Hi! I've lived in Colorado for most of my life, but I've just recently moved to Fort Collins for school. Are there any cool spots that you'd recommend? Love your whole blog btw!!! ❤
Aw, thank you! Also congrats on school, I’m gonna guess you’re at CSU so sticking to the downtown area which is going to be the easiest to get to:
The Alley Cat is a coffee place that’s got coffe, milkshakes, wifi, really cool art and is typically open until 4 AM. Tends to get a bit crowded and it’s right over a hookah place but it’s a fun scene to go hang out. Not quiet, don’t attempt to study there, but great for meeting new people in a place that’s not a bar.
Pizza Casbah nearby is the best pizza in fort collins but it’s run entirely by stoners so if you order delivery from there it’s going to take like. 3 hours. best to go in and get it by the slice.
There is ALWAYS something going on at the stage in Old Town Square- bands playing, free public yoga, political protests, beer festival etc. it’s all free to observe and half of it’s free to participate in.
Walrus Ice Cream is hella good and they also have free (non-chocolate) ice cream for dogs so if you ever want to go pets dogs there’s always dogs
Fort Collins Public Library just off old town is a chill FREE place to hang out, study or do one of the nintey zillion activities they have on offer
Northside Aztlan Community Center is a long walk or a short bike ride north of old town and it’s the best/cheapest gym in fort collins, also a great place to take hobby classes or join a sports team
Martinez Park is also just north of old town and is a really nice natural park along the river. also lots of dogs.
Horsetooth Resivoir/Lory State Park are great local hiking areas and they have frequent free days. esp reccomend going in late april/early may becuase the wildflowers are amazing, but really it’s a beautiful, calm place any time of year. You will need a car ride to get up there though.
also great hikes if you have a car: Poudre Canyon has a ton of hiking trails coming off it, and you can take highway 14 clean out to steamboat springs if you want. Ranger Lakes State Park is just after comanche pass and small but really charming. Eagle’s Nest out by Livermore is also lovely for wildlife/wildflower veiwing, and just up the road from there is Red Feather Lakes, which is a nice place to hit in summer becuase it’s usually about 20 degrees colder up there.
Gryphon’s Games and Comics is a great Nerd Store- owner hosts tabletop and family-friendly card game nights, midnight premiers of movies are always a blast to go to, and there’s a nice coffee shop to meet other geeky people in.
the best grocery store close to CSU campus is the king soopers at timberline and elizabeth- no close-to-campus markup and it’s decently well-stocked.
If you have a place where you can cook, The Food Co-Op on Mountain by old town square is a great place for bulk local foods and organic pretty much everything. Also a great palce to get introduced to the local farming/solarpunk scene.
Pretty much every restaurant I’ve eaten at has had delicious food, just of varying bang-for-your-buck.
Concerts aren’t really my thing but the Mishiwaka Ampitheater up the canyon on 14 has a ton of concerts right on the river so that’s cool?
If you want to chill in a nice garden and/or also get in on the locavore food scene Spring Creek Gardens is really close to campus and just a super-nice quiet place to spend an afternoon.
There’s a TON of stuff to do and it’s a really safe city so I really encourage you to wander around and sign up for anything free, it’ll be a good time.
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