Vail is a ski resort town set in the Rocky Mountains of the state of Colorado, United States of America. It is 100 miles west of Denver and 35 miles east of Eagle.

Get in

By car
I-70 is a direct route into Vail. Its exactly 100 miles from Denver, about 130 miles from the Denver Airport.

One caution: During peak times, the road from Vail to Denver can get very crowded and it is not unheard of for a trip from Vail to Denver to take 3+ hours. Peak times are weekend afternoons (2pm-6pm) BOTH in the summer AND winter. Plan accordingly and either leave in the morning, or leave Vail after 5pm in the winter. You can get a snapshot of travel conditions on the Colorado Highway Patrol web site .

By plane
Fly into Vail/Eagle County Airport or Denver International Airport. Note: Vail/Eagle County Airport is still about 35 miles from Vail, a Van from there to Vail will cost you about $40, may make sense to rent a car if staying for a while.

By Van
Colorado Mountain Express - Offers service from Vail and Eagle. Its about the same price from each place, but Eagle is about 1 hour shorter. You can book on the web.

Get around

If you are staying in Vail or Lionshead, having a car will be more hindrance (parking fees) than a value. The town is set up so you can walk between most places and the slopes. There is also a free shuttle that will take you to the immediate surroundings as well as up to Beaver Creek. If you feel like getting out an about, cabs are available, and can take you to Minturn or anywhere the free bus does not.

Parking
Ok, if you did drive, or are coming from somewhere else and day skiing, you'll have to deal with parking. First it is going to cost you $16 or so per day. Secondly it can be slow (idle in a garage with 100 other cars waiting to get to an open slot) and it does fill up. Best advice arrive early (before 9am) on busy days and you won't have problems. There are two parking garages, one in Vail and one in Lionshead. The lionshead garage is the shortest walk to the slopes. The garages do fill up, and then you have to park on the road.

The problem being that they don't let you park on the road until BOTH garages are filled. So say you drop your friends off at Golden Peak (so they can put their kids in child care) then go back to the Vail parking lot, its full, so you then have to go park in Lionshead and take a bus back to catch your friends. For those doing child care there is also expensive ($25/day) valet parking at Golden Peak, cheaper to park at the main Vail garage and walk (5 mins).

Bus
There a many free busses going throughout the Vail valley.

Shopping

Vail has all your typical resort shops. The one thing that is uniquely Vail is the The Golden Bear, a jewelry store known for its line of jewelry featuring a (duh) Golden Bear.