Colorado Springs Travel Guide

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is perched on the mountainside of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs at an elevation of about 2,042 meters, making it one of the highest-altitude zoos in the United States. Built along the mountain slope, the campus covers roughly 56 hectares and is home to nearly 750 animals representing more than 170 species, including several endangered and rare varieties. The zoo is renowned for its immersive exhibits and close-up animal interactions, and visitors can ride a chairlift to enjoy panoramic views of the entire campus and the distant Rocky Mountains. The African penguin exhibit, hippo habitat, and giraffe feeding experience are especially popular with families. Open year-round and dedicated to wildlife conservation education, it is one of Colorado's most beloved family attractions.

Wind Cave National Park protects one of the longest caves on Earth — a labyrinth of passages famed for 'boxwork,' rare honeycomb calcite fins that line the ceilings. Above ground, the mixed-grass prairie rolls over the Black Hills' southern edge, home to bison, elk and prairie dogs. Named for the wind that breathes in and out of its natural entrance, the cave was sacred to the Lakota. Ranger-led tours descend into cool, intricate darkness; the surface offers wildlife drives and the nearby bison range. A rare meeting of subterranean wonder and Great Plains ecology.

Great Sand Dunes National Park sits in Colorado's San Luis Valley with the tallest dunes in North America — over 230 m high, built by wind from ancient dry lake beds, backed by the snowy Sangre de Cristo Mountains for a surreal sand-meets-snow scene. The dunes shift between gold, orange and grey with the light, most dramatic at sunrise and dusk. In summer, Medano Creek spreads into a shallow stream at the base for kids to play; in spring and autumn strong winds ripple the surface like waves. It's a hub for sandboarding, hiking and night-sky photography, and one of the few wild places where desert, high peaks, lake and wetland share one frame.