An Adventure Family’s Guide to The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado

While The Broadmoor may feel like too classy of a joint for an adventure family (like ourselves), I am here to tell you that it is a family friendly, adventure lover’s dream resort! In addition to legendary Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond luxury, dining, and hospitality you would expect from The Broadmoor, there is also enough of the outdoorsy Colorado vibe to make us feel at home. If you are considering a getaway to The Broadmoor, this adventure-filled itinerary will keep your family active, fulfilled, and exhausted in the best way! Our itinerary included summitting an iconic 14,000 foot mountain by train on the historic Pikes Peak Cog Railway, hiking the beautiful Seven Falls, learning from expert falconers at the Falconry Academy, swimming in the infinity pool with thrilling water slides, eating s’mores by the fire, and even bowling!

Thank you to The Broadmoor Hotel for hosting us, all opinions are my own.

The Broadmoor Hotel

Nestled into base of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado, The Broadmoor is located 10 miles from the Colorado Springs Airport and 90 miles from Denver International Airport. While you are at the base of the mountains in Colorado, you will feel more like you’ve been transported to Lake Como, Italy. The architecture, lakefront views, luxury, food, and ambiance have the touch of European vacation.

old car in front of The Broadmoor
sunset at the Broadmoor
Sunset at the Broadmoor
kids in front of tree at The Broadmoor Hotel

 While we parents could have been content exploring the grounds, eating delicious food, and reminiscing about Europe the entire trip, we have an active 4 and 6 year old who crave adventure and exploring (i.e. do not sit still). Here was our 3 day itinerary at The Broadmoor, fit for an adventurous family!

THE BROADMOOR MANITOU AND PIKES PEAK COG RAILWAY

The only thing more adventurous than taking a cog railway up the top of Pikes Peak, is hiking to the 14,115 feet summit. Since most of us aren’t ready to take that on that challenge with our kids, this is the next best thing! Plus, for the train lovers out there, this is even better because you get to marvel at the engineering and history behind this train. The Pikes Peak Cog Railway is the highest railway in the world, with portions (like the Sun of a Gun Hill) with a 25% incline. The average incline is 12% taking you 9 miles from the brand-new depot to the top of “America’s Mountain,” which feels like the top of the world.

girl in front of Pikes Peak Cog Railway

The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway has been closed for past three years and just opened back up in May 2021. In addition to the renovations at the depot, they’ve refurbished existing trains and purchased three brand new shiny trains from Switzerland. The Visitor’s Center at the summit of Pike’s Peak is also brand new and should have it’s grand opening by the end of June 2021.

view from the window of the cog railway
kids in front of cog railway

My little train lovers enjoyed the experience! It took one hour to get to the top and about an hour and 15 minutes to get down. We were able to spend about 40 minutes at the summit taking photos and trying to stay warm before it started to snow. Be sure to dress for wind and weather at 14,000 feet!

view from the top of Pikes Peak on cog railway

SEVEN FALLS HIKE

There are many hiking trails to be found around The Broadmoor, but Seven Falls is definitely the most popular choice. I was initially worried that I would be turned off by the commercialization since it has trams, gift shops, stairs, an elevator, and luxuries that I typically don’t expect (or want) on a hike. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this excursion and we had a blast! While it does have all of those amenities that I mentioned, there is a lot of solitude and nature to be found on the trails just beyond the falls. I would think of this outing in two parts. There is the “attraction” at the beginning, which is itself is breathtaking, but is more commercialized. Then, there is the hike at the top of the falls if you are looking for more of a nature experience.

Seven Falls Hike at The Broadmoor

You can choose to make this hike as easy or challenging as you would like (or not a hike at all if you just want to ride the tram to the falls and back). But I assume I’m talking to adventure families here, so let me tell you what we did. We hiked a total of 4.5 miles with approximately 1500 feet gain—walked 0.5 miles from the park entrance to the waterfalls, climbed the first set of stairs to view the falls, rode the elevator down, climbed up the main waterfall stairs, hiked 2 miles roundtrip to Inspiration Point, took small side trail hike to Midnight Falls, and then walked back to the gate.

Girl on hike at Seven Falls

While this hike is open to the public and you do not need to be a Broadmoor guest to experience this, there are a few perks you receive by being a guest. As a guest you can ride a shuttle directly from the hotel, as opposed to lining up for the public offsite shuttle. The public shuttle runs from the Norris Penrose event center. You also get free access to the tram ride within the gated boundaries if you would like a ride from the gate to the base of the falls (shaves off 0.5 miles of walking one way). As a guest, you can purchase your tickets at The Broadmoor before arriving so you don’t need to wait in (the long) line at the ticket booth and instead can start hiking as soon as you arrive!

FALCONRY AT THE BROADMOOR

As adventure enthusiasts, we also love learning about the wildlife we see on the trails. The Falconry experience was a unique way to get up close and personal to beautiful birds of prey, plus learn about the incredible sport of Falconry. We were guided by a professional falconer through the mews (birdhouses) to see falcons, hawks, and owls. We then rode up to the grounds of the Cheyenne Mountain Lodge to watch the Peregrine Falcon and the Lanner Falcon put on a show on a short nature walk. It was fascinating to see how these intelligent birds are trained and fun to have them fly right over our heads (without flinching, which was hard!).

falcon flying at The Broadmoor
boy holding falcon

SWIMMING AND SLIDING AT THE BROADMOOR

When I mentioned to the kids that we would be taking a weekend getaway to The Broadmoor Hotel, their first question was about the pool. We had to be sure to squeeze in a trip to the pool at least once per day so it could classify as a true vacation. The Broadmoor has two pools—one indoor pool with an outdoor lap pool, and one outdoor infinity pool with waterslides.

kids swimming in pool

We spent our time at the outdoor pool because it was shallower (zero entry pool with the deepest end at 3 feet and 6 inches), and because it was nice weather for us to enjoy the sun and slides. You need to be 44” to ride the waterslides so Emerson enjoyed the windy slide and Mom and Dad enjoyed both slides.

kids running in pool hallway

S’MORES AT THE BROADMOOR

Since we would normally be camping during the summer weekends, we indulged in some campfire s’mores outside of our lakeside dinner at Ristorante del Lago. The s’mores kit included all of the s’mores fixings, including the sticks! Besides hitting the spot for dessert, it was also a fun way to meet other families near the campfire.

