Boulder Overview For Group Travelers

Boulder Group Attractions

There are plenty of things to do and places to see for groups traveling to Boulder. Explore top attractions our experts recommend. Visit Boulder Creek Path. Check out Boulder County Farmers' Market. Don't miss NCAR Boulder Open Space Trailhead. Click here to start planning your trip now.


About Boulder

The Denver Post once described Boulder as "the little town nestled between the mountains and reality". Shadowed by the towering Flatirons and surrounded by more than 31,000 acres of recreational open space and nature preserves, the community is 28 square miles of outdoor heaven.

Named after the mammoth rocks scattered across the terrain, Boulder brims with big city sophistication, college town smarts, and environmental sensibilities. Technology and research firms such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Storage Technology, and Ball Aerospace keep the business economy booming.

In this hodgepodge of cultures and beliefs is a collective community rallying around the preservation of a natural landscape and a quality of life. Residents have banned together to fight off rapid growth and unruly developers. They managed to pass a law forbidding smoking in public spaces, including bars and nightclubs, and the town is currently battling chain stores from taking over the city. The community's aggressive nature in the political arena and fierce attitudes toward uncurbed growth has earned the city the nickname "People's Republic of Boulder".

Boulder Districts

Boulder's historic downtown serves as a gathering place for the entire city. Anchored by Pearl Street, a vibrant thoroughfare boasting a magnificent four-block pedestrian mall, downtown brims with tourists, but is also a lively haven for the eclectic locals. The tree-lined promenade, long ago a refuge for drunken cowboys and prostitutes, is alive with cafes, galleries, brewpubs, restaurants and every type of shopping imaginable. Musicians and performers clutter the Pearl Street Mall vying for attention.

The surrounding Whittier and Mapleton neighborhoods feature towering cottonwoods and maples, blocks of stately Victorian homes with hefty mortgages, and miles of flagstone sidewalks which provide the perfect setting for a late night romantic stroll.

University Hill, known as "The Hill" by locals, is a little south of downtown, and home to the University of Colorado. Literally parked on a hilltop above downtown, the district provides the typical college town quirkiness and a host of popular attractions including the Heritage Center and the Sommers-Bausch Observatory.

Chautauqua Park rests at the base of Flagstaff Mountain on the southwest side of University Hill. The park, one of three remaining from the early 1900s cultural movement, features a dining hall and an outdoor auditorium that hosts an excellent summer concert series.

Boulder History

It has taken Boulder almost 150 years to develop into an eccentric town two steps off the beaten path. But in the early going, it resembled just about every other western mountain town appearing overnight, displacing the natives, and evolving into a boom and bust paradise colored by silver and gold.

A prospecting party captained by Thomas Aikins set up camp at the entrance of Boulder Canyon in 1858, becoming the first non-native settlement to call the valley home. Chief Niwot, leader of the Southern Arapahoe tribe, confronted the clan before the first night passed, fearing the paleface gold seekers would pillage the Arapaho camp. But after a hearty dinner and a few passes of the pipe, they all opted to peacefully coexist. Unfortunately, Niwot's good nature would come back to haunt him. A mere six years later, while peacefully encamped at Sand Creek on the eastern fringe of Colorado, Niwot and a large portion of his tribe were brutally slaughtered and scalped by the new white settlers.

In February of 1859, after gold was found, the Boulder City Town Company was established. It is hard to believe today, with stop growth initiatives filling the city's current law books, but Boulder once sought to expand. In 1871, Boulder was incorporated, and started budding into a real town complete with a city hall, newspaper, railroads, and brothels. By the late 1800s, the town developed into a hub for miners moving from dig to dig and a haven for local farmers.

In 1876, Colorado became a state and Boulder became a college town. After losing to Denver in the race for state capital, Boulder managed to snag the State University. The following year the University of Colorado came to life in the form of Old Main, the initial building, which encompassed the entire campus.

Through it all, Boulder remains an outdoor oasis protected from a Front Range drowning in suburban sprawl. The mountain setting still draws Olympic athletes, free thinkers and distressed urban hipsters. The unemployment and crime rates are low, but the unbearable cost of living forces even the most educated to pinch pennies in order to stay within the city limits. Thus, it is not unlikely to have PhD's serving coffee or research scientists delivering pizza. It is simply a means to an end to live in such an ideal location blessed with unparalleled scenery and more than 300 days of sunshine.

Boulder Entertainment

In Boulder, the idea of a good time usually involves defying the laws of gravity. Whether hiking mountain paths, riding bikes down rocky trails, scaling steep canyon walls, pushing through the last mile of a marathon, or maneuvering the rapids of a local river, Boulderites always seem to test the limits of mind, body and strength. Even in winter they are active with skiing and snowboarding thanks to the perfect white powder in the Colorado mountains.

Of course, the town offers more than brute muscle, sweat and designer sportswear. Walk down any downtown street and you are bound to pass by a small gallery bedecked with every sort of creation ranging from stunning visual designs to crafts and collectibles.

Boulder Dining and Drinking

You might think dining in Boulder requires a taste for granola, yogurt, tofu or nutrition smoothies. While Boulder residents might be extremely active, (they average two bikes per person—road and mountain,) and the healthiest population in the land, they still love to eat. Training for marathons can make a person hungry. And, even though you might find the occasional health food creation utilizing a dab of yogurt and a bit of granola, Boulder has a hefty helping of hearty dining options. A talented crop of chefs, drawn to the city's hip lifestyle, create cosmopolitan menus rivaling the big towns. The offerings range from fine dining to brewpub fare.

Locals also love to eat outside, so most restaurants, especially those along the Pearl Street Mall, offer patio seating. A good portion of the upscale restaurants reside downtown, while up on "The Hill" students get a fix of cafes, pizza parlors and big burrito joints. There are dining gems around every corner, and in every nook and cranny of Boulder. Plus, there is nothing like a romantic mountain dining excursion.

Where to Stay in Boulder

The early 1900s brought an end to Boulder's gold rush days and sparked a boom in tourism, but sufficient accommodations were hard to come by. The Hotel Boulderado, a Victorian beauty built in 1909 as the centerpiece to downtown, laid to rest any worries about the town's ability to take care of tourists.

But even though almost 40 hotels, ranging from sleepy-eyed B&B's and roadside cheap-sleeps to posh luxurious resorts and complete business centers, now spread across the valley, Boulder still seems to harbor a love/hate relationship with the hotel developers. Content Provided by WCities