Hotel Boulderado- The Ultimate Boulder Vacation

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The Hotel Boulderado has everything you need for the perfect vacation in Boulder, Colorado. This post is a weekend getaway guide for families.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to explore Boulder while we stayed at the Hotel Boulderado. Despite being a Colorado native born in Boulder County, I hadn’t spent much time in the heart of Boulder and wasn’t familiar with the Hotel Boulderado. We had one of the best staycation weekends we’ve had in a while, and in this post, I’ll tell you all about what we did, and why the hotel was the perfect place to stay when exploring Boulder, Colorado.

About The Hotel Boulderado

The Boulderado is a Historic Hotel that was built in 1908. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it has an original Otis elevator that still works. My girls loved riding in the elevator with a driver right after we checked in as it gave them a taste of what they were to experience the whole time we stayed at the Boulderado.

The name Boulderado is a combination of Boulder and Colorado, and it’s the perfect name as the hotel reflects both places in a charming way. The food and cocktail menus are true to the flavors of the Boulder food scene, and the historic artifacts scattered around the hotel give great insight into Colorado’s history.

The lobby has the original tile floors and the front desk is in front of the original safe. There is a huge stained glass insert in the ceiling, the yellow and red colors were so beautiful it hardly seemed real.

We spent a good amount of time wandering the halls in the historic wing of the hotel, where we saw some of the old steam trunks used to pack clothing in the early 1900s. There were hand fans that women used to communicate their intentions with a significant other and even an old armoire that held clothes and shoes back in the day. We especially loved the sample menus from the opening night of the restaurant- you could get a lobster salad for just a nickel!

There are historic tours of the hotel offered to guests for an extra fee, but you have to reserve them at least 48 hours in advance. Right now, since the hotel is under renovation, the tours are suspended but will pick back up in the Fall. There is a self-guided tour that includes the 3rd and 4th floors.

Rooms At The Hotel Boulderado

The Boulderado is an old hotel, sure, but the rooms are luxurious. We stayed in a Historic Queen Suite with two beds. The main room had several sitting areas, a gorgeous antique mirrored bench, an antique desk, and a pull-out couch. There was a wet bar and mini-fridge too.

There was a small corridor between the sitting area and the beds, and the corridor held the bathroom. The hall then led to the bedroom which housed a dresser, a large closet, and two queen beds. The beds were set up high, and the girls loved climbing into them before falling asleep.

The rooms have Aveda toiletries, and there are a host of extra amenities available at the front desk. My girls forgot their toothbrushes, and they each got a toothbrush and mini toothpaste, which they loved. I thought it was really cool that they offered Emergen-C hydration packets for people needing to acclimate to the altitude here in Colorado.

Where To Eat

We had a lot of fun trying different foods in Boulder, and if you are staying for a few days, you’ll definitely want to try some of the restaurants nearby. We especially loved Spruce Farm and Fish right in the Hotel Boulderado

It is located just off the lobby of the main hotel. It has the same original floors in it as the hotel, and the vast wooden bar at the entrance is gorgeous.

We ate here on a night when it absolutely poured rain unexpectedly in Boulder, and we were so glad that we didn’t have to go outside to get back to our room.

We started our meal with Sicilian Meatballs- homemade meatballs in a garlicky tomato sauce served with crusty bread and polenta. Meatballs are one of my girls’ favorite foods, and these were amazing. They tasted truly homemade to us.

I paired the appetizer with a Mata Hari cocktail- vodka and passion fruit juice topped off with prosecco. It was absolutely divine.

The menu at Spruce has so many amazing entrees that it was hard to decide what to order. The kids’ menu was great- the girls had chicken fingers and fruit, and Parmesan buttered noodles. They loved them, and the portions were ample enough to fill them after a long day of hiking and swimming (more on that below).

I chose the Pan Seared Sea Scallops on Angel Hair and I was blown away. The scallops were cooked to perfection and topped with a type of pesto. I don’t know what was in that pesto, but it was so so so good. The angel hair was bathed in a roasted red pepper sauce that was clearly homemade that same day. I didn’t leave a morsel on that plate.

Dessert had three options, and we tried them all! We had chocolate torte, key lime pie and carrot cake. They were all delicious, but the carrot cake was the favorite as it was a huge portion and not too oily. Sometimes carrot cake is just too oily for me, but this one wasn’t.

I super highly recommend eating at Spruce Farm and Fish while you are staying at the Boulderado.

Where To Play

Boulder is literally America’s playground- there is so much to see and do that it can be hard to narrow down your activities. Here’s what we did!

Walk The Pearl Street Mall

Just one block away from the Boulderado is the Pearl Street Mall- the center of commerce and food in Boulder. It’s a gathering place of sorts- there are street vendors and musicians, families playing at the mini-parks on each block, and every mountain gear store you can imagine. Walking along Pearl Street is something you can’t miss when you visit Boulder.

Chataqua Park

Just 5 minutes from the Hotel Boulderado is the famed Chataqua Park. There, you can hike with spectacular views of the Flatirons. We took the Chataqua Loop and the Enchanted Mesa trails. Both were fairly easy and gave us great views of the mountains.

Chataqua does get very busy on the weekends, and in the summer there is shuttle parking from CU Boulder. I think the best bet is to get here early- before it gets hot and while there is still parking. We arrived about 9, and the local were coming back down the mountain at that time.

Scott Carpenter Pool

I think the highlight of our activities in Boulder was the Scott Carpenter Pool- we went twice and spent a total of almost 10 hours there. It’s a pool run by the City of Boulder, and it only cost the three of us $25 to get in.

They have an incredible lap swimming pool, two large water slides, a lazy river, a zero gravity kid’s area, a climbing wall, and two diving boards. There are ample shade and pool chairs on the pool deck, and you can take your own food for a picnic. We loved it and can’t wait to go back- I highly recommend this if you are in Boulder in the summer.