Earlier this year, pointing to a surge in searches like “how to add more whimsy to your life.”
An easy place to start? Summer travel plans where you can give your wanderlust a dose of whimsy and craft itineraries that feel playful, nostalgic and perhaps just a little bit magical.
Across Colorado and beyond, a new wave of offbeat adventures is answering that call — from sleeping in treetops and caves to hiking alongside llamas and rolling your bed out under the night sky for al fresco stargazing snuggled under the covers.
These lighthearted escapes invite travelers to see the world with a sense of wonder.
Stay in a treehouse
Think of treehouses as Mother Nature’s answer to the penthouse suite. Juniper Lodge & Treehouses in Evergreen debuted the addition of its first two treehouses in December 2025. “We wanted to offer a luxury, adults-only escape that taps into nostalgia, but in a more elevated way,” said Alea LaRocque, who owns the property with her wife, Ashley.
Each of the treehouses has a different design. The Mountaineer’s Treehouse is all about connection to nature. “Every detail is designed to let the outside in, from the stargazing skylight above the bed to the lofted net where you can open the windows and let the breeze in,” she said.
A rain shower sits beneath its own skylight, while a living moss wall in the bathroom brings the forest indoors.
Meanwhile, the Miner’s Treehouse leans into Colorado’s history, with a rich, moody aesthetic. The copper soaking tub is the standout feature, paired with a dramatic chandelier above the bed and subtle nods to the state’s mining roots woven throughout the design.
“We’ve already had guests come back to stay in both treehouses because they want to experience the different themes,” LaRocque said.
Guests love having their own private escape, while still being able to walk down to the main lodge to enjoy the fire pit, hot tub, honor bar, and social aspects of the adjacent mountain house.
Small details matter here, like the themed cocktail kits, such as the Gold Rush Mule in The Miner’s Treehouse.
Nightly treehouse rates start at $650 a night and $235 for the lodge. 30500 US-40, Evergreen;
Hike with a llama
From a practical standpoint, llamas make stellar hiking companions. On multi-day trips, they can shoulder 60 to 80 pounds of gear — no riding allowed — freeing you to move fast and light. With two padded toes, they grip uneven terrain with ease and tread lightly on the landscape. They are, as Karen Peck, company manager of Paragon Guides in Vail, puts it, “great ‘leave-no-trace animals.’” In other words, they’re a no prob-llama pack partners.
Then there’s the charm.
“They will walk behind you and hum, and they’re very content and curious and looking all over the place,” Peck said. “We tell people to look at where their gaze is going. If your llama is looking in a certain direction, itap worth checking out because they may be looking at a fox or a hare or an elk.”
Paragon Guides, operating under a broad U.S. Forest Service permit, leads customizable llama hikes through the Vail Valley that are customizable for groups and can include gourmet lunches or wine-and-cheese breaks.
Craving a bigger adventure? The company runs five-day treks from Vail to Aspen, linking 10th Mountain Division huts. You carry a daypack; the llamas haul the rest. “People are absolutely enamored by the llamas,” Peck said.
Trips run through October, when hikers get the added bonus of seeing fall colors.
Base fee is $795 for the first two people; $95 per person thereafter;
Slumber in a cave
Carved into a red Entrada sandstone shelf, the Cave Suites at Honey Rock Landing make for a one-of-a-kind stay. Owner Colby Barrett — a geotechnical engineer who specializes in rock slide mitigation — leaned into the land’s natural contours, sculpting the rock into 400-square-foot suites, complete with private patios looking out at the orchards, copper soaking tubs, and walk-in showers lit by skylights.
Located on Colorado’s Western Slope, surrounded by the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area, the property doubles as a certified organic orchard. Cherries, peaches, pears, nectarines and a variety of other fruits like jujubes (also known as Chinese dates) grow alongside greenhouse crops that stretch the season.
The pivot into agrotourism is a smart hedge against the unpredictability of harvests, and it gives guests a front-row seat to the orchard with farm-fresh breakfasts and seasonal U-pick opportunities. Visitors enjoy harvest celebrations, farm-to-table dinners, live music gatherings, sauna sessions by the water, and guided orchard and greenhouse tours, said Erica Frank, sales, marketing and hospitality manager. An underground farm stand stocked with the recent harvest and other treats.
The cave suites opened in October 2025, and the hospitality side of the orchard is already expanding. Next up: a slot-canyon-inspired underground pool set to open this summer and a larger “Cave Hausche” designed for groups and multi-generational families, with a communal kitchen and shared gathering spaces.
Rates start around $450 on weekdays and $600 on weekends, with Saturday stays including a farm-to-table dinner. 2444 Dominguez Canyon Road, Delta;
Wild stargazing
Social media has gone wild over the Airbnb rental in Del Norte. In fact, the stay was featured on the platform’s “most loved Airbnbs on social in 2025,” with TikToks and Instagram reels showing the property’s roll-out bed that allows guests to sleep beneath a canopy of stars.
Located at the edge of the Rio Grande National Forest in a dark sky zone, the whimsical stay also has a shower located in the greenhouse and friendly donkeys that live on the property. The off-grid, solar-powered cabin also has a wood-fired hot tub. airbnb.com/rooms
More whimsical experiences
Fairy Doors on South Pearl in Denver: The next time you’re strolling the South Pearl Street Farmers Market or ducking into one of the area’s shops or restaurants, take a moment to look down. Scattered across eight blocks, more than two dozen artist-crafted fairy doors adorn the exteriors of local businesses, turning an ordinary walk into a fun scavenger hunt.
Each tiny portal has its own personality. Some seem plucked from enchanted forests, others mimic real-world architecture in miniature, and many burst with playful, eye-catching color. Download a map of the fairy houses at
Fantasy Canyon in Vernal, Utah: Already, Vernal in northeastern Utah sparks some whimsical wanderlust. The destination is nicknamed “Dinosaurland,” thanks to the tracks and bones left behind by the behemoth creatures that once lumbered around in the area.
About an hour outside Vernal is another curious wonderland: the 10-acre Fantasy Canyon, which is also known as “Nature’s China Shop” because the structures are so delicate. Shifting tectonics, pressure, and 50 million years of weathering and erosion gave way to the sci-fi like sandstone formations. Visitors can check out the structures on a 0.6-mile loop that winds through the canyon and perhaps even stumble upon some dinosaur fossils.
Carousel of Happiness in Nederland: In Vietnam, a young Marine named Scott Harrison found brief escape in a pocket-sized music box playing Chopin’s Tristesse. The song gave him a mental image he’d return to for decades: a carousel in a quiet mountain meadow.
Years later, with zero carving experience, he bought an abandoned Looff carousel in Utah and got to work. Over the next 26 years, Harrison taught himself to carve, starting with a rabbit and eventually creating more than 50 one-of-a-kind basswood animals, like a spotted cheetah, a poised deer, even a pig that appears to be mid-flight. Thirty-five of them are rideable.
As the project wrapped, his neighbors in Nederland stepped in, raising $700,000 to build the carousel a permanent home.
Today, rides on the Carousel of Happiness cost $3.
20 Lakeview Drive, Nederland;
