When in Durango, Colorado, Stay at the Strater Hotel for a Trip Back in Time

In a word, Awesome.

From the moment we walked thru the lobby doors, we were enchanted.

The hotel is decorated in the Victorian era with all the details being taken into consideration. The beautiful walnut furniture, from couches to armoires, wall to window coverings makes us feel like we have stepped back in time.

After a seven-hour drive we took a short walk up and back down Main Street to check out the area. It is so charming! A good mix of souvenir shops, restaurants, art galleries and businesses made for lots of interesting window-shopping.

We ended our evening in the Diamond Belle bar located in the corner of the Strater Hotel. I enjoyed my Durango Ale and the spinach artichoke dip with tortilla chips and sour dough bread.

There was also live entertainment in the form of a 4 piece acoustic band playing a variety of music to an almost full house.

In our room, I read about the hotel in the binder of information provided. In it I was told that each room is decorated a little differently, each with period pieces of furniture and different wallpaper. I especially liked that our connected bathroom had a window that opened. Not that the exhaust fan didn't work, it did (and was a nice extra in such a hotel - I mean, newer places don't even have this amenity), but there is something about a bathroom window that just marks the room nicer.

A continental breakfast was served in the Mahogany room, which again was decorated in the mining town style of high ceilings, dark woods and beautiful light fixtures. Offered were the usual assortment of breads, bagels and English muffins with toasters ready of you desired your bread to be toasted. There was French toast, cereal, a small assortment of fruit, yogurt, hard boiled eggs and a very good pozole. Again my co-pilot on this trip surprised me by having a cup and enjoyed it.

Checking out was a breeze. In the modern hotels check out is usually done without going down to the desk, but this being the historical place that it is I felt that presenting myself at the front desk for check out was appropriate. And it gave us the opportunity to purchase a souvenir post card and refrigerator magnet of the hotel. Very nice!

Over all we found the hotel to be absolutely wonderful and charming. After looking around the town, while full of the typical chain hotels, and other throw back motor court motels and a few bed and breakfast places, besides the Strater, we saw only one other historical hotel of equal stature, the General Palmer Hotel, located one block from the Strater. I will have to check the place out a little more; for some reason that hotel did not come up when I searched hotels online and found

the Strater.

Would I stay at the Strater again? Absolutely. And I can recommend it with confidence to any one traveling through Durango. If you enjoy being a part of something that has provided decades of enjoyment to world travelers, stay a night at the Strater hotel in downtown during Colorado.