Ouray Information

Image Courtesy of Colorado Tourism Office/Matt Inden/Weaver Multimedia Group

Photos | View more photos of Ouray

Map | View detailed map of Ouray

Highlights of Southwest Colorado

Telluride Information

Ooh! That's what most people say when they enter this town wedged in a picturesque glacial canyon..

Durango Information

Gold brought many of the first settlers to Durango, in the Animas River Valley of Colorado. Trains..

Silverton Information

Tiny, and nestled precariously between two rugged San Juan Mountain passes, Red Mountain and Molas..

Cortez Information

The southwestern Colorado town of Cortez, an archaeological center of America, lies between the..

Gunnison Information

Gunnison is rather like a home on the range surrounded by ski areas and a national park. The city..

Rico Information

This former mining town situated in the remote southwestern part of the state reveals much of a..

Ridgway Information

At the junction of U.S. 550, toward Ouray, and Colorado 62, heading to Telluride, Ridgway marks..

See all locations in Southwest Colorado

Some call the tiny mountain town of Ouray the Switzerland of America, as it’s situated in a river valley at nearly 8,000 feet, surrounded by the snow-capped San Juan Mountains. You almost expect to hear yodeling echo from these high hills. Established in the late 1870s during gold and silver strikes, Ouray survived those boom-and-bust days because it's such a wonderful place to relax. Natural hot springs feed the rustic town pool, where both locals and visitors come to soak. It's said that Chief Ouray, the Ute Indian after whom the town is named, visited the pool often.

Several crashing waterfalls make for spectacular photos, and a popular activity for visitors is to hike up to Box Canyon Falls, where the water cascades 285 feet from top to basin. The town's falls, in fact, provide the location for one of the most popular winter events, the Ouray Ice Festival, held each January.

Surrounded by aspen trees, the town also becomes a spectacularly colored canvas each autumn, when Jeep Jamboree draws visitors who want a closer look at the brilliant foliage.

A tour of the Bachelor-Syracuse Mine offers a look at what it was like to be a miner, as do displays at the local museum.

Historic buildings, a wide range of lodgings (some with their own hot spring pools) and fun restaurants keep visitors coming back.

Visiting Ouray?

Photos

Highlights of Colorado

Aspen Information

If you're looking for the postcard perfect images of the Colorado ski resorts you see in magazines..

Vail Information

When people think skiing in Colorado, Vail is often the first town that comes to mind. Established..

Boulder Information

Its first settlers came to hunt for gold, but today, this casually sophisticated university town..

Denver Information

Scratch the veneer of the new-West look of urban Denver and you'll get a glimpse of the Old West..

Denver Area Information

Even by American standards, Denver is a young city. The gold strike that launched it occurred just..

Northwest Colorado Information

From tasting wine in Colorado's wine country to sipping a hot cocoa with views of snow-capped..

Front Range Information

Asked once to describe Colorado, Teddy Roosevelt demurred, saying, "The scenery bankrupts the..

South Central Colorado Information

Prepare your eyes for a visual feast: South Central Colorado offers up a smorgasbord of pointed..

Southeast Colorado Information

Although history books usually begin with the 19th-century gold rush to the central Rockies, the..

Northeast Colorado Information

Northeastern Colorado often catches visitors by surprise with its wide-open grasslands and seas of..

See all locations in Colorado

Ouray Information

Highlights of Southwest Colorado