Best road-trip restaurants in Colorado

$$ · Great Sand Dunes National Park

Craft brewery in a converted downtown bank, 35 minutes from the dunes — the valley's default dinner-and-a-beer stop. The green chile ale is the local calling card.

$$ · Sundance

Sprawling taproom with 30-plus taps, a seasonal menu, and a big beer garden. (Gunbarrel)

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Pioneering 1993 Boulder brewery with a spacious taproom, full food menu and one of the city's largest draft lists.

$$ · Sundance

Cash-only Boulder institution with house ales, hearty pub grub, and people-watching. (Pearl Street)

$$ · Montana & San Juan Skyway

Riverside Collegiate Peaks brewery brewing ales and lagers since 2009 alongside burgers, sandwiches and wood-fired pizza.

$$ · Mesa Verde National Park

Downtown taproom pouring foraged and high-desert-inspired beers, with coffee service in the mornings. The natural decompression stop after a cliff-dwelling tour day.

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RiNo lager mecca revered nationally for meticulously crafted German-style lagers and a lively beer hall.

$$ · San Juan Skyway

Easygoing Durango brewpub by the river trail, giving the Million Dollar Highway and San Juan Skyway another relaxed launch or return meal.

$$ · Rocky Mountain & Colorado Rockies

Longtime Main Avenue brewpub loved by locals for house beers, hearty scratch fare and its famous Four Corners steak sandwich.

$$ · Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway

An Evergreen brewery meal for the Mount Blue Sky approach, especially useful if the summit day starts or ends on the Denver side.

$$ · I-70/I-80 corridor

Locally owned Grand Junction brewpub open over twenty years, sourcing local meat and known for craft beer and hearty plates.

$$ · Montana & San Juan Skyway

Local brewpub pairing house pizzas with year-round pours like Gunny Gold Kolsch and Anthracite Amber for hungry travelers.

$$ · Mesa Verde National Park

Nano-brewery on the highway frontage road with wood-fired pizza and small-batch beers — the closest post-park pint to Mesa Verde's gate. Casual and kid-tolerant.

$$ · Million Dollar Highway

Rooftop beers, burgers, and mountain views in Ouray, the easy decompression meal after Red Mountain Pass.

$$ · Montana & San Juan Skyway

Cozy brewpub in an 1896 Victorian and Colorado's first hot-springs-powered brewery, pairing craft beer with tavern fare and live music.

$$ · Montana & San Juan Skyway

Neighborhood brewpub praised for wood-fired pizza and house ales in a relaxed San Juan-vista setting off the highway.

$$ · Montana & San Juan Skyway

Serving Salida since 1994 with handcrafted pizzas and small-batch on-site brews, a repeat local Best-Restaurant award winner.

$$ · Montana & San Juan Skyway

High-altitude brewpub on Greene Street pouring small-batch mountain ales alongside sandwiches and shareable pub plates for byway travelers.

$$ · Rocky Mountain & Colorado Rockies

Beloved unpretentious local brewpub with frequently rotating house beers plus burgers, sandwiches and hearty grill favorites.