If you’re moving to Boulder, Colorado, you have many local hotspots to enjoy. Here are just a few you may want to explore when you get here, including activities our Montessori students particularly enjoy with their families.
Downtown Boulder and Environs
- Pearl Street Mall: Pedestrian mall lined with the best shops and restaurants, with plenty of play space for children. Local musicians and street performers make the Pearl Street Mall a favorite weekend destination.
- Boulder Flatirons: These red sandstone peaks were thrust up out of the earth 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were born. Today you can hike them, climb them (the third Flatiron is one of North America’s most popular climbing routes), or just marvel at them from anywhere in Boulder. No one who gazes on them will ever be the same.
- Chautauqua Park: Skirting the east side of the Flatirons, this lovely meadowland park is a natural wonder in any season. Hiking trails are easy enough for kids—bring your dog, too! Enjoy breakfast or lunch at the community dining hall or catch an evening concert at the Chautauqua Auditorium. This is truly a fun way to teach your children to respect and appreciate nature.
- University of Colorado Campus: It’s not only beautiful with its sandstone buildings and lush green lawns, it’s dramatically enhanced by the Flatirons and the bluest skies you’ve ever seen. CU is also home to Nobel Prize winners, space explorers, and the Colorado Buffs. Catch a basketball or football game or a film festival, but don’t miss the internationally acclaimed Colorado Shakespeare Festival, an entire season of the Bard’s plays performed in the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre.
- Eldorado Springs and Eldorado Canyon State Park: There are more climbing adventures, a winding path through towering sandstone slabs, and of course, a famous water source—just south of town on beautiful Highway 93.
- Hiking and Bike Trails: You can’t really walk one block in any direction anywhere in town and not cross two or three of them. No wonder Boulderites go through so many pairs of shoes each year!
Near the Mountain Shadows Campus
- Boulder Reservoir: Beaches and wetlands, water sports and home to the famous Polar Plunge every January. Don’t miss the Kinetics Sculpture Race race every Memorial Day.
- Coot Lake & Tom Watson Park: Enjoy a walk around Coot Lake and then walk across the street to Tom Watson Park for fun on the playground.
- Boulder County Airport: Mountain Shadows is located just down the road from the airport. If mom or dad’s a pilot, the views from above are spectacular, especially as you approach the Flatirons.
- Pumpkin Patches: Fall just wouldn’t be complete without a visit to a farm to find the pumpkin of your dreams. East Boulder County is home to many beautiful farms open to the public in the fall.
Boulder Area Attractions