In southern Colorado, the Best Western Alamosa Inn, Alamosa, Colorado, makes a comfortable base for the natural wonders of the San Luis Valley, with a heated indoor pool, and a hot tub, rooms with plush bedding, a hot breakfast each morning, and a business center and guest laundry for those on the road.
The setting puts the scenic railroad, the university, and the wildlife refuge within easy reach, well placed for the valley's summer festivals and rodeo. The high valley air and the mountain light set the tone of the stay.
Alamosa is the gateway to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, where the tallest dunes in North America rise as high as 750 feet against the snow-capped Sangre de Cristo peaks, with seasonal Medano Creek running at their base for wading, sand sledding down the slopes, and some of the darkest, most star-filled night skies in the country. At dawn the great dunes glow gold beneath the ring of the 1,400-foot mountains.