Stay Amigo

This little renovated Motor Lodge is an Instagram dream. It’s simple, but has everything that you could need for a short stay. Cute modern and Southwestern touches throughout, a hot tub in the center of the property, and of course, the Airstreams. We opted for a regular room, as these are dog friendly, but the Airstreams looked adorable. We did test out the hot tub, which was stocked with towels and super relaxing after our hike. Since it’s a smaller place, we didn’t have to compete with any other groups for the hot tub in the evening.

Right now, their lobby isn’t fully open due to COVID, so they’re providing these free coffee cards to all of their guests. The Steam Coffee Caboose is a short drive from the motor lodge and is a cute little coffee stand where you can walk or drive up. Definitely a nice perk since there are no coffee makers in the rooms. You can rent a hot water heater from the desk, but they were out during our stay. They did provide a small refrigerator on request and were very responsive via text message throughout the stay!

How fun would this lobby be to hang out in during non-COVID times!?

Things To Do

We definitely traveled in the off-season and originally wanted to go snowshoeing, but didn’t realize how warm it would be in Salida proper, so we ended up going hiking instead. We also did quite a bit of antiquing, shopping and just walking around town. It’s a small mountain town, but despite it’s size there is plenty to do! We also want to take a summer trip back to enjoy all of the water activities on the river.

Hiking

Right near downtown is a mountain called “S” Mountain, due to the large white painted S on the side. It has a huge network of trails, so we combined a few to make about a 5 mile trek. It was a relatively easy hike with a slow incline of switch backs. We loved that this had the option to make it as long or short as you wanted and it was SO close to town. You can literally park in town and walk across the river to the trailhead.

Shopping & Thrifting

We spent part of each day walking the town, checking out local shops and antique stores. Here were a few of our favorites!

True Vintage Finds & Homegoods- Cute booth-style vintage spot with knick knacks, decor, furniture and more. Prices were variable depending on the booth. Fun to walk around and discover hidden items.

Howl Mercantile & Coffee - We did not get coffee here, so can’t speak to that, but it smelled wonderful inside. They have a cute boho vibe with jewelry, art, clothing, & candles for sale in the front of the store and a coffee shop in the back!

Ruby Blues - We loved this one! A two room vintage store, with men and women’s clothing. Some of the vintage tees were a little overpriced in my opinion (aren’t they all these days), but they had some really cool finds and we’d highly recommend checking them out.

Yolo Clothing - This store had the SOFTEST clothes ever. Every brand I recognized as a higher end brand, and each item they have in stock is super cute and cozy. They also had fun jewelry and some Colorado novelty items.

The Mixing Bowl - Loved this little kitchen shop full of unique pottery and kitchenwares. I bought a couple of small sauce dishes for serving that were very reasonably priced and had super cute patterns!

Eat & Drink

We did a LOT of this in Salida. We had so many suggestions from people who had been before- and you all did not disappoint!

Breakfast at The Biker & The Baker

This spot was one of our favorite bites of the trip. We started with a mimosa flight, which was flavored liquor + champagne. They were quite boozy and sweet, not your traditional mimosa, but def a good bang for your buck. Personal fav was the blackberry. Food-wise, everything we had was amazing. Pictured is the “Biker Benny” which had a polenta cake base, pulled pork, green chili, and queso fresco. Definitely not the traditional benny, but so so good. We’ll be back for this alone!

The Fritz

This restaurant came highly recommended by locals and out of towner’s alike! We popped in for a quick appetizer and glass of wine. It’s casual but artsy on the inside and comfortable during COVID with space between guests. We enjoyed all of the starters we had, including the Ahi Tuna, Devil’s on Horseback and Elk Sausage.

Moonlight Pizza and Brewpub

We learned that there’s a bit of a rift in the community of Salida regarding best pizza spot in town. If you ask, the response is almost 50/50 Moonlight versus Amica’s, so we just went with the one that happened to be open and available at the time. We built our own with pepperoni and pepperoncinis. It had a great sauce to cheese ratio and was the perfect pie! We’ll be back to compare with Amica’s, though.

Another honorable mention for food was the Mini Thai Cafe- we ordered take out one night and it did not photograph well, but it was seriously great. Highly recommend the Green Curry medium or spicy if you can handle it! The place itself is nothing special, honestly I probably would not have thought to stop there if it hadn’t been recommended to us. They made the food quickly and it was surprisingly delicious. The address is technically in Poncha Springs, but it’s very close to Salida and maybe 10 mins from Stay Amigo.

Soulcraft Brewing

Soulcraft is a local brewery we stopped by on the way to the Historic Downtown. It’s actually pretty close to Stay Amigo, so it was an easy location to grab a brew. They had a few unique flavors, including the Kumori, which is a light Japanese beer infused with yuzu. I opted for the Low Vis hazy IPA, which was the perfect choice for a sunny day on the patio. Despite being on a busy road, the views from the brewery are pretty fantastic.

Wineries

We tried both of the wineries recommended to us in Salida, and both had something different to offer (but, most importantly, WINE).

Vino Salida Wine Cellars - This spot is just on the edge of Salida. The inside is cozy, the menu is limited but has something for everyone. We enjoyed playing games while drinking a glass of their Vino Rosso di Salida.

Mountain Spirit Winery - A little further outside of town, but located on a large property that would definitely be fun during the summer months. We sat in the tasting room and originally were the only patrons so we got a tour of the facility and extra large pours. They specialize in fruit wine blends but we enjoyed the Sophie’s Red the most.

That wraps up this getaway to Salida! We loved it and plan to be back for a summer trip- let us know what we missed in the comments below!

Salida, CO