The lights strung along Larimer Street add a festive mood to your holiday getaway in Denver, Colorado.
Destination Colorado / Denver Winter Getaway
Planning a multigenerational trip in the winter just got easier…and a little cooler with a touch of Halloween in the mountains.
Everywhere else the event happens, ice is a trick of climate control. A hall chilled to nine degrees in a place where nine degrees would otherwise be unthinkable. Texas in November. Florida in December. Ice is not natural in those places, unless it’s dispensed from your refrigerator.
But at the Gaylord Rockies resort in Aurora, Colorado, on the edge of the high plains, nine degrees in winter is just another Tuesday. But bringing that inside is something different.
We’re talking about ice!™, the signature frozen Christmas attraction created by Gaylord Hotels. The event is remarkable, and the two-story ice slides are what the children will talk about on the drive home. But unlike the locations for other ice!™ events, the cold is not the novelty. The novelty is that a family can walk out of an ice castle into actual winter, then keep going west until the plains turn into mountains.
The 2026 theme in Aurora is Disney’s Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s not a warm holiday classic, but it’s still beloved by people who like their Christmas a little crooked. And if a white Christmas is what you’re yearning for, you will likely get it here.
For the Kids: ice! and The Nightmare Before Christmas
The hotel is transformed into a Christmas scene. At the Gaylord Rockies, it’s a Halloween-ish Christmas!
November 20, 2026 – January 3, 2027
The space is chilled to nine degrees Fahrenheit. Two million pounds of hand-carved ice anchors the experience. Blue parkas handed out at the door keep you warm. Two-story slides drop through Oogie Boogie’s lair, and walk-through tunnels carry you from scene to scene.
You’ll recognize Jack Skellington, Sally, and Santa Claus. Or, if you know the film, Sandy Claws. Zero, Dr. Finkelstein, the Mayor, and Lock, Shock and Barrel turn up along the way, and the route runs from Halloween Town through the Holiday Forest into Christmas Town.
The Nightmare Before Christmas came out in 1993 . It is a Christmas film that looks like a Halloween film, complete with skeletons, a rag doll, and a kidnapped Santa. Burton’s design looks perfect carved in ice: the spirals, the exaggerated angles, and the striped and skeletal forms.
The rest of the resort
Beyond the ice hall, the resort fills the season with indoor snow tubing, gingerbread decorating, and holiday shopping, all under several million lights and a small forest of decorated trees.
Overnight guests also get Arapahoe Springs, the resort’s water park, which is exclusive to people staying on property. The indoor pool and the heated outdoor pool stay open through winter, which produces the improbable sequence of a parka at 9 degrees in the morning and a waterslide in the afternoon. The lazy river is seasonal.
Downtown Denver for the Holidays
Union Station has events all year long, and at Christmas, the historic building brings a different kind of holiday vibe.
Gaylord Rockies is about 25 miles from downtown Denver, and the city gives a multigenerational group plenty to do during the holiday season.
Blossoms of Light at Denver Botanic Gardens is a mile-long path through the winter gardens, lit with LED displays and immersive installations. It runs from November 20 to early January (2026 dates). It has been a Denver tradition for nearly four decades and is regularly named among the best holiday light events in the country.
Zoo Lights at Denver Zoo covers 80 acres with more than a million lights, and has been running more than 30 years. Check their website for current event dates and information.
Trail of Lights at Chatfield Farms in Littleton is the quieter alternative. You can explore just under a mile of illuminated cottonwoods and pines through farm and ranch land, under dark foothill sky, with a shorter route option for anyone who wants less walking. They are associated with the Denver Botanic Gardens and if Blossoms of Light feels too crowded, this is where to go instead.
The Mile High Tree stands on the Tivoli Quad at Auraria Campus, a 110-foot digital tree strung with 60,000 LEDs, running free nightly light-and-music shows from 5 to 10 p.m., November 20 through December 31. The Denver Christkindlmarket, the city’s German-style holiday market, shares the same quad from November 20 to December 23. Nightly drone shows fly over the same block. One stop, three different holiday experiences.
Larimer Lights turns Larimer Square into a block of projection mapping, décor, Santa visits, carolers, and seasonal food from the restaurants along it. Shopping under a canopy of lights creates a festive mood for the whole family.
The Denver Parade of Lights has been running in downtown for over 50 years and this year it’s scheduled for Saturday, December 5th, 2026. It’s free, it runs a two-mile route through downtown, and it draws crowds in the hundreds of thousands.
Union Station has events throughout the year and for the holidays, it makes the Great Hall sparkle. Dates are not up yet for 2026 so check the event page for the most recent holiday plans.
