The Stanley Hotel

The Stanley Hotel is a grand colonial revival hotel perched above Estes Park at 7,522 feet, built in 1909 by F.O. Stanley (co-inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile) and eternally famous as the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining. With its gleaming white facade, wraparound porches, and commanding views of the Rocky Mountains, it remains one of the most visually striking historic hotels in the American West.

King stayed here in 1974 and was so unsettled by the hotel's atmosphere — its empty off-season corridors, its sense of grandeur slightly gone wrong — that he wrote The Shining the following year. The hotel leans enthusiastically into its haunted reputation with ghost tours, a horror film festival, and an escape room in the tunnels.

Beyond the spooky angle, The Stanley is genuinely beautiful: the lobby and music room retain their original Edwardian elegance, and the concerts and events held in the ballroom make it a living cultural landmark.