The Ultimate Guide to Fort Collins
After one year on the road, we found ourselves back in "our" hometown of Fort Collins. I basically spent 4th to 12th grade in Fort Collins, and then moved back after college. Overall, I've spent about 18 years of my life in FoCo, so we thought it was time to contribute our ultimate guide to all things Fort Collins.
Where to Stay
For RV'ers: Fort Collins Lakeside KOA... with a catch.
Peak season is the catch. May 1 through October 1 or so is peak season at this KOA, at which point they only offer a daily rate (no weekly or monthly), and there is a $10/day/person fee for any guest that walks, bikes, or drives through the gate. I would guess this doesn't affect many full-timers unless they have family in the area, but I figured I'd warn you
For non-RV'ers: The Elizabeth Hotel
This is the best hotel for staying downtown, and my personal recommendation. I admit, it's basically a Marriott trying to be hip by putting a record player in each room, but it's still pretty cool. Ultimately, though, I recommend this hotel for the location.
Runner up: The Armstrong Hotel
This hotel is definitely a boutique-style hotel that used to have local owners. It's now owned by an investment group. If you want to stay with some locals, I'd recommend checking out Airbnb.
What to Do
TL;DR - ride a bike, it's the Fort Collins way.
Holiday Twin Drive-In
I have so much love and nostalgia in my heart for this place. This is a two-screen drive-in theater. Each screen usually shows a "kid friendly" movie first, and a more adult movie second. You pay like $10 or something for each adult (less for kids and seniors), and for that you get two movies! They also have a grill on the weekends where they cook up pretty great burgers and hot dogs.
Audio is done through your car's FM radio, but even when I was a kid they still had the metal box speakers you could hang on your window!
Great food, great experience, at a great price make this a FoCo must-do.
Bike (or walk) the Poudre Trail
Fort Collins is an extremely bicycle-friendly city. You can rent bikes from the Pace app for $1/hour. My recommendation is to park your car at the Museum of Discovery, rent bikes from the station there, and bike up the Poudre Trail to Vern's. Vern's is a breakfast / brunch place in nearby LaPorte. If you have time, feel free to stop along the way and play some disc golf! Disc golf is right outside my old junior high, now called Cache La Poudre Middle School.
More disc golf? Yes please!
If you just need more disc golf in your life, Edora Park has even more to offer than the course behind the middle school.
Hike Horsetooth
This one is a bit of a cliché, but it's literally the town's logo. Which incidentally looks a lot like the logo for Pawnee, Indiana. I'd say this is a moderately difficult hike, especially if you are from sea level. Please stay hydrated!
Visit Lory State Park and hike Wells Gulch
As an alternative to Horsetooth, you can go to Lory State Park and do many of the hikes there. Two of the local favorites are Wells Gulch and Arthur's Rock.
Full moon hike at Coyote Ridge
During the daylight, Coyote Ridge is brutally hot, as there are basically no trees. But, this makes for beautiful moonlit hikes! Only go during the full moon. Bring your camera, water, flashlight, and watch out for animals.
Go east at night: Dirt road night drives
Just to the east of Fort Collins is Weld County, a place where agriculture reigns supreme and the dirt road is alive and well. Head out east, turn on 99.1 FM (K99), and start driving. No particular recommendations, but if you must have a destination, head to the Cedar Creek Wind Farm to watch the majesty of the windmills. But, of course, be prepared: it's windy!
Go west at night: Horsetooth Reservoir loop
Follow this route and see the night lights of Fort Collins! If you have good weather good vision, you can see all the windmills that you'd see if you took the "Go east at night" drive.
Go east during the day?
No reason to do this. But if you must, head to the Pawnee Grasslands.
Go west during the day: Red Feather Lakes
Head to my old stomping grounds, Red Feather Lakes! I grew up in Glacier View, a subdivision on the way to RFL. There is a ton of hiking, fishing, ice cream to be eaten, and yes...dirt roads. For the best experience, bring a Jeep or other high clearance vehicle. An even more specific recommendation: head to the Deadman Fire Watch Tower. And there are about 1,000 Jeep trails along the way to do. Honorary mention for Manhattan, a ghost town in the area! (Not to be confused with the power substation, rock on Poudre Valley REA)
Bonus eating recommendation: The Forks Restaurant at 287 and Red Feather Lakes Road
Go south for shopping: Park Meadows
Yeah, I must admit, if you are a big shopper, Fort Collins is not a great place for you. But you can head about 90 minutes south to Park Meadows Mall, where there's an Apple Store and a Tesla Store within 100 feet of each other. Heavenly.
Pro tip: you can pay a small fortune in tolls and bypass Denver entirely by taking E-470 all the way around. It's expensive, but could save you time in rush hour. Or do it for the laughs and wave to DIA on the way.
Ride the streetcar
During the summer months, the historic Fort Collins Municipal Railway runs up and down Mountain Ave between City Park and Old Town. Hop on for a fun ride to the past!
Hike Devil's Backbone
Technically this is not in Fort Collins, it's about 20 minutes south in Loveland (hi mom!) This is a really nice, easy hike, but with lots of sun and little shade. Please bring lots of water to stay hydrated!
Morning Fresh Dairy / Howling Cow Cafe
So, you have two choices here. You can embrace your inner Fort Collins native and ride your bike here, or drive. (Hint: we always drove)
Morning Fresh Dairy is a family-owned dairy that delivers milk to Fort Collins every day. They also happen to have a café at the dairy, called Howling Cow, where you can get milk in glass bottles! Yum! It might actually be a reasonable reason to move back to FoCo.
Where to Eat
Everywhere, but here are some specifics, going from roughly north to south:
Elevated Sandwiches
What even is this place? They have beer and wine, but also amazing sandwiches. I recommend the Spicy Turkey. Paige recommends "The Beet" salad.
FoCo DoCo
These little donuts are great! You can only get them in pairs, and they are gluten-free every other Tuesday! Follow their Facebook page for more specifics on when GF Tuesday is. I'm a bit of a purist, so I enjoy my powdered sugar and glazed options. Paige is way more adventurous and basically tries everything.
DGT / Authentic American Tacos
Okay, another taco company that won't be named sued our local business over a trademark that was never used in our town, so Damn Good Tacos is now known to locals as DGT, or more formally, Authentic American Towers. I recommend the Bandito, Paige recommends the Earth, Wind, and Fire.
Twisted Noodle
Paige thinks Twisted Noodle has the best gluten-free noodles around, and I tend to believe her, but I've never ordered them. Whatever you get, this fast casual noodle place knocks Noodles & Company out of the park any day of the week. They have a ton of great options, more than I can recommend, because I'm a simpleton who orders Four Cheese Ravioli with their amazing classico sauce.
Tortilla Marissa's
Tex-Mex is the best, isn't it? I thought so. If you want good Tex-Mex in FoCo, head to TM's.
Cafe Athens
My favorite gyro. And fries. That is all. Order the gyro and fries.
Where to Drink
There is only one recommendation on this list.
Social
To be fair, Paige and I are not big drinkers. Paige can't have gluten, which basically rules out every brewery in town (which of course Fort Collins is famous for). So, we head to Social. Social has some of the best cocktails in town, in a very cool speakeasy setting. Also, their pretzels are super good. Their chartreuse boards are also super good. Everything about it is super good. Bring your wallet, and be prepared to wait to get in.