American Western holiday

JamesP1701

Hi folks,

Would welcome some suggestions.

I’m a huge Western fan. A few years ago my wife and I spent a week on a ranch in Canada which was amazing. Sadly costs mean we can’t really justify that again so we’re looking at a fly drive option in the Colorado/Wyoming/Montana area.

The musts for me are the opportunity to horse ride and some stunning scenery. I envisage big forests, mountains; rocky paths that kind of thing - imagine Red Dead Redemption 2!!

I’m not really sure of regions to be looking at so wondered if anyone had any suggestions.

Much appreciated!

James

davidjohnson

I would start by doing a Google search for "cowboy experiences" and research the geography of the locations available.

davidjohnson

Ranch and cowboy experiences are going to cost the earth. Exchange rate still isn't good.  Its going to be expensive whatever you do. Special activities in the outdoors and special excursions of all types, are expensive. What you don;t spend on an immersive stay on a dude ranch you'll easily notch up on this , that and the other activity on an independent tour.

........... But its good and maybe you should do it anyway. I just can't see you getting away with doing this cheaply if you are going to participate and enjoy the environment you are touring.

Would I be right to assume you're looking for a general road trip with just a bit of horse riding and stuff, here or there along the route ?

Have you also looked at northern New Mexico and at South Dakota's Black Hills area as well ?

Holiday duration ?  Which month(s) ?

domtheone

BA do decent prices if you combine flights with car hire, they also have direct flights to Denver. Motels can often be found for around £50 per night and Google maps is an excellent way to plot a route. You can also check the scenery with street view

hyperfish

Yep, stare, stare, stare at Google maps. The more familiar you are the more able you will be to make routes and to shuffle things about as the thing develops or problems are spotted. Use the tools to estimate drive times and then add some for comfort and stops, to judge feasibility.

Motel prices will depend where you're talking about but generally will be more than that ( ! ).

Flights : Yes BA are the direct airline from Heathrow ( United also fly but only seasonally ).
Be aware there is also low cost Norwegian from Gatwick if that works for you. Also,  Icelandair go from Reykjavik and maybe they do a conncection from near where you stay. Lufthansa are great too, if you have a connection from your local airport and they're doing a good enough deal to be tempted to go via Germany.

davidjohnson

Cant comment on the westerns bit but United run a daily non stop flight (LHR-Den) which i can thoroughly recommend.

Circa 11am-2pm arrival in Denver on a nice new (ish) Dreamliner.  Better than most of the crappy old planes that fly out West from these shores.

Flights can occasionally be had very cheap too.  Paid £286 for my last flight (September) and hoping/expecting to pay just over £300 for my next one (around May/June time).

Oh and Colorado is stunning.  Especially if you like Sunshine and Mountains

JamesP1701

Once stopped over at a small town called Bishop CA. I remember it being known for fishing, hunting and City Slicker breaks. I would guess that many places do this.

davidjohnson

Just to clarify, the £50 per night is for general road trip stop overs, not for popular destinations.

JamesP1701

Indeed. Ma & Pa Kettle motels in farm country. Come into a tourist town or an Indian reservation with scenic wonders or a National Park and it shocks people used to the choice and competition of Orlando they might have experienced for years thinking that was America.

JamesP1701

What you'll also find is the cost of going out on say a guided walk in the hills, biking experience, jeeping, horse riding, ballooning, is really, really expensive. I don't know if its partly mega high insurance costs or if also maybe the American market in which people get fewer holidays, have to spend much of what they get visiting dispersed family, therefore when have only short windows in which to actually holiday and therefore the money they might have to do that is focused on a short number of days. I don't know but it might be a factor. It is true though, about what I say about these kinds of mini trips and experiences - surprisingly expensive. Leads you to just make do and do as much as you can DIY. But then that could involve risks in the outdoors and definitely involves effort to research. Now when it comes to horses I suppose you have to stump up - I mean you can't take your own in the boot.

Not that I understand why anyone would want to bother with horse riding, as to me, horses are just unprocessed glue.