Hotel at a Glance: MCM Elegante Colorado Springs

The MCM Elegante Colorado Springs has magnificent views of Pikes Peak. While the view is certainly the main draw, the hotel has much more to offer than that: it’s designed for extended stays, featuring spacious living areas that feel more like apartments than hotel rooms. You’ll also be close to restaurants and malls, meaning you’ll have a home base for exploring Colorado Springs.

• Where you’ll stay: Spacious rooms and suites feature complimentary WiFi, flat-screen TVs, and fully equipped kitchens with stovetops and refrigerators.
• Free hot breakfast includes coffee, eggs, meats, juice, and pastries
• Onsite laundry services: The MCM Elegante Colorado Springs features free washers and dryers.
• Work out at the onsite fitness center, or nab your free pass to the nearby YMCA from the front desk.
• Downtown Colorado Springs is less than 15 minutes away.

Colorado Springs, Colorado: Cultured College Town Where the Mountains Meet the Plains

Colorado Springs is the second-biggest city in Colorado, but it still has a frontier feel; there are vast plains and towering mountains just east of the city. At more than 14,000 feet, Pikes Peak dominates the landscape. The mountain—once thought to be insurmountable—inspired part of the lyrics to “America the Beautiful.” You can hike the mountainside or take in the surroundings by car along the 19-mile Pikes Peak Highway, which doubles as a racing course for motorcycles and cars during the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

You can easily reach the summit of Pikes Peak via the Cog Railway, a three-hour train ride that makes a steep climb past boulders, streams, and trees that are roughly 2,000 years old. Along the way, keep an eye out for Colorado’s state animal, the bighorn sheep; they gather in herds in the mountains.

Though a lot of activity here skews toward the outdoors, Colorado Springs has plenty else going for it, particularly in the artistic realm. Downtown you’ll find the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, home to masterpieces by contemporary American painters that include John Singer Sargent and Georgia O’Keeffe. You can also participate in an art walk through local art galleries on the first Friday of each month from April through December.

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