Weird & unusual things to do in Boulder

The genuinely offbeat side of Boulder: 34 hand-vetted hidden spots — oddity shops, hidden bars, haunted history, sound baths, weird outdoor finds — built for an unusual date night, a weird afternoon, or showing a visitor a side of the city they'd never find alone. Like Gold Hill Inn, Nederland Mining Museum, Blue Sky Bistro at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. Local secrets even locals miss — you didn't hear it from us.

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Gold Hill Inn The pavement quits partway up the canyon, and when the washboard levels out you are in Gold Hill — population… Gold Hill
Nederland Mining Museum Twenty-five Bucyrus 50-B steam shovels were shipped to the Panama Canal; twenty-four got scrapped on site. Th… Nederland
Blue Sky Bistro at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport Inside the main terminal of Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (KBJC) — a general aviation hub straddling th… Broomfield
Boulder Alley Gallery A Downtown Boulder Community Initiatives project that turns service alley doors into a rotating outdoor galle… Boulder
Boulder Ghost Tours Departing nightly from the 1890s-era Spruce Mansion at 1123 Spruce Street, Boulder Ghost Tours leads 75-minut… Boulder
Caribou Ghost Town At 10,000 feet in the mountains west of Nederland, Caribou was once one of Colorado's most productive silver… Nederland, CO
Carousel of Happiness In 1968, Marine Corporal Scott Harrison returned from Vietnam haunted by combat and sustained by a single men… Nederland
Columbia Cemetery Boulder's oldest burial ground, founded in 1870 when Columbia Masonic Lodge No. 14 purchased ten acres for $2… Boulder
Crags Hotel Ruins at Rattlesnake Gulch In 1908, the Hotel Crags opened as a grand resort perched 800 feet above Eldorado Canyon, reachable by burro,… Boulder
Crystal Dragon Crystal Dragon opened on Pearl Street in March 1994, making it one of Boulder's longest-running metaphysical… Boulder
Devil's Slide Trestles (Rollins Pass) Clinging to the edge of a cliff at 11,475 feet, the Devil's Slide Trestles are twin wooden railroad bridges b… Boulder
Dougherty Museum Founded in 1977 by Ray G. Dougherty, a Boulder County farmer who simply refused to stop collecting, this road… Longmont
Eagle Plume's Gallery At 9,000 feet on Highway 7 in the Tahosa Valley, a hand-built log cabin that has operated as a trading post s… Boulder
Eldorado Springs Pool Tucked into the mouth of Eldorado Canyon, this artesian-fed pool has been drawing swimmers since it opened on… Boulder
Gold Hill General Store and Pub Gold Hill was the first permanent mining camp in the Colorado mountains — gold was struck on January 16, 1859… Gold Hill, CO (Boulder County)
Grandpa Bredo's Tuff Shed In 1993, Norwegian Trygve Bauge shipped his grandfather Bredo Morstoel's frozen corpse to Nederland, Colorado… Nederland, CO
Hands of Spirit — Crystalline Temple Founded in 1992 by Karen Kuk-Nagle, who became a Master of Crystology in 1996 through Melody's lineage, Hands… Boulder
Hotel Boulderado Opened on New Year's Day 1909, Hotel Boulderado is Boulder's most storied lodging — a five-story Italian Rena… Boulder
Jamestown Mercantile Built around 1896 as an Elks Lodge and quickly repurposed as the town general store and post office, the Jame… Jamestown
License No. 1 (The Catacombs) Descend a full floor below street level beneath the Hotel Boulderado — a Victorian landmark that opened New Y… Boulder
Lyons Classic Pinball Opened in 2003 by pinball devotees Kevin and Carole Carroll, Lyons Classic Pinball has grown into Colorado's… Lyons, CO
Magic Fairy Candles Mercantile Founded in 2004 when Kim Sorden began pouring candles at her kitchen table, this apothecary and metaphysical… Longmont, CO
NCAR Mesa Laboratory In 1967, I.M. Pei completed what many architects consider his most quietly radical building: a federally fund… Boulder
Nora's Speakeasy Opened in 2023 in the basement of The Simon events venue, Nora's is Louisville's quietly kept secret — entere… Louisville, CO
Open Light Energy Open Light Energy opened on February 22, 2025 — with a ribbon-cutting at 2:22 PM — tucked into the downtown B… Boulder
Shelby American Collection Tucked into a nondescript Boulder industrial park next to a heating and cooling company, the Shelby American… Boulder
The Sink Boulder's oldest bar, open since 1923 in a sunken basement space on The Hill near CU, The Sink is equal parts… Boulder
The StarHouse Built between 1989 and 1990 by a small founding community dedicated to sacred geometry, the StarHouse is a wo… Boulder
Tower of Compassion (Kanemoto Peace Tower) In a quiet Longmont neighborhood park, a five-story traditional Japanese pagoda rises above soccer fields and… Longmont, CO
Train Cars Coffee & Kava Three century-old railroad cars sit side by side at 8,236 feet on the Peak to Peak Highway in Nederland, and… Nederland, CO
Valmont Butte A 200-foot fin of alkali basalt juts from the flat plain east of Boulder at the confluence of Boulder Creek a… Boulder
Ward Ghost Town (Old Ward) Ward began as a silver and gold camp in 1860 when Calvin Ward staked his claim at a site called Miser's Dream… Ward
Ward Townsite & Derelict Car Collection Ward was born in 1860 when prospector Calvin Ward struck gold in Boulder County, and the town boomed through… Ward
WeeCasa Tiny House Resort When the 2013 St. Vrain flood destroyed the Riverbend Mobile Home Park at the edge of Lyons, the site sat emp… Lyons

Unusual things to do in Boulder — FAQ

What are some unusual things to do in Boulder?

34 hand-vetted weird spots — like Gold Hill Inn, Nederland Mining Museum, Blue Sky Bistro at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport — plus oddity shops, hidden bars, haunted history, sound baths, and offbeat outdoor finds. Every one is real and sourced, not a top-ten landmark.

Where can you go for a weird date night in Boulder?

Try Gold Hill Inn, Nederland Mining Museum, Blue Sky Bistro at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport — strange-but-real spots that make a memorable date. Filter by neighborhood, vibe, or how far you'll drive: in town, nearby, or a day trip.

Are there free or cheap weird things to do in Boulder?

Yes — 15 Boulder spots are free or low-cost, like Nederland Mining Museum, Blue Sky Bistro at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, Boulder Alley Gallery. Roadside oddities, public art, and outdoor curiosities usually cost nothing.

How is this different from the usual Boulder tourist lists?

We skip the landmarks everyone knows. An agentic research system digs up the genuinely hidden, offbeat spots — the local secrets even locals miss — and verifies each against real sources before it makes the list.