (from $14) from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. amid a setting with a slightly industrial edge.
Fresh Soap Company
5 p.m.
Smell local soaps and fall in love with a one-of-a-kind hat
At first glance, it may seem that all Breckenridge sells is T-shirts and other souvenirs. But explore among the shops tucked in alleyways and set-back spaces along Main Street and you’ll find some gems. Drop into Fresh Soap Company, where a mother and daughter from South Africa make all the soaps (try carrot-seed-and-orange, from $3.70), scrubs and body oils on site. At the new women-owned Midsommar Hat Company, buy a one-of-a-kind handcrafted and distressed felt hat (from $600) or order a custom model. Folcland’s owner, who worked in New York’s fashion industry, now sells women’s clothing by indie designers like Emerson Fry and Prairie Underground, plus Colorado-made skincare products, while Mountainkind features locally made home goods and artwork, watched over by a large, friendly shop dog named Rider.
Fresh Soap Company
7 p.m.
Eat sourdough pizza in a restored miner’s cabin
Pizza gets kicked up a notch at Tin Plate Pizza, open since 2021 in a restored two-story miner’s cabin (original log walls intact) from 1883. That’s thanks, in part, to a tangy sourdough crust made from a seven-year-old starter. In addition to classic toppings, there are specialty pies like one with roasted butternut squash, mushrooms, caciocavallo and goat cheeses, pepitas and chile honey ($25) or another sauced with bolognese ($28). For dessert, grab a big, sourdough-based snickerdoodle cookie ($4) from the walk-up counter at Tin Plate’s sister business, Dynamite Cookies, next door.
There are numerous public art installations throughout Breckenridge, including “Syncline,” a 24-foot-tall outdoor sculpture by Albert Paley.
Sunday
8 a.m.
Glide along cross-country trails, then defrost by the fireplace
When Gene Dayton opened the Breckenridge Nordic Center in 1969, it was one of the state’s first cross-country ski areas. Today, it’s still family run, with some 18 miles of ski and snowshoe trails that wind through pine and spruce trees — and past some modern vacation mansions. Trail passes are $30 per day and rentals, if booked online, are $25 daily. If you haven’t tried cross-country skiing — also known as Nordic skiing — before, consider a 75-minute lesson ($80), as the Daytons and their staff have a first-rate reputation for ski instruction. Warm up after skiing with hot chocolate by the fireplace at the center’s classic mountain-style log lodge.
11 a.m.
Bike to bourbon and beer (just a taste)
Without needing to change out of your cross-country ski clothes, hop on a fat bike (it has extra-wide tires to handle riding on snow) at Ridden, a ski and bike shop that offers a two-hour guided tour ($85 per person, includes bike, helmet and tastings). Get one more panorama of the peaks while pedaling four miles along the Blue River. The first indoor stop is the barrel-lined tasting room of Breckenridge Distillery, which crafts some two dozen liquors, including whiskey, gin, vodka and rum, and at around 9,600 feet is one of the world’s highest distilleries. Then continue riding to Broken Compass Brewing, just north of downtown, where the local clientele wears the mountain-town “uniform” of fleece jackets and plaid flannel shirts, and their favorite canines are welcome. After tasting one of a dozen beers, like a ginger pale ale or a coconut porter, hop in the van ready to shuttle you and your bike back to the starting point.