Where to Stay in Telluride – In Town, Mountain Village, or Away?

Why Stay in Telluride Town

Telluride is a lovely small town in western Colorado with incredible mountain views, a ton of delicious restaurants, brew pubs, and bars, and one of the best festival cultures in the country- so staying in the heart of it all has a lot of perks, particularly in the summer months.

If you are planning a trip around a festival and only visiting Telluride, staying in town is an excellent option simply because you can book a shuttle from Montrose airport, skip renting a car, and enjoy almost every amenity you could ask for on foot- including incredible hiking like visiting Bridal Veil Falls, amongst many others.

In fact, we highly recommend this, as some festivals, like the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, prohibit anyone who isn’t a resident or doesn’t have a local parking pass from driving through Telluride proper at all. Many other popular festivals may still allow cars, but events like Blues & Brews and the Film Festival are incredibly popular, and we’re told driving inside Telluride can be much more difficult without a dedicated parking spot at a local hotel or Airbnb.

As a side bonus for festivals, if you attend late-night events, as we do with Night Grass at the bluegrass festival, you may be out until midnight, 1 am, 2 am, or later, and being able to be back in your bed in just a short walk from any business in town is such a good feeling that it is hard to be able to put into words. Every extra moment of sleep counts!

• Note: When visiting, please check which festival(s) may be scheduled and confirm whether any driving/parking restrictions exist.

Although we personally didn’t stay in Mountain Village, we did ride the gondola up and explored, and this one feels like a more conventional ski / condo mountain spot. A cool feel being up in the mountains, sure, but for us, the ambiance paled in comparison to being in Telluride proper in the summer. (Now, for winter, that changes, which we’ll talk about in the next section.)

So while staying in Telluride town can be quite the premium over Mountain Village in the summer, especially during festival season, the amenities and accessibility to all the events make staying in the center of town worth it in our opinion, and we won’t consider staying elsewhere whenever visiting for a festival.

Why Stay in the Mountain Village

Mountain Village is the ski epicenter of Telluride and is located a short gondola ride up the mountain, south of town. There are, naturally, a few cases where staying in Mountain Village makes the most sense.

First, of course, is during ski season proper, as Mountain Village, not Telluride proper, is the heart of a lot of winter action. Yes, there are ski slopes that head down to Telluride, but these are mostly black diamonds with a blue that makes its way down as well- so fewer options for true beginners, whereas several green runs connect up to Mountain Village.

Personally, as a beginner who is working towards intermediate skiing proficiency, I wouldn’t consider staying in Telluride at all, even with the gondola access- I like ski-in, ski-out trails near my accommodation without that extra hurdle.

Second is the price. In the summer months during festival season, Mountain Village typically has accommodations that are much cheaper than in Telluride proper. This isn’t to say you won’t find a deal in town, and in all honesty, it is kind of expensive across the board. But in our experience, we’ve seen accommodations cheaper by upwards of 50% or more than in Telluride proper in the warmer months.

So if you are visiting in the summer and are looking to save a bit of money, and are okay with riding a gondola or bus into Telluride, Mountain Village may help out there a bit.

That said, during ski season, prices in the Mountain Village jump considerably. You may find options in Telluride at the same price (or lower) than Mountain Village, and in some cases, you may find properties in the village that balloon in price a great deal, too. But given the convenience of mountain access, the higher prices are a small price to pay here if visiting in the winter, so we’d still opt to stay there unless you are comfortable taking the gondola every day (or can ski seemingly advanced slopes).

• Note: If you stay in the Mountain Village during festival season, especially for the bluegrass festival, check the gondola’s last run time. During the festival, the gondola was often scheduled to end around the time Night Grass finished, which could impact your experience if a show is delayed, which happened to us during our first bluegrass festival.

Staying Outside of Telluride

Finally, there is another option, and that is staying outside of Telluride proper and driving in for the day to visit, or taking a shuttle in from a nearby town.

To us, this is the worst option unless you are only passing through on a road trip and want to experience Telluride for a day or less. There are many reasons we believe this.

First, there is limited parking in Telluride proper, and during busy festivals, like the bluegrass festival, the town is completely closed off to traffic unless you are a county resident or have a parking pass from a local accommodation, as previously mentioned. If you’re not staying in Telluride during a busy event, you may not be able to get into town via your car at all.

Second, in many cases (and especially during busy festivals), visitors are recommended to park in a garage in Mountain Village and take the gondola down (or, depending on the season, a bus if the gondola is not operational). This adds on another layer of hassle as the gondola takes a bit of time to ride down (albeit, it is fun), and if you are staying late into the night for a festival, it is not practical to wait for the gondola, ride it up, and then get in your car and drive.

Third, Telluride itself is quite remote, and you may be driving quite a distance to find suitable accommodations nearby, too. Again, that is just much more time planning logistics and hassle that is best to be avoided. Do you really want to be driving 30, 45, 60+ minutes each way when visiting, after your day’s activity and riding the gondola just to get to your car? Please shake your head no in agreement with me here.

As such, while you may be able to be strategic with your plans of Telluride town vs Mountain Village, depending on why you are visiting, particularly in that summer vs winter split, these are some of the most important considerations to keep in mind. But as long as you’re not staying outside and driving in day after day, you can likely make do with some of the challenges that are associated.

Where did you stay in Telluride when visiting? Comment below to share!

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