Help me make my GREAT ESCAPE from Denver!

January 26, 2012 10:10 AM

Looking for a great place to ring in my 30th birthday--without spending days flying back and forth from Denver. In mid-March. Got some great ideas for me?

My 30th birthday is coming up in mid-March, and I want to drop a chunk of change (up to $4K for 2 people) going somewhere special and doing something awesome. Luxurious would be cool; adventurous would be cool; I'm open to most things--except downhill skiing, which takes off the board the most obvious idea which is an escape to a swank hotel in Rockies during ski season.

I can't take too many days off, so I'm think more along the lines of 4-5 days rather a full week. This has led to me relunctantly rule out flying to St. John and staying at an eco-resort, snorkling and diving, because I'd have to burn at least 2 days flying there and back from Denver. I don't have to go someplace warm, but if it's a cold place it needs to be worth it in terms of why late winter/early spring is a great time to visit.

Any ideas? I'm looking for destinations, hotel recs, activity recs... basically, I want mefi to be my travel agent. In brief, I'm looking for:

--Short-ish travel time from Denver (not more than 5 hours either driving or flying)
--Good place to visit in mid-March
--Special enough to make me feel like it's worth doing for a big milestone birthday

posted by iminurmefi to travel & transportation (6 answers total)

I don't have specific recommendations but I do know Frontier flies direct from Denver to Cancun. It's pretty easy to leave town mid-morning and be on the beach that afternoon. Flights are about 4 hours.
posted by shornco at 10:16 AM on January 26, 2012

Are you into food and music? $4k will get two people pretty far in New Orleans. Stay at the Roosevelt (definition of luxurious) and book dinners at the finest restaurants. Stay out late at the music clubs, sleep in, rinse repeat. Weather should be great. If the trip would be over St. Patrick's, there are several fun parades that weekend, as well as cultural events surrounding St. Joseph's Day.
posted by CheeseLouise at 10:16 AM on January 26, 2012 [2 favorites]

Las Vegas is my go-to recommendation for milestone birthday celebrations. Happy birthday!
posted by Maisie at 10:21 AM on January 26, 2012

I totally support CheeseLouise's New Orleans recommendation. As a second choice, you might want to consider Miami. It's a four hour direct flight from Denver and you can do snorkeling/diving, enjoy all the Cuban music and food, and if you're looking for luxury, you can stay in a posh resort/spa like the Acqualina right on the beach. Happy birthday!
posted by argonauta at 11:16 AM on January 26, 2012

Would you be open to snowshoeing? If you like that and are up for adventure, the 10th Mountain Division hut system is only a few hours away from you.
posted by mmascolino at 12:39 PM on January 26, 2012

Just wanted to thank you all for the wonderful suggestions--especially for New Orleans, which I had never considered and hadn't realized is only about 2.5 hours from Denver! In the end, my sister-in-law made an offhand mention of California wine country and something clicked--it's a place I've always sort of wanted to go but thought was too pricey and knew I'd end up never doing because of cost would always seem just a little bit too much in terms of lodging. (Kind of the same deal as St. John, actually!)

However, I'm definitely inspired to book tickets to New Orleans for a long weekend in October, so this thread was a total success from my view. Thanks everybody!

(mmascolino, it's funny you mention the 10th Mountain Division huts--I love snowshoeing and actually have a weekend trip planned to go there in February!)
posted by iminurmefi at 11:38 AM on February 3, 2012