Dog Friendly City Guide: Aspen, Colorado

Across Monarch Street from the Limelight hotel, Wagner Park is the lawn that Aspen Skiing Company's own guide to the town calls, simply, the Dog Park. Dogs and their people meet there to fetch and throw balls off the lead, and it is one of four places in town where the City of Aspen allows it. The town puts its welcome in writing: the city's recreation department opens its page for dog owners with "Welcome to Aspen, a great place for dogs!", and in summer the dog rides the gondola up Aspen Mountain for nothing. This guide is built from our own venue and walk data, the city's and the resort's own pages and the Aspen hotels we have assessed and ranked.

Getting There With a Dog

For a dog flying into the United States, the rules are set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A dog that has only been in countries the CDC counts as free of dog rabies or low risk in the past six months must, according to the CDC's own requirements page, be at least six months old, carry a microchip that a universal scanner can read, travel with a receipt for a CDC Dog Import Form and look healthy on arrival, and it can then enter at any airport, seaport or land border crossing. A dog that has been in a high-risk country in that time faces extra steps that depend on where it was vaccinated, and an unvaccinated dog from a high-risk country will not be let in at all, so start with the CDC's dog import page before you book. Our guide to taking your dog abroad puts the paperwork in the order it has to be done.

Where to Stay

Aspen has three hotels we have ranked, and all three are among the best we know. Aspen Meadows Resort, ranked A+, sits in the West End on 40 acres of meadow and grove beside the Aspen Institute, with 98 suites in the Bauhaus manner of Herbert Bayer and one of the largest art collections on any resort's grounds, according to the resort's own site. Every part of it is open to a dog: the bar, the restaurant, the lounge, the terrace and the garden. The room comes with a bed, bowls, a treat and toys, the resort runs a dog walking service and hands out poop bags, and it throws Yappy Hours on the grounds that draw Aspen's own dogs and their owners. The fee is $25 a night, there is no weight limit and no deposit. We have written about it at length in The Great Outdoors: Aspen Meadows Resort.

At the foot of Aspen Mountain, The Little Nell, ranked A, has stood since 1989 on the site of the town's original silver mine and is, on its own account, Aspen's only Five-Star, Five-Diamond hotel. Its fine dining room, Element 47, is recognised by the Michelin Guide. The dog has a menu of its own here, made with wagyu beef and served in its own bowls, according to the hotel's pet amenities page, along with a bed, bowls and house-made peanut butter treats. Dogs join you in the bar, the restaurant and the lounge, the staff will walk or sit with the dog while you ski, and a settled dog may stay in the room while you are out. There is no weight limit, and the hotel charges a $100 cleaning fee and $25 a night.

A short walk away on Monarch Street, the Limelight Hotel Aspen, ranked A, keeps a habit that goes back to the original Limelite Lodge, which its own site calls a pioneer in welcoming pets. Breakfast is included, there are two rooftop terraces looking at Aspen Mountain, and the Lounge has live local music. Dogs are welcome in the bar, the restaurant, the terrace and the lounge, the room has a bed and bowls, the front desk has treats, the staff are trained to handle dogs and can arrange a walker or a sitter, and Wagner Park is over the road. The fee is $50 a stay, with up to two dogs a room and no weight limit.

Eat and Drink

The lunch to make the trip for is at the top of the mountain. In summer the Silver Queen Gondola takes dogs up Aspen Mountain free of charge in its cabins marked with paw prints, as Aspen Skiing Company's dog friendly guide explains, and the Aspen Chamber's own guide to dog friendly Aspen suggests lunch on the patio at the Sundeck, at the top of the gondola, while the dog rests up for the walk down.

Back in town, our records have dogs welcome at four places worth the walk. Meat & Cheese on Hopkins Avenue is a restaurant and farm shop that sends out a chicken, a steak and a cheese board, works first come, first served and takes no reservations. On the same street, the White House Tavern serves sandwiches with wine, beer and cocktails in a small wood panelled room with an open kitchen, and keeps a waiting list instead of bookings.

On the west side of town, Hickory House on Main Street is a ribs house that opens at 8am, closes for the afternoon and reopens for dinner at 5pm, with call-ahead seating on the day. For something lighter, Spring Cafe on Hopkins Avenue cooks with organic ingredients, bakes its pastries gluten free and runs a juice bar.

For the end of a day on the trail, our records also list the Highlands Alehouse at the base of Aspen Highlands, with 16 beers on tap and 75 whiskies, a 3,000 square foot deck and a 10,000 square foot lawn, beside the Maroon Bells Welcome Center where the summer shuttle to the Bells starts.

Walks and Parks

Start with the four places where the City of Aspen allows what its dog owners' page calls watchful off-leash play: Wagner Park in the middle of town, Rio Grande Park beside the Roaring Fork, Smuggler Mountain Road and the Marolt Open Space, where the city encourages swimming dogs at the roundabout pond. Smuggler is the one to climb. The Aspen Chamber describes it as a moderate hike just outside town with spectacular views over the city and Aspen Mountain, where dogs may run free as long as they are watched and come back to voice command. In winter the Chamber points you to Wagner Park and Marolt for a run in the snow.

Hunter Creek runs north out of town into a high valley, and Smuggler connects to it for a longer day. The state's Colorado Trail Explorer gives the route up to the Benedict Huts as 6.4 miles, climbing from 8,242 to 10,973 feet through the Smuggler Mountain Open Space and the White River National Forest. Keep the lead on in town and on the lower trail, as the city's rules require.

The walk the whole world knows starts at Maroon Lake, under the two peaks of the Maroon Bells. From the lake, the trail to Crater Lake climbs to a second lake right under the Bells, and the Chamber's Maroon Bells guide says dogs on a lead are allowed on most trails there and on the shuttle bus. The Maroon Bells reservation site runs the shuttle from the Welcome Center at Aspen Highlands from late May to the middle of October, and after that access is by parking reservation until 31 October. Nearby, the Cathedral Lake Trail is 2¾ miles into the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, climbing from 9,879 to 11,913 feet, and the state lists it for dogs on a lead.

Good to Know

As you travel about town your dog must be on a lead, and the city tickets both a dog off the lead outside the four play areas and uncollected mess. The lead law is strictly enforced downtown and on the pedestrian mall, in Herron Park, on every playground and trail, at the John Denver Sanctuary, in the Jennie Adair and Marolt wetlands and on the school and recreation centre fields. Dogs are not allowed at all on the City of Aspen Golf Course, at Cozy Point Ranch, on the North Star Open Space or in the Maroon Creek Wetlands. At the Maroon Bells dogs must always be on a lead, and they are kept off the Scenic Loop trail because of the risk of meeting wildlife in the thick cover there. Maroon Creek Road usually closes from mid November to mid May. Between summer and the ski season much of the town rests: the Highlands Alehouse closes until winter, Meat & Cheese closes for November and Element 47 from 19 October to 19 November, so check hours before you go. Take water for the dog on any climb, because the trails here start above 8,000 feet. Tell any of the three hotels you are bringing a dog when you book.