greetings from estes park colorado i'm sharing my complete one day travel guide to estes park
colorado this little mountain town is the gateway to the beautiful rocky mountain
national park but there is so much to do in this charming little town that you can easily fill
one full day right here and that's exactly what this guide is the best things to do eat and see
in estes park colorado so we are spending one full day here at estes park doing all the things you
can do in one day we're gonna be taking a tram ride alpine coaster doing some scenic byways
enjoying a beautiful estus lake which is right behind me and enjoying a gorgeous
beautiful day here in estes park and if you are new to my channel my name
is jeanie i live here in colorado and i share all sorts of colorado living
outdoors hiking all the good stuff on my channel so if you're interested be sure to subscribe
and follow along so let's get started on this complete one day travel guide to estes park
so right in the heart and soul of estes park is lake estes it is a beautiful morning and
we are going to be getting out on this lake later but first we have to go get our little
breakfast coffee here in estes because that's how you start a morning in colorado and a lot
of times there are elk down here at the lake in this park area like right behind me there's a
big park that goes all the way around the lake um but i don't see any elk today but i mean almost
every time i come to estes park you can see elk down here somewhere they're either on this side
across the lake there's elk all over estes park and this is a popular area where you can see them
so to kick off our morning we're heading to the daily donut to get some donuts here and asked us
the daily donut makes homemade donuts every day as you enter you can watch them making
the donuts right in their open kitchen they have a large variety of donuts in addition to
cinnamon rolls muffins breads and more we got our donuts we got half a dozen let's check these out
looks so good and you can't have a donut without some good coffee so next up is a morning coffee
at kind coffee this cozy little coffee shop is in a perfect location to access the river walk
that is located behind all the shops along elkhorn avenue there's tons of seating along the riverwalk
so you can sit and enjoy views of the flowing big thompson river so this is where we're gonna have
coffee and donuts so i just got an iced vanilla latte and vince got a s'mores coffee
from kind coffee here's our donuts and this is our little riverwalk breakfast area i'm gonna
try this guy i got coconut and caramel drizzle and chocolate and oh my god all the good stuff
oh my god oh my god
all right our first fun activity of the morning is the aerial tram the estes park aerial tramway
has been in operation for over 67 years the tram is one of the very few european-style cable cars
operating in the united states today reservations are not accepted as the tickets are sold on a
first-come first-served basis the tickets were 16 per adult they only have two cable cars that
run every five minutes so just a heads up you'll need a little patience while you're waiting for
the cable cars since there's only two of them that run once you board the cable car you'll
get some amazing aerial views of the town estes lake and the rocky mountains once at the top
you can hike around visit the gift shop or just sit and take in all the views as you are now in
an elevation of over 8 700 feet all right we're on the top whoa cool ride up here it was really
smooth ride getting up here and of course when you get to the top it's a little more breezy up here
we're back at estes lake here and we're gonna go kayaking on the lake here so they have all sorts
of rentals here um you can even like rent bikes down here um these little things i don't know
what they're called kayaks pedalboards all the things estes park marina offers rentals for all
sorts of recreation every day of the week except on tuesdays we opted to rent a tandem kayak and
they offer 30 minute slots or one hour slots we opted for the 30 minute slot and it was only $18
plus a $5 parking fee we're on lake estes we got a tandem kayak this is gorgeous the wind
picked up a little bit more from this morning um but i have him back here to paddle me around
no i'm kidding i'm hoping all right all done kayaking so so fun um don't wear jeans like i am
because your butt will get wet but otherwise it's so fun to get out on the water one thing
you must do when you are in estes park is drive the oldest scenic byway in colorado called peak
to peak scenic byway this byway starts right in estes park and continues south for 55 miles until
you hit i-70 we are only driving about 13 minutes outside of estes park to one beautiful landmark
chapel on the rocks which is right behind me right here this beautiful chapel is framed against the
majestic mount meeker in the background and built directly on top of a large rock the
chapel is open to the public tuesday through sunday from 10 a.m to 4 p.m and it's free to
visit however donations are accepted if you go to the top you can even ring the church bell
so you can actually have weddings here and i didn't know that
this would be such a beautiful spot for a wedding it can hold about 100 people
and there's also a gift shop area where they have like area for the bride and stuff to get ready
so wow that's really good to know for all of you who want to get married by rocky mountain
national park in a little chapel definitely check out chapel on the rocks and also the pope has been
here um he was here back in 1993. we are at our next stop we are at mustang mountain coaster here
in estes park which is an alpine coaster mustang mountain coaster is the only alpine side coaster
that is near denver fort collins and boulder tickets can be purchased as a single ride or
three ride pass we did this single ride pass which was twenty dollars per person the three
ride pass is five dollars per person and you can add additional rides for an extra ten dollars each
you'll enjoy more than two thousand feet of twists and turns as you travel down the mountain giving
you beautiful views of the towering rocky mountains and estes park in the background
okay awesome i love alpine coasters they are so fun so we have done the alpine coaster in
glenwood springs which is so so fun um so when we saw that estes park got one we're like we
gotta go check this out and so fun you guys are into them they're not that scary you're securely
fastened in and everything so highly recommend mustang mountain here at estes park all right
now it's time for drinks and food first we're gonna hit up a brewery we are at the Avant Garde
Aleworks so they had a rose slushie which i'm all about that so i got that i'm not a beer drinker
um and then vince he got a double ipa this is so good too this rose slushy
we're sitting outside because it's such a beautiful day here they have these nice tables
with umbrellas and it's just it's beautiful all right remember when i said elk are all over at
restaurant park like we go they got babies springtime babies they are literally all over
this area you just never know where you're going to see the elk and spark
they literally can be like anywhere and today they were back on some random road
all right the aleworks was awesome they had rose slushies so good vince loved his beer um
so highly recommend a super chill atmosphere kind of just outside of the downtown area so definitely
really cool area to go check out if you're looking for a brewery we are back downtown now and it is
lunch time we are starving so we are heading to penelope's old time burgers penelope's is
a retro old-fashioned atmosphere featuring their world-famous burgers and fries that are made from
fresh ground beef daily hand-cut fries and also have old-fashioned sundaes even though it looks
small from the outside they actually have a ton of seating inside look at these burgers from
penelope's oh my gosh i got the hawaiian burger and then vince got the big daddy cheeseburger
look at that there's an onion ring oh my goodness pulled pork and then we got a strawberry sundae
where are you even gonna start
it's bigger than your head
yes
this burger is so good and it's like dripping juice
you guys panel this is amazing now let's try this strawberry sundae that is like melting
okay you guys if you're looking for that classic retro old-time burger feel penelope yeah the
music down and everything that's where it's at yep they even have the music to go with it
and that's a wrap here on our one full day in estes park colorado we started
at about 8 am and wrapped up our day by 4 pm but you can easily spend more
time downtown checking out all the cute shops with lots of great souvenirs and
touristy things all along elkhorn avenue if you have any questions let me know down in
the comments and wishing you an amazing time on your next trip to estes park colorado and
be sure to check out my channel for even more colorado travel guides and outdoor activities