Dates and hours were current as of publication in September 2026. Verify before you book anything around them.
The Wine: Denver’s Urban Wineries
The Gaylord Rockies is about 25 miles from downtown Denver and is a great base for a multigenerational trip.
Colorado’s serious wine country is on the other side of the mountains, but the Urban wine scene is real, and it’s open in December.
Balistreri Vineyards is a family operation about 10 minutes north downtown. Known for making all-natural wines with no added sulfites, no fining, no filtering, and native yeasts. There’s a kitchen on site, so a tasting turns into lunch without much effort. Open daily.
Bonacquisti Wine Company sits in an unassuming industrial space in Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood. They make wine approachable through their focus on education. Labels like Vinny No Neck and Bella Risa tell you the Italian side of the house is having fun. Founder Paul Bonacquisti is a former radio DJ, and the winery runs its own wine radio station out of the building.
Spero Winery might not have been here if it wasn’t for the courage of three teenage boys, as young as 13, who jumped on a ship headed for a place called America. Gaetano Spero left Potenza, Italy and arrived in New York with just $5 in his pocket. He worked in the Colorado coal mines and bought land as soon as he could to make wine the same way his family had for generations. His son Clyde opened Spero Winery in 1999 and is still making it.
Carboy Winery evolved from a love of culinary excellence and has emerged as a statement that Colorado can make wine that should be noticed beyond the mountains. They have locations in Denver, Breckenridge and Littleton and vineyards located in the Grand Valley AVA. Each location has its own personality with a shared DNA.
Bigsby’s Folly in RiNo Art District operates from a restored 1886 building, originally the J. George Leyner Engineering Works, where they made the rock drills that changed Colorado mining. Thirty-foot ceilings, chandeliers, a full kitchen, flights, food pairings, and blending sessions where you mix, bottle, and label your own wine.
Winter hours may vary; confirm before planning around any of them.
About the Grand Valley AVA
Colorado’s real wine region is the Grand Valley AVA around Palisade, on the Western Slope near Grand Junction, where growers work Rhône and Bordeaux varietals against the backdrop of the Book Cliffs and Mount Garfield.
It is roughly four hours west of Denver over the mountains. That is not a day trip from a holiday base in Aurora. It is a separate journey, save it for its own trip.
Wellness
Take in wellness as you like – full spa or active outdoor recreation…the choice is yours.
At the resort
Gaylord Rockies has a full spa and fitness facilities alongside Arapahoe Springs. Specific treatment offerings for the 2026 season were not published at the time of writing. Confirm when you book.
A Note About Altitude
Denver sits a mile above sea level. Traveling at elevation in winter can surprise people who are not used to it. The general advice is to stay hydrated — even when it is cold, and it is easy to forget — and to expect that the altitude may leave you feeling tired or short of breath the first day. It usually settles quickly.
Winter outdoors
The Front Range starts just west of the city. Red Rocks Park is free to enter, spectacular in winter, and walkable at a range of ability levels. The amphitheater steps are a workout, but the surrounding trails and the visitor center are accessible for most. Washington Park and City Park, home to the Denver Zoo and Denver Museum of Nature and Science, are flat, easy winter walks.
And if the group wants more mountains, Georgetown and Idaho Springs are about an hour up I-70, both historic mining towns that decorate for the season. Georgetown holdss a Christmas market in early December. Winter mountain driving requires attention to conditions — check CDOT before going.
Planning Your Multi-Generational Holiday Trip
Day one at the resort. ice!, snow tubing, the water park. A full day without getting in a car.
Day two, the city. Downtown, the Christkindlmarket, Union Station, and one light event after dark.
Day three, choose. The urban wineries, Red Rocks, or a mountain town up I-70.
The split works well. One group takes Balistreri and a long lunch; another takes the zoo lights; everyone reconvenes at the resort at the end of the day. With so many options so close together, this makes the multigenerational holiday trip one to remember.
Before You Go
Stay hydrated. The air is dry and the elevation is real, even when it is cold out.
Book Blossoms of Light in advance — timed tickets, online only, through the gardens directly.
The Gaylord resort is in Aurora, not Denver. About twenty-five miles from downtown, close to the airport. Plan around the drive.
Winter weather affects everything. Front Range storms can close I-70 and complicate airport travel. Build in flexibility.
Check the theme with your group. The Nightmare Before Christmas is wonderful and it is also, for some small children, genuinely spooky.
For confirmed ice! details, dates, hours, and tickets: So Much Christmas
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