Vail Mountain - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

Vail Ski Resort is a ski resort in the western United States. It is the third-largest single-mountain ski resort in the U.S., behind Big Sky and Park City, featuring seven bowls and intermediate gladed terrain in Blue Sky Basin.

The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens are the world's highest botanical garden, located at 183 Gore Creek Drive, Vail, Colorado, United States, at an 8,200 feet altitude in the Rocky Mountains. Other gardens include the Children's Garden and Schoolhouse Garden. Together these gardens contain about 2,000 varieties of plants, including over 500 different varieties of wildflowers and alpine plants. The Gardens are open to the public year-round.

This is a charming place to walk around, shop, look at the stunning architecture, or enjoy a delicious meal. For outdoor enthusiasts, Vail has some of the most scenic hiking trails in the Vail Valley. Booth Falls, Shrine Pass, Lost Lake Trailhead, and Piney River Ranch are just some of the favorites in the area.

Blue Sky Basin is the most recent expansion to Vail Ski Resort in Colorado in the United States. It is the most debated and controversial ski area expansion in Colorado history. It opened to skiers in 2000 despite conflict about whether the expansion would endanger the lynx, a mountain cat re-introduced into the Colorado wilds.

This is a modest 18.5 mile-long river with lots to offer outdoor recreation visitors. The river is situated in Eagle County and drains part of the Rocky Mountains at the south end of Gore Range via Gore Valley.

Beautiful paved path popular for walking and biking with great mountain, aspen trees, and stream views. The entire trail is 12 miles long and spans from East Valley Trail on the western end and the Val Pass Trail on the eastern end.