Suppose you don’t have the time or the budget for trips to Utah, California, Hawaii, or New Mexico this summer. In that case, there are Colorado lookalikes that will give you a similar experience.

To be sure, you’ll still need to leave Denver for a day or maybe plan a few nights away to get your change of scenery.

Explore Paint Mines Interpretive Park

Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah is known for having the world’s largest concentration of hoodoos, which are unusual rock formations.

In my non-scientific description, the rocks there look like someone was playing on a beach of pinkish sand and then dripped bits of wet sand into pillars. This 35,835-acre national park’s natural beauty attracts millions of visitors annually.

Bryce Canyon National Park is an eight-hour drive from Denver, a four-hour drive from Las Vegas, Nevada, or Salt Lake City, Utah, and a two-hour or 90-minute flight from Grand Junction, Colorado, or Reno, Nevada.

Paint Mines Interpretive Park in Calhan is 90 minutes southeast of Denver and 40 minutes from Colorado Springs.

Here, you can stroll four miles of trails through 750 acres of colorful hoodoos and spires.

The best time to see the subtle pink, orange, and whitish-blue in these geological formations is on a clear-sky day when the sun strikes the rocks.

Remember to bring water and a hat for shade because this area is exposed without trees. Dogs and other animals are not allowed, so leave them at home.

Check the El Paso County website for the schedule for guided hikes, during which local rangers provide detailed information on the area’s human, geologic, and ecological history.

Visit the inspiration for Disneyland’s Main Street USA

To go to Disneyland from Denver, you’ll need to fly about two and a half hours to Los Angeles, California, and then drive another 30 minutes to Disneyland in Anaheim.

Tickets to enter the “Happiest Place on Earth ” cost $98 to $206 per person, depending on age.

When you enter this quintessential American amusement park, you typically start on Main Street USA, where there are frequent parades, storefronts selling treats and souvenirs, and nostalgic entertainment.

There’s a railroad, a horse-pulled trolley, and other vintage vehicles to get around here, and people crowd the sidewalks, walking to go in and out of the storefronts.

Or, you can drive one hour north from Denver to Fort Collins to walk around downtown for free and experience a similar feel to Disneyland’s Main Street USA.

Here’s the connection: Harper Goff was born in Fort Collins in 1911 and later became an artist for Walt Disney.

Legend has it that when the team was designing Disneyland in the 1950s, Goff drew on his fond memories of Old Town Fort Collins and then returned to take photos so they could replicate some of this college town’s buildings.

Although Disney’s midwestern hometown also served as inspiration, some specific Colorado buildings look nearly identical to those at Disneyland, such as City Hall.

Like Main Street USA, in Fort Collins, you can walk between storefronts, get a bite to eat, and take a historic trolley for only $1 to $2.

Discover the Manitou Cliff Dwellings

Bandelier National Monument is about a six-hour drive from Denver, outside Los Alamos, New Mexico. According to the National Park Service, this site was home to Ancestral Puebloans for about 400 years, from 1100 to 1550 CE.

These homes are carved “cavates” in volcanic stone that requires wooden ladders to reach. Bandelier was established as a national monument in 1916, and in the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked on making this place more accessible.

While this site is unique to its location, geology, and the people who lived here over time, if you’re interested in learning about Ancestral Puebloans and can’t drive the six hours to Bandelier, or even six hours to Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado, then head south an hour’s drive from Denver to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.

These former Ancestral Puebloan homes were relocated from McElmo Canyon outside of Dolores, Colorado, brick-by-brick in the early 1900s. According to the website, “Our three-story pueblo structure demonstrates the architecture of the Taos Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. These Pueblo Indians are descendants of the Cliff Dwelling Indians belonging to the Ancestral Puebloans cultural line.”

While these cliff dwellings are not authentic because they were moved and reconstructed, the move was motivated by the need to protect history from looters and vandals. Visitors can spend time in the museum to see historic pots and other items that tell the stories of these people.

Hike to Little Hawaii near Telluride

There’s an eight-hour flight between Denver and Hawaii, and hiking on the Hawaiian Islands varies between dense rainforests and striking ridgelines with ocean views. There are also a few popular paved trails to specific sites like lighthouses.

Telluride is a six-hour drive from Denver and offers a moderate hike of about one to two hours roundtrip to see a waterfall that can make some people feel as if they have traveled across the Pacific Ocean. It is rare to use the word “lush” to describe natural places in Colorado, but this trail in the Uncompahgre National Forest is unique.

After hiking less than a mile through Bear Creek Preserve, you arrive at a waterfall-carved grotto where bright green plants drape from the curving and mossy rock features. The icy blue waters in the grotto pool might also evoke some ocean hues in Hawaii.

When hiking here, bring closed-toe footwear that can get wet and your bug spray.

Be sure to pack your sense of adventure.