What to See in Colorado Springs, United States: Free Audio Guide

The best things to do in Colorado Springs include exploring historic downtown, visiting museums devoted to regional history and aviation, and discovering the city’s strong artistic and Olympic identity. Colorado Springs combines Victorian-era architecture with museums, churches, living-history sites and distinctive collections. Neywo has a free audio guide for Colorado Springs with 63 narrated places, so you can hear the story of each stop while exploring.

Colorado Springs is part of Colorado, and its historic center offers an easy introduction to the city’s development. Founded in 1871, it grew through mining, education, military activity and tourism. Its architecture and public spaces still reflect that varied past.

What to see in Colorado Springs

Man on the Iron Horse

The Man on the Iron Horse, also known as the William Jackson Palmer Equestrian Statue, honors General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs. Cast in bronze, it shows Palmer riding his horse, Diablo, while facing southwest toward Pikes Peak.

The monument was formally dedicated on September 2, 1929. Palmer is shown in civilian clothing, and the statue has remained a prominent part of the cityscape despite periodic debate about its location and road safety.

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum occupies the former El Paso County Courthouse in Alamo Square Park. Built in granite with a domed clock tower, the building served as the courthouse from 1903 to 1973 before the museum moved there in 1979.

Its collection contains approximately 60,000 objects documenting the history of the Pikes Peak region. Displays can include quilts, Van Briggle art pottery, American Indian artifacts, jukeboxes, motorcycles and baseball memorabilia. Sculptures and a granite fountain add interest to the park outside.

McAllister House

McAllister House is a small Victorian-era cottage and former home of Major Henry McAllister, who played an important role in the early establishment of Colorado Springs. It opened as a public museum in 1961 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973.

Period furniture and decoration recreate the atmosphere of late-nineteenth-century life. The children’s room, filled with dolls and toys from the eighteen hundreds, is one of the most vivid details in the museum.

St. Mary’s Cathedral

St. Mary’s Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Colorado Springs and one of the city’s notable Gothic Revival landmarks. Construction began in 1891, while the bell towers were added in 1902 and their spires completed in 1907.

The building went through several phases of expansion and decoration before its dedication on December 19, 1998. