If you love the charm, atmosphere and buzz of Aspen but are looking for a change of resort, Telluride is the place for you. It's a similar combination of lovely characterful Old West town (where Butch Cassidy robbed his first bank), huge amounts of champagne powder snow and great skiing for all abilities. It's great advantage over so many Old West resorts is that the mountain is right next to the town - you can enjoy the atmosphere of staying in a delightful town whilst also having the convenience of staying slopeside. It's the most difficult of all the Colorado resorts to reach from the UK but it's wonderfully remote location in the beautiful San Juan mountains (best scenery of all the American Rocky resorts) makes for amazingly uncrowded slopes, and being unlikely to hear another British accent during your stay you'll feel like you're truely in "real America".

But don't make the mistake of thinking it's a little off the beaten track place full of cheap & cheerful properties. Telluride is an upmarket resort with mostly expensive high class accommodation. You need to be on quite a high budget to come here. The skiing is excellent but it's arguable whether it has enough for more than a week's stay, so it perhaps works best in a 2-centre with Crested Butte or even as part of a tour of Crested Butte, Durango and maybe Taos.