YMCA of the Rockies - Estes Park Center

Had a great stay here this weekend. We organized a last minute retreat and were able to book rooms at the lodges fairly last minute. We had a whole extra room of people that were supposed to be there, but they didn't show up when we were picking up everyone, but the customer service was great here and they dropped the charge for the room that night! Super grateful for the staff. We got to experience a campfire surrounded by a bunch of elk in rut, that was a cool experience. The only reason I knocked a star off is because the website and sign up information could've been more informative. I would've liked more details about what the lodging looks like since there is only a couple generic photos that look like it's part of the cabins, not the lodges. I was also expecting to receive more info when I got the confirmation email like check in and checkout time and all of that, but they didn't have anything.

Don’t stay in a lodge if you want sleep or are single. I booked two nights at the Alpen Inn Lodge over Thanksgiving Holiday. I chose the Y so I wouldn’t feel alone during the holiday, since I have no family and my kids had other plans. I thought I could participate in activities if I want and retreat to my room when I want. The room was no retreat. I could hear every move of the young family in the room above me, I heard a constant of people chatting and walking in the hallway and slamming doors, I heard the laughter and yelling from a family playing games in the small common area until 9:30pm. I heard everything. There was no peace or quite. When I was in my room, I drowned out the noise by watching a movie on my laptop. I could have done this at home. I have rented a cabin with my kids at the Y and it was a great experience, we enjoyed exploring the outdoors the most. I would rent a cabin again, I won’t stay in a lodge nor during a holiday. Maybe the Y should dedicate a lodge or space for those who are quiet and want peace and quiet when they are in their room.

Don’t stay here if you expect to sleep or not get harassed. First night was lovely then they decided to put a whole high school in our cabin. I understand fun and running around but till 2 am is not ok. Door was constantly knocked on and boys yelled sexual things whenever we exited the room. Felt very unsafe and uncomfortable. Left extra early so we could avoid any more harassment. I know it’s not their fault for the harassment but they should know better then to put a whole high school with family’s and people trying to “relax” like the ad says.

We just spent 4 days and 3 nights having a family reunion at the YMCA. We had low expectations going in which I think helps! We stayed at the Windrivers Lodge. Definitely one of the most run-down basic rooms we’ve ever stayed in, but better than camping. It had working plumbing and hot water, the beds were decently comfortable (not luxurious), and we lucked out and had a working mini-fridge in our room. We also had a balcony and a nice view of the mountains. No TV, no A/C, but we had a box fan that we kept running with the door open during the day and cracked the window at night and we stayed cool enough. One thing I wanted to see more reviews about was the food. We had most of our meals at the Aspen Dining Hall and one breakfast at the Rustic Cafe grab-and-go inside the administration building. They had nothing for me to eat at Rustic Cafe (WFPB and vegan), and only drip coffee. They did have plant milk for my coffee but I did not have any breakfast that day. The Aspen Dining Hall was always either packed full of people or running out of food. Show up early if you want a good selection, but you’ll deal with large crowds (mostly summer camp kids and teenagers who don’t use manners). If you come towards the end of meal service it will be much less crowded but many food items will have run out. It’s a cafeteria, so again manage your expectations. I was pleased to find they usually had a decent salad bar with fresh vegetables and usually one type of beans to top your salad with. I was able to find enough food for myself and of course my husband and kids were all able to find plenty to eat (my kids ate so much mac and cheese every day that they came home sick of it). Two of our six meals at Aspen had labels on the sneeze guards indicating if the food was gluten-free, etc. However, they had a sauce labeled “marinara” which I loaded on top of steamed veggies only to discover when I sat down and looked closer that there was ground meat in it. So they still need to work on the food labeling because that was very misleading (Marinara is a tomato and vegetable based sauce; they had set out bolognese or could have labeled it “meat sauce”). My parents footed the bill for our entire family on this trip as it was a family reunion, but I was appalled at the food prices at about $20/adult per meal after tax. Kids were a little cheaper but not much. We definitely discussed going into Estes Park for a meal or two to get better food for our money, but ultimately didn’t have time for that. We really loved the outdoor climbing wall and my young daughters especially loved painting ceramic items in the craft building. Our kids also spent a lot of time at the outdoor playground. We only had one day we were able to make it to the pool while it was open because it had very limited hours. The mountain scenery was beautiful and we loved seeing ground squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, and birds everywhere. Edited to add: I don’t know how I forgot to mention how crowded the entire place was with summer camp teenagers. We were taken aback upon arrival when there seemed to be swarms of them everywhere. They covered the huge field in front of the admin building and had loud music playing. The dining hall was usually packed (full of kids/teenagers) and very loud and hard to move around in. So my 3-star review reflects that issue as well.

