If you are planning on visiting Colorado Springs with your kids, make sure to plan a day trip to Canyon City! A neat little town located about an hour southwest of Colorado Springs, it’s the perfect place to find hiking, yummy food, and an awesome train ride through the Royal Gorge.
Related posts: 8 Things to do in Colorado Springs with kids; Family Friendly hikes in Colorado Springs
We headed to Canyon City first thing in the morning, and started our day there by hitting Skyline Drive. Skyline drive is a 2 ½ mile drive on a very narrow, scenic road at the top of Razorback Ridge. It overlooks the city of Canyon City, and the views are breathtaking. It’s definitely a white-knuckle drive, and if you are a nervous driver or passenger you may not enjoy it, but we loved it so much we drove through it twice. The road is one way, and there are a couple spots you can pull over and get out to enjoy the view.
After we finished this scenic drive, we stopped at Tunnel Drive to hike the short, family-friendly 2 mile trail. This hike is located about a mile from downtown Canyon City. You hike along the Arkansas River, and have stunning views of the surrounding canyons, as well as views of the Royal Gorge train route.
The hike itself is easy, with minimal incline and flat, smooth gravel to walk on. You can easily bring your stroller or wagon along the smooth path, and the trail is dog friendly.
You hike through several large, granite blasted tunnels on the path. The tunnels are beyond cool, and my kids absolutely loved walking through them. Make sure after you walk through each of the tunnels to turn around and look up- we saw several long horned sheep above one of the tunnels!
After we finished our hike, we headed to the Royal Gorge train depot in downtown Canyon City. We bought tickets beforehand here, and decided to book coach class to save a little money. Here is an open air car that is available for all passengers to enjoy, and we planned on spending most of our time there to enjoy the views of the Royal Gorge.
The boarding process went smoothly, and we ordered lunch as soon as the train started moving. We sat in our seats and waited on our lunch while the train was moving, and by the time our food arrived the train was just entering the Royal Gorge and we wanted to go out to the open air car. You are not allowed to bring your own food on the train, so my suggestion would be to eat lunch before your excursion so you don’t feel rushed or miss out on any of the spectacular views.
We scarfed down our lunch and headed to the open air car, which was fantastic. The views through the canyon were unreal. Once you get through the canyon, the trail stops and travels in reverse for the trip back to the train depot, which gives you another chance to see the canyon. But even still, it didn’t feel like enough time to soak in the views!
After you get off the train, make sure to look around the depot a little bit! They have some really cool souvenirs and knick knacks. Then head outside to the awesome playground right across the street from the depot. Centennial park has an awesome playground for kids to run and climb on. Veterans park right across the street has a neat bridge to cross the Arkansas river, and lots of area to run around and explore. When we were there, we saw a black bear up in one of the trees right at the edge of the park!
If you loved viewing the Royal Gorge from the train, make sure to head over and explore the bridge! You can walk out over the gorge, or have dinner in the restaurant overlooking it. A thunderstorm blew in that afternoon, and we didn’t feel comfortable out on the bridge with lightning, so unfortunately we decided to skip this. But if you are in the area, I would definitely add this to your list!
Canyon City is the perfect day trip from Colorado Springs with kids, and you do not want to miss all that this town has to offer! The Royal Gorge is breathtaking, and there is so much to see and do in this fun town. Have you made this day trip from Colorado Springs before? What were your favorite things to do?