Box Canyon Lodge & Hot Springs, Ouray, Colorado

Where it is

The lodge sits at the southern end of Ouray, at around 2,350 metres, a short walk from the brick-fronted main street with its saloons, galleries and restaurants. Montrose airport is about an hour's drive and Telluride about an hour and a half.

A few minutes away, Box Canyon Falls thunders through a narrow slot in the rock, and Ouray is the start of the Million Dollar Highway, a breathtaking mountain road over Red Mountain Pass to Silverton.

Rooms

Rooms are simple, clean and warm in classic mountain-lodge style, many with mountain views, and there is a honeymoon suite for something more special. It is not luxurious, and it does not pretend to be: the springs are the reason to stay.

The hot springs

Climb the steps behind the lodge to the tubs, made from redwood, terraced up the slope, each with submerged benches and jets. The water is natural and untreated, and the warmest tubs sit at around 39–42°C. Soaking here at night, with stars overhead and peaks all around, is one of the simplest and best pleasures in the Rockies. The friendly team are full of tips on jeep tours and walks.

The moment

A soak in the top tub under a sky full of stars, steam drifting up into the cold air, after a day driving the Million Dollar Highway over the passes.

Why we chose it

Box Canyon offers private hot springs and a spectacular setting at a price that leaves room in the budget for the rest of a road trip. It is an honest, well-loved place that many guests return to again and again.

For a splurge in the same mountains, see Dunton Hot Springs; for another characterful American inn, Buckhorn Inn in the Smokies.

When to go

The lodge is open all year. Summer is busy with jeep tours and walkers, and weekends fill up. September, after the American school break, brings golden aspens and quieter roads. Winter is magical for soaking in the snow, though January's ice-climbing festival fills the town, so book ahead or avoid those dates.

The longer stay

Two or three nights is ideal, with a day on the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton and a walk to Box Canyon Falls. Build it into a longer loop of south-west Colorado: Telluride, Mesa Verde and Durango.