This place definitely has the good the bad and the ugly! The good - this place is absolutely gorgeous. Nice natural setting but still close to town, lots of activities, close to lots of off site stuff. The bad - the rooms are more expensive than most of the surrounding hotels for the same night but they are pretty badly maintained, furnished etc. The beds were pretty bad and the linens were horrible. Seriously, in addition to being cheap and threadbare, they were the wrong size. We had a queen bed that had had a double bed fitted sheet attempted to be stretch over it that didn't say in place for more than 3 seconds. Places that pop into mind with comparable bedding are the hotel on a remote island in Micronesia we stayed at during part of our honeymoon or the hotel I stayed at in a poor industrial town in Central America that I stayed at for work on time. None of that bothers us all that much, except that this was one of the more expensive rooms in Estes Park that night and for that price they should do better. The Ugly - There are a LOT of very loud, very drunk people at night. Because there is no AC (not needed so no worries) you do need your windows open so it makes it even louder. Quiet hours don't even officially start until 11pm and don't seem to be enforced after that. If you're coming to party, that probably won't bother you but if you want a decent night's sleep you wont get it here. Oh and then housekeeping starts knocking on your door a full hour before checkout to see if you're gone yet. Bottom line, we were in love with this place, but by 1130pm the first night we were wondering if we should drive back down to town and get a different hotel for the night.

The location of the YMCA and its cost for lodging is pretty good for Estes Park. And we received wonderful service from the front desk person who checked us in. However, the sleeping accommodations were subpar. We booked the cheapest room available on the night of our stay. The room is a queen bed with two bunk beds and was approximately $140 for a Saturday night. While I was not expecting anything extravagant for that rate, I was expecting a clean room that would at least allow us some comfort after a long day hiking in the national park. We were assigned a room in the Eagle Cliff Lodge. It is a dated building but is centrally located to the lodge and many of the activities. The hall floors were dirty with just general debris that would be solved by a twice daily vacuuming. Inside our room, we got a similar feeling of dirtiness. The floors looked as though they had not been vacuumed. The main blanket on the queen bed had several long black hairs on it. The pillows are very old and flat, so I grabbed one off the bunk bed in the room. It had a huge baseball sized blood stain on the underside of the pillow. The bathroom and sink were clean, but the shower drain slowed after about 3 minutes of showering and started to fill the bottom of the shower. We expected the loud people in the halls as its a Y and very much a community feel. Felt similar to sleeping in European hostels. But it was not clean and that was a let down. I might give them a try again and opt for a better room option, but I would never go back to room level we bought this time around.

My family and I stayed in Willow Creek cabin and had a wonderful time. I enjoyed all the activities they had to offer. The day we packed up and left I remembered right after we got out of the park I forgot my headphones so we turned around and went back, the cleaning service had already started cleaning it, and they were nowhere to be found, so we went to the house cleaning building to search the lost and found and it had not been brought in, so we left a couple days later i called in and asked if they had been located but they still were missing. I was very disappointed as the pair i bought has been discontinued.

The YMCA has a great location but unfortunately the rooms and noise made it hard to enjoy. We were originally in the basement at Twin Sisters but a huge group of kids came to the park and made noise all night and morning 5am. The staff were kind enough to switch our rooms to Rams Horn on the last day but placed us on the bottom floor again under the stairs. Noise all night and again very early 5am. I think this place may be good for families with kids but not ones looking to relax. I need my sleep to hike so it was tough.