Snowy Steamboat Springs Colorado- November 2024

We heard we were too early. We wanted to try skiing in Steamboat Springs for Thanksgiving weekend, and everyone kept saying it was too early, the resort opens the week before Thanksgiving and all the snow would be manmade- and they were all wrong. As luck would have it, the Western mountain towns of Colorado were all blessed with an epic snowstorm the week of Thanksgiving, leaving over 1-2 ft of snow, and we were set up for skiing success.

Now the travel there, a little dicey. The storm ended officially on Wednesday, however on the drive we caught a few snow storms hanging around the mountains. Luckily it only took us an extra hour to get to Steamboat, and the drive from Boulder was around 4 hrs Wednesday afternoon.

We stayed at the Lodge, which is a condo complex about a 10 min walk to the ski resort (uphill so we took the shuttle, which was super convenient). The condo we rented on Airbnb was perfect- 2 bedroom, 2 bath, cute patio, free parking, and the complex had ski lockers outside of each condo, as well as shared hot tubs and a heated pool. We did not get to use either, but a nice feature to have. Being Thanksgiving we needed a decent sized kitchen stocked with supplies, and we got that. The Lodge is definitely closer to the skiing than to the town, which took about a 15 min ride to get to, however the Lodge did have free shuttle services everywhere- you just called and they would pick you up wherever- which was a really nice perk.

This trip was basically skiing by day/dinners out by night. Steamboat Springs ski resort was very beginner friendly, the people were so nice, we booked group ski lessons in advance online and actually ended up getting a private day lesson- can't complain! Only about 10% of the runs were open, and that seemed like a lot, and they were not crowded at all- so you may want to think about rolling the dice skiing Thanksgiving- it turned out to be perfect!

Dinners out in downtown:

Aurum- we've been to their Breckenridge restaurant as well- amazing happy hour, really good food, and in Steamboat right on the river for nice views

Mazzola's - Italian spot, very casual, good pasta and also looked like their pizza was legit too, service was meh but might have been just our server

Cypress- I really wanted to like this place since I love creole food- but it was just so bland. They had just opened a month prior so maybe in time they can add some seasoning to their food

Other attractions besides skiing:

Strawberry Hot Springs - this was super cool. Book ahead of time online, and if you are going in the winter, book a shuttle to take you to and from (the price of attendance to the springs is built into the price of the shuttle- so for 2 of us about $100 total). The road is very sketch getting there and out, (we saw a few drivers on the side of the road during our trip struggling). You get 2 hrs per reservation, which is plenty. The hot springs in the snow were magical. The cold plunge part of the river next to the Springs is actually really nice too. They have changing rooms, bathrooms, but still you are in the middle of nowhere surrounded by snow and mountains, it was a beautiful experience.

All in all we loved Steamboat! We would definitely consider coming back either for more skiing/snow adventures or to hike in the summer!