[GATEWAY, COLORADO]  — Once the private ranch of the founder of the Discovery Channel, he has slowly built this from a small, in-the-know conference center with a handful of rooms into a full-on resort, adding chunks of rooms and facilities each year until it is now one of the best resorts I’ve been to in the U.S.

This is Colorado?? I thought it was all about mountains and skiing?  Yup. But then there’s here.

Western Colorado is a blurred line into the canyony parts of Utah. An hour south of ridgy Grand Junction — Colorado’s Orchard slope, also known as The Western Slope — sits the teeny town of Gateway, nestled in high-hipped canyon ridges that make 80’s Meg Ryan mom jeans look low-cut. And this resort is here.

So full-on, that Conde Nast Traveler voted it the best resort in Colorado, #3 in the United States and #12 in the world. After visiting there, I can see why. Holy cow.

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I’ve lived in Colorado for nearly 30 years and I didn’t even know this area existed.

Sidled up to the Utah border, a beautiful hour drive south of homely Grand Junction  You drive 44 miles through a winding canyon with sparse population in one of the Car & Driver’s Top Ten Drives of the World. Make sure you time your drive to arrive near sunset; not too late, not too early .

Canyon walls and winding river follow you the whole way until out pops this beautiful resort at the crux of five different canyons (hence the Gateway name).  In its isolated beauty, the resort is surrounded by hundreds of thousands of wilderness, canyons, mesas, national parks and BLM lands.

The whole resort is built around this big beautiful hunk of rock called The Palisade. (You will see a lot more of it in upcoming posts.) If you google the word “palisade” its origin goes back to Greek and Roman times and means, loosely, “a rock fence”. Who wouldda thought that early Western pioneers were Greco-Roman scholars when they named this? Supposedly the Romans kicked the shit of the Greeks on making stronger palisades to defend their military camps. Makes sense; they made damn good bridges. But someone else built this marvelous beast…

The Adventureland of Gateway Canyons

The resort is set up for adventure, complete with their own helicopter, car museum, guides and ever an elaborate Driven Experience that is over-the-top full of toys of every size, shape and budget, that you can rent and take out on- or off-road. The driving stuff is not my style, but the helicopter ride over the canyons is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Captain Mike was totally knowledgable above every landmark, canyon and gully…and was totally accommodating in lining up his ship so I could get the best pictures. I can’t wait to go back.

Gateway Canyons has their own helicopter! You can fly over some of the most beautiful canyons in the country. 

The Rooms at Gateway Canyons

Final Hotel Review — Gateway Canyons Resort

Okay, so this place isn’t the most amazing, pampering luxury resort in the United States, based upon my experience in 2014.

But the location is.

It’s a nice hotel in a cool spot, with amazing experiences to enhance it. Yes, the rooms are nice, plushed out, but more like a sterile Ritz would do in a second tier market. This feels more like a great hotel in Scottsdale: very nice, but serviceable, a little soulless, but in a really cool location.

Understandably, out here in the middle of nowhere, it’s hard to find good people, but they are nice and try hard, but don’t expect over-the-top pampering. I never felt like anyone was out front running the place. Or maybe because it started out as a conference center and those feels are still around?  I dunno.

The restaurants are fine, but not memorable (hence the lack of photos). The rooms are super nice, but could be anywhere. Look the other directions and you see a sea of parking lots for people who are not there. You wonder: did they hire an office park architect to design this?

But the views are what brings you here and all the very cool activities that you can do here and nowhere else.

And DO NOT skip the helicopter. It’s expensive. It’s incredible. Budget for it, like two grand and book ahead. And you should budget more time and money to do more than I did. They can take you to far off destinations in the middle of nowhere, serve you a picnic lunch in a canyon and fly you back out. It will be an experience you never forget.

Side note: gawd, what is it about America? If this location was in Europe, the town even smaller, the location even more remote, you would still have the most impeccable service and attitude that you remember more than the location. But this is America.

More Information About Gateway Canyons Resort

Here’s a great article in Forbes on Gateway Canyons. And here’s a background article in The Denver Post about how the resort came to be.

Here’s where you can book Gateway Canyons on TabletHotels. A mention and pretty pictures in Conde Nast Traveler. And an article about driving the fancy cars around in Robb Report (natch). And review in the Huffington Post. And if you’re looking for a wedding venue, this is it, says The Knot.

— Last Visited October 2014 —