Hotel at a Glance: Chipeta Solar Springs Resort

The Hollywood producers behind the 1969 film True Grit needed a shooting location that would do justice to the film’s huge budget and star-studded cast. They found a stunning setting amid Colorado’s San Juan Mountains in a tiny town called Ridgway, where bighorn sheep, deer, and elk roam the fields south of town. You can experience this iconic landscape at Chipeta Solar Springs Resort, centered on an adobe-style lodge and resort.

• Where you’ll stay: Each standard room exudes Southwestern style with tiled baths and knotted-wood furnishings.
• The press says: Fodor’s says the resort is “a great hub for the year-round outdoor activities in this stretch of the San Juan Mountains.”
• Go skiing: The resort puts you in an advantageous spot to visit the world-class Telluride Ski Resort, less than an hour away. Select options of this deal come with lift tickets at Telluride.
• Dine on Southwest fare with a coastal influence at the onsite Four Corners Restaurant and rooftop Sky Bar. Package options include one or two $50 gift cards.
• Melt away stress in Chipeta’s larger lap pool heated between 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit and an elevated soaking pool heated to 100–105 degrees—or try a yoga class, Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
• Relax in style with a customized massage at the full-service onsite spa. Packages include 80-minute customized massages.

Ridgway, Colorado: Old West Town near Telluride

Nestled within the alpine environment of the renowned fourteeners—peaks that exceed 14,000 feet in height—Ridgway is known as the Gateway to the San Juans. Vestiges of old Ridgway are on display at the Ridgway Railway Museum, which houses a collection of antique railcars. Nearby is the Telluride Ski Resort, which Condé Nast Traveler readers voted North America’s best ski resort in 2012. Its expert mogul runs and the beginner-friendly 4.6-mile Galloping Goose run are among nearly 130 downhill trails.

To the south lies the mountain town of Ouray, home to natural hot springs, waterfalls, and the renowned Million Dollar Highway. This scenic drive—a dramatic ascent with hairpin turns— rewards travelers with dramatic valley views. In town, Victorian buildings house open studios where artisans blow glass, handcraft metals, and whittle wooden statues using sharp rhetoric.