Roasting marshmallows at the Broadmoor
Eating smores

BOWLING AT THE BROADMOOR

Yes, The Broadmoor has a bowling alley on-site! This was the kids’ first time bowling and we all had a blast. There are 6 lanes of fun, with optional bumpers for the kids. This was an awesome way to “pre-funk” before we headed to an al fresco dinner on the golf course at The Grille. You can also opt to stay at the bowling alley restaurant, Play, and keep the fun going through dinner as well. Be sure to make reservations in advance for bowling!

bowling at The Broadmoor

MORE ADVENTUROUS ACTIVITIES AT THE BROADMOOR

We weren’t able to squeeze all of the outdoor adventures into one trip and hope to get the chance to try these activities one day as a family and as our kids get a little older:

If you are looking for more hikes around Colorado Springs, check out the Manitou Incline or Paint Mine Interpretive Park.

Be sure to pin these pins to save this post for later!

Pikes Peak Cog Railway Pin
The Broadmoor Hotel Pin
Seven Falls Pin
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raisinghikers_Kristin

34 Comments
  1. Cindy Moore

    What a wonderful place to stay! So pretty. And a bowling alley?? Wow.

    Reply
  2. Danielle Ardizzone

    Spectacular pictures, as always! This is the second time today I’ve seen s’mores, and I want some so badly now, lol.

    Reply
  3. Maya

    Wow! Love the pictures.Looks like a great place to stay.

    Reply
  4. Allison Peteet

    Wow! this sounds and looks like a great place to stay! I bet your kids had a blast!

    Reply
  5. Kristen W Allred

    The Broadmoor Hotel looks like such a fantastic place for a family trip. I love the picture of your son holding the falcom. What an awesome memory that will be.

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      It was a great family spot. I think that was one of his favorite moments of the weekend!

      Reply
  6. Misskorang

    I love The Broadmoar. Especially during Christmas

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      I bet it’s beautiful at Christmas time!

      Reply
  7. Cindy

    Hiking and luxury on the same trip! What fun! Your kids look like they’re having fun!

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      Yes, it was a great combination! Little bit of wild, little bit refined. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Cecile Leger

    Love following you on your family adventures. The seven fall hike would be fun to do.

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      Thank you for following along! It was really beautiful!

      Reply
  9. Alicia

    That cog railway looks like so much fun! Makes me want to get back to Colorado!

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      If you ever do, I recommend taking it up to the top. Very cool and very “Colorado” experience!

      Reply
  10. Suzan

    Although I’ve not been on this cog railway, we have one available here in NH…the cog rail at Mt Washington. So interesting to watch them creep up!

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      Yes, the only other one in the states! I’d love to ride that one as well.

      Reply
  11. Chelsea

    Wow they even have a bowling alley? My kids would love that and the Cog Railway! So fun!

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      Right!? My kids thought that was pretty cool!

      Reply
  12. Linda Egeler

    The Broadmoor looks like a fabulous place to stay! So many outdoor attractions nearby, plus bowling and s’mores!

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      Yes, it’s great if you want to just stay at the resort the whole time…but if you don’t, it also has so much surrounding excursions available!

      Reply
  13. Alexis Farmer

    Wow, I would stay at the Broadmoor in a heartbeat! So many pretty sights and things to do.

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      So much to see and do!

      Reply
  14. Tiffany Gunther

    I live in Colorado too! I’ve always wanted to stay at the Broodmoor. It’s definitely on my bucket list for when my kids are older. I loved reading about your experience there!

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      Oh good! Glad you have it on your list. It won’t disappoint! And they have great golf. 😉

      Reply
  15. Sabrina DeWalt

    What a fun change of pace for you. We planned to do the Seven Falls Hike when we visited Colorado Springs last year but unfortunately, we were there just as the Covid shutdowns started and the resort was closed. I’m sure we’ll get there when we get back to Colorado.

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      Oh bummer! I’m glad you have it on your radar!

      Reply
  16. Marianne

    What a wonderful adventure! The Broadmoor hotel in Colorado looks absolutely gorgeous!

    Reply
    • raisinghikers_Kristin

      It seems like the kind of travel your family does. I was wiped! LOL!

      Reply
    • Suz | TravelsWithSuz.com

      Hm, I haven’t been to The Broadmoor – it sounds great! And your photos are wonderful. I have driven up and down Pikes Peak with our Miata Club – pretty spectacular…

      Reply
  17. Stephanie

    Looks like there is so much to do! Seven Falls Hike looks very worthwhile! Thanks for the great ideas for families.

    Reply
    • Barbara

      Excellent photography!

      Reply
  18. Terra Booth

    This looks like a great adventure for the whole family! There is so much to do, a great summer vacation option!

    Reply
    • Tiffany

      Seems like they have it all! We are just starting to get into rock climbing so this sounds great!

      Reply
      • raisinghikers_Kristin

        Yes, I’d love to try the rock climbing next time! I think they even take you out to Garden of the Gods to climb. Would be pretty epic.

        Reply

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