River Run RV Resort in Granby, Colorado
As you know, I’ve been traveling all over the place this summer! My most recent adventure was to the brand new River Run RV Resort in Granby, Colorado with my husband, Ethan.
We got to kill two birds with one stone while we were there and celebrate his birthday and our two-year wedding anniversary! This trip was an absolute blast and I’m so excited to tell you more about it!
We love Colorado so much and visit at least a few times every year. This was my first time in the Granby area and we had SO much fun staying at River Run. This post is about our experience at the resort and all the amenities they have to offer, as well as details on everything we did during our trip!
Disclosure: this post is sponsored by River Run RV Resort. We had a complimentary stay at the resort and I am being compensated for social promotion; however, all opinions expressed are my own, as always!
WHERE TO STAY IN GRANBY, COLORADO
As I mentioned, we stayed at River Run RV Resort, which just opened during summer of 2019. This place truly has it all! They have a huge RV park, hence the name, as well as areas for tent camping, cabins, vacation rentals, and glamping is coming in 2020!
River Run will offer four types of glamping next year: Airstream trailers, Conestoga wagons, yurts and canvas wall tents.
We stayed in a two-bedroom cabin, which had one bedroom with a twin & full bunk-bed, plus a master bedroom with a queen bed, a full bathroom and full kitchen. It also had a sectional (that apparently also had a pull-out bed!) and a kitchen table in the living area.
Our cabin was the perfect size and had everything we needed! Most importantly, it had a heater, which is definitely necessary for those chilly evenings in the mountains! It also had a patio table and fire-pit on the side of the cabin, plus a few chairs on the front porch, which we enjoyed in the evenings.
They also have two other styles of cabin rentals, including a one-bedroom studio, and a one-bedroom with a loft.
River Run has golf carts available to rent during your stay, which makes it super quick and easy to go back and forth between your cabin (or tent/RV) and the restaurant or general store, or just cruise around the resort and check out the other areas! We had lots of fun exploring on our golf cart. 🙂
They are still in the process of building and putting the finishing touches on River Run, but most of the amenities are already up and running, which I’ll discuss next!
You can check out their website to see some of the building and site renders of what is to come, as well as other unique activities that will be offered on-site once construction is complete before the grand opening in early summer 2020.
AMENITIES AT RIVER RUN RV RESORT
There is so much to do at River Run RV Resort, whether you’re with your significant other, a group of friends, your whole family, and/or your dog! Below I am listing some of the fun amenities that you can currently find at River Run, as well as some fun pictures from our stay!
Things To Do at River Run:
- Mini Bowling Alley
- Arcade
- Putting Green
I must admit… Ethan beat me. But I won in bowling!
- Heated Pool + Hot Tubs
- Off-Leash Dog Park
- Large Pond (where you can fish)
- Large Playground + Bounce Pad
- Outdoor Games: Connect 4, Chess, Ladder Ball and more!
- Lots of outdoor/patio seating and fire pits
- Next year the resort will offer kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding at the on-site lake!
In addition, I have lots of Instagram stories with pictures/videos saved to a highlight in my IG profile (@wellnessforthewin) called “River Run” if you want to see more behind the scenes of our stay.
Other Amenities at River Run RV Resort
River Run has their own restaurant onsite called Summit Bar & Grill and their food was amazing! We ate dinner there two out of the three nights and we were very impressed. We especially recommend the mac & cheese and the pizza!! : ) The restaurant also has a full bar.
River Run will have a second restaurant when construction is complete next summer. It will be a more upscale restaurant called Headwaters Tavern, and it will have a longer operating season in 2020.
They have a General Store onsite that has lots of helpful goodies. Picture all the things you’d find in a gas station (medicine, chap-stick, candy, gum, snacks, cold drinks, cereal/milk, etc.), but better. We stocked up on snacks like protein bars for our hikes, breakfast items, and everything we needed to make s’mores!
They also have lots of cute River Run shirts, mugs, plus other fun souvenirs & mountain vacation essentials. And other necessities, like toothbrushes, because I may or may not have forgotten to pack mine… thank goodness they had me covered!
If you are the type that likes to workout on vacation, then you’re covered there, too! They have a fitness center with treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, and some free weights and machines!
THINGS TO DO IN GRANBY, COLORADO
Ethan and I love to be active and adventurous on vacation, so we were super excited to go hiking, and mountain biking was at the top of his list as well. River Run RV Resort is in an awesome location — there is so much to do in the area and it’s just a short drive to tons of hiking trails, beautiful lakes, great restaurants and more.
Hiking Trails
I’m going to share the specific hikes that we did and really loved (or didn’t love so much), as well as some of the most popular ones that were recommended to me!
- Adams Falls – this was highly recommended so we checked it out on our first full day in Granby. It was a short drive from River Run and it was so beautiful! The difficulty level was easy. It didn’t take long at all to reach “Adams Falls”, but we saw a family that told us we should keep going to make it to the lake, so we kept on hiking! We didn’t realize how much further away the lake was, so we didn’t make it all the way there, but we probably hiked for about 3 hours round trip. We really enjoyed this trail and would recommend it!
- Monarch Lake / Cascade Falls – Cascade Falls was also highly recommended, so we decided to head over to Monarch Lake on our last day. We actually never made it to Cascade Falls (I think we took the wrong trail, ha!), but we did the route around Monarch Lake and it was so much fun, and gorgeous! Lots of pretty streams along the way, and again, not super difficult. But enough terrain to make it fun, and a great workout!
- Rocky Mountain National Park – we went into RMNP one day and drove all the way up the windy mountain roads to check out the view from the top. It was beautiful. On our way back down we wanted to do some hiking so we stopped at the “Colorado River Trail”, but to be honest, we weren’t super impressed with it. There wasn’t as much to see as others we had been on!
Other hikes that were recommended:
Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes:
- Holzwarth Historic Site in Rocky Mountain National Park
- Adams Falls
- Cascade Falls
- Irene Lake
- Deer Mountain Trail
Hikes Outside the Park:
Mountain Biking in Granby, Colorado
Like I mentioned, mountain biking was high on Ethan’s list of things to do on this trip. We got to Colorado on his birthday, so I felt slightly obligated to grant him this wish. ; )
I was very nervous, as I am not an expert, but I am always up for an adventure! We headed to Granby Ranch to go mountain biking, and we had a blast. The first trail we went on was extremely difficult and slightly terrifying, and I almost gave up right away. Thankfully, we found an easier trail right after that we did a few more times, and I got much better pretty quickly. I would really only recommend this for people who feel very comfortable with biking. It’s pretty challenging! But really fun. Ethan was LOVING it.
I also want to note that it is pretty pricy. It was about $350 for the two of us which included our lift tickets, the bike rental and we purchased $20 insurance (per bike) just in case we fell and anything on the bike broke. It would be much more expensive than $20 to replace anything on those bikes, so we wanted to be safe! Granby Ranch is apparently more affordable than mountain biking in Winter Park. Just something to keep in mind!
Other Activities In & Around Granby, Colorado
We saw lots of people renting boats on Lake Granby and Grand Lake. You can also do kayaking or paddle boarding on those lakes, as well as Monarch Lake. I would’ve loved to do this too, but we just ran out of time!
Here are some other ideas with links for additional information:
- Rental SUP (stand-up paddle boards) & kayaks delivered
- Whitewater Rafting
- Rental Canoe
- Headwater River Journey Museum
- Mountain biking location and rentals
- Rental Fishing Gear
- Guided ATV/UTV tour or rentals
- Rental ATV/UTV
- Scenic gondola rides & mountain coaster
- Historic hot springs
- Scenic or sunset boat cruise
WHERE TO EAT IN GRANBY / GRAND LAKE, Colorado
Below I’m sharing some of the restaurants & bars we checked out during our trip and loved!
- Cy’s Deli – BEST SANDWICHES EVER! Plus a nice patio.
- Hernando’s Pizza & Pub – incredible pizza. Best crust ever. HIGHLY recommend.
- Granby Garage – we stopped in here for drinks & it was super cute! Great patio, too.
- Fraser Valley Distilling – they are known for frozen slush cocktails! I loved my Impossible Burger; Ethan didn’t love his pulled pork sandwich so much (it wasn’t KC barbecue!). Super bomb cheese curds & French fries though!
Other Restaurant Recommendations:
In Granby:
In Grand Lake:
In Winter Park:
In Hot Sulphur Springs:
The town of Granby and Grand Lake both had so many charming little restaurants and ice cream shops that I would’ve loved to try, but again, we ran out of time! I have a good feeling we will be back to try some of them. 🙂
Hiking boot recommendations
Since we go to Colorado so often, I decided it’s time to invest in some nicer hiking boots. I surveyed my followers on Instagram and asked for your top recommendations, so I thought I’d share those here! I need to grab some nice ones so we can head back to River Run RV Resort next fall! 🙂
Top Recommendations (that also had good reviews):
- Merrell Boots — $129.99; by far the most popular response. A lot of you recommended going into REI to get fitted and/or buying some used from REI for much cheaper than new!
- Columbia Boots — $79.99
- Salomon Boots — $165; a little pricier, but this style had the best reviews of the Salomon ones that I found.
Hopefully this post answered any and all questions you had about River Run RV Resort and our stay in Granby, Colorado! Please let me know if you have any questions I didn’t answer, or drop your comments below if you are planning to check out the resort! 🙂
Be sure to follow River Run RV Resort on Instagram and/or Facebook to stay up-to-date on special offers!
Thanks so much for reading,
Shanna
This looks like a super fun place for families! I may have to take mine next summer!
Yes, it is PERFECT for families!! Lots to do for both kids and adults. 🙂 I think you’d have a blast! And next summer would be perfect because construction will be fully complete! 🙂
OH my gosh! Loved this post and also loved your picture of the meadows past adams falls! Literally have the same picture.. yet its different at the same time. Gotta love Colorado! Glad you and Ethan enjoyed your stay in Granby. As well as thank you for giving me another spot that I can recommended to friends wanting to go and enjoy grand county.
Love,
Joy Hutcheson
Aw, thanks for reading, Joy!! So glad you enjoyed it! Yes, we had an absolute blast – Granby / Grand Lake area is such a hidden gem! We will definitely be back! 🙂 🙂