Telluride Town Park sits at the end of the main street in Telluride making it ideal for walking access to the downtown area and nearby hiking trails. Home to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and Mountain Film Festival, this park is a happening spot to camp. As far as Telluride camping goes, this location is unbeatable! Online reservations only.



Telluride Town Park Campground

Late fall in Telluride can be one of the most beautiful times to visit. Before the snow covers the mountains entirely the crisp air engulfs the town and blends just the right amount of frost with greenery.

This was the setting of my trip to Telluride in early October. I arrived and roads were clear, the gondola was unfortunately down for pre-snow maintenance and the community was all the buzz preparing for their busiest season.

Camping is a bit difficult to find here unless you navigate outward, which is what I initially did before meeting a slick mountainside and having car issues which forced me to come back to town. Frantic and just before dark, I asked around for a safe place to stay. Just beside one of the cities green spaces and the park area is a lot designed for just that, short term over night parking. They call it “free parking”. It is located near the park and car henge which is a lot in downtown established to facilitate ski traffic during the busy season.

When I arrived there were several small off grid capable vehicles there already, a few short buses, RVs and suvs clearly converted to be adventure vehicles.

I myself wasn’t expecting to stay in my car as I usually camp in a tent, however this is a vehicle only site!! So I cozied up for the night inside the car, and boy was I happy I did!! The chill of winter blew in that night and with it 20 degree mornings.

I woke up and explored the area from this location and realized there was a public restroom at the front of the lot designed for those who stayed in the lot and others for ski community. It was nice and bare bones, no shower but warm!! The location was minutes from cafes and walking trails and the heart of Telluride.

When I spoke to people later in the day they said the lot was set up for RVs which could not park in many of the ski community parking areas. There is a shuttle that runs during season to pick people up from some of the hotels and this lot. Over time they extended overnight parking but not long term parking.

I was so thankful for this location, a true camping savior in the middle of this beautiful town!!

TIPS:

*   When pulling into town this lot is going to be at the first major crossroad toward the right after the roundabout.
*   Arrive Early! I was lucky that there was a space available when I arrived however I was told it is typically capacity well before dark.

To check out more about my experience camping here as well as more things that I found around Telluride which made sleeping in my car at FREE PARKING worth it check out these two links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJuB5F43FKI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Hp36Qq8Qc

They Call It ”Free Parking” Just Like Monopoly!!

Absolutely breathtaking views and a very quaint town. 

Stunning view

Town park is right at the end of town. Camp and enjoy the sounds of the river, nearby trails, and limited company. This campsite gets used a LOT during the summer as festival-goers camp to keep their costs down. Different festivals expand the Campground to accommodate for the influx of campers. 

Fun spot by the river right in town. 

This campsite is great if you want to do Telluride on a budget - it's free. It's right next to the town and is used a lot for Telluride's summer festivals. Its more than a campground it is also where a lot of town events are held and also has sports venues. There's also grills, bathrooms, picnic tables, a dog park, and a pond. Unless you're at a festival, the campground isn't where you will want to spend your time though. The campground is very close to Bridal Veil Falls, a huge free fall waterfall. You can drive or hike up to it, and climb around on the rocks and get blasted by cold water from the falls. It's huge. There's also a bunch of awesome hikes around Telluride - the San Juans are my favorite part of Colorado.

Telluride Town Park

It depends which campground you get in Town Park. On the softball field vs vendor camp, totally different. Our experience is more vendor camp which includes- tons of trees, beautiful views, but minimum space for tents. 
Great bathrooms, running water and random portaloo during festivals. Showers are coin operated and nice. 
Always enjoy coming to Telluride, weather can be unpredictable so prepare for 4 seasons. Most of the year. 
Had a seriously huge bear walk right next to our tent, so make sure to be safe and aware. Lots of bears on the area. And they are crafty. 

Only 4 stars because -

Located right on the edge of Telluride makes it easy to access the town. We set up camp and walked to get dinner/drinks that night. Quarter-operated showers and flushing toilets. Potable water and dish washing sinks. 

Convenient, beautiful little campground 

Location location location 

Arrived here after several days in Canyonlands as 3 of the 4 kids in our family were ready for town activities.  We happened to see that the bookings were opening post-COVID and were able to reserve two nights.

  

It's a pretty park with a small waterfall just steps from it, and right along the San Miguel river, but the obvious draw is being steps from Telluride's Main Street and its park complex.  We had site #28, which was right against the river and plenty large enough.  Traffic through the park is minimal, but the river being next to this site drowned out most noise and the park seemed to be well managed to keep noise down.

  

This is not an RV site, but they are interspersed throughout the campground.  There are decent showers in the campground, but much nicer ones are available for the same cost about 30-40 yards away at the pool/park showers.   The campground shower/bath house also has a dishwashing sink on the back wall.  I believe it's $3 for 5 minutes in the showers, and you have to use tokens, not quarters.

  

The nearby park has a kids fishing pond with a sign that says you can rent gear, but we didn't have time to use it.  The adjacent park appeared to have yoga classes in the mornings as well.  

  

The campground is pricy ($33/day for our tent site) but as the last stop of 7 days camping, the access to town and the ability to let the teenagers have some freedom wandering town and taking the gondola to Mountain Village was more than worth it.

Location can't be beat

Located inside the town park with jaw dropping views. Campsites are covered with tree bark, lots of shade and trees. 

Idyllic and Convenient 

Context is everything. This is a campground right at the edge of town, this is not a off-in-the-wilderness location. If you want to camp steps from top class restaurants and bars, you can't beat this place.

After four days on the road in very remote locations, our goal was to not cook or have to start the car even once and have a cheap place to stay in Telluride. Bingo. What a great facility. We got a great spot along the creek, deep in the trees where we could hang our hammocks, and close to the bridge into town. Showers and bathrooms were clean and safe to use in these days of COVID. 

Only downside was the clumsy and time consuming process to reserve online. Well worth it.

Leave no trace.

Camping just steps from downtown

The campground is bordered on one side by the San Juan River and by the park on the other side, making a tight but nice campground. There are some walk in tent sites, but most sites are large enough to accommodate small rvs. Showers are by token only, available on the back side of the bathhouse. There are more showers available at the swimming pool if the campground showers are all being used.  Just outside the campground, across the River are the River Trail and the Legacy Trails, and you are only about 8 blocked away from downtown and the gondola. 


Downtown Telluride camping 

Great campground very close to downtown telluride but has lots of trees so you don’t know it’s there. Clean bathrooms, clean grounds and large sites. Very dog friendly. 

Very nice setting, clean and quiet

Nice and quiet and close to town and trails. Only issue was the showers were not that clean and rather expensive. 

Okay

Perfect little campground, reasonably priced for its location, very clean bathrooms and within walking distance to town. They have new showers/bathrooms under construction as of 6/22 that will be open in about a month. A construction worker told me they’d have heated floors. They will also have three new dishwashing sinks on the outside of the building. I stayed at a site in my rooftop tent next to the bridge to the walk in sites, it was quiet every night with lots of shade and I was able to sleep in. I will return! 