Colorado: Columbus Day weekend deal at YMCA of the Rockies

For a vacation amid fewer crowds, and with less painful costs than you might experience at the height of summer or winter, the fall is a great time to visit the Rocky Mountains.

And the YMCA of the Rockies can help you plan a fun, reasonably priced trip in Colorado. Earning steady accolades from travelers (such as these on TripAdvisor) for its value and a family-friendly ambience, its two year-round conference and vacation centers are offering a noteworthy deal for the Columbus Day weekend.

Deal: During Oct. 9-12, stay two consecutive nights and get your third night free at the YMCA of the Rockies’ Estes Park Center in Estes Park or Snow Mountain Ranch in Winter Park. With this deal, you can book a cabin or a lodge room at either location.

At Snow Mountain Ranch, rates for lodge rooms start at $74 per night, pre-tax, and at $149 for cabins. At Estes Park Center, where rates don’t go down for the off-peak season until Nov. 1, lodge rooms start at $109 per night and cabins at $119. These rates are pre-tax and for non-members. If you’re a member of any YMCA, in the U.S. or abroad, you’ll save $10 per day on your room at either location; as proof, you’ll be asked to present your membership card upon check-in.

A buffet breakfast for two adults is included with lodge rooms but not with cabins. Some of the available, and optional, activities come with additional fees, such as canoeing ($5 per person) and archery ($3 per person). Plenty of other activities — hiking, fishing, volleyball, basketball and mini-golf, for example — are free.

Tested: At the time of research, the online function was not working properly, and I confirmed this with a representative for the lodges. I recommend not even messing with it and instead calling in your reservation. I did, and the reservations agent quickly found plenty of availability, including a lodge room at Snow Mountain Ranch for $74 per night, pre-tax. To book, I would have needed to pay a 35% deposit, which — since the stay is now less than a month away — would be forfeited if I were to cancel.

Contact: YMCA of the Rockies, (800) 777-9622

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Top photo: A cabin at Estes Park Center, Estes Park. Credit: YMCA of the Rockies]

[Bottom photo: A family hikes at Snow Mountain Ranch, Winter Park. Credit: YMCA of the Rockies]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 5:55 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Colorado, Deals, Fall, Family & Kids, Hotels, Rocky Mountain States, Weekend Getaways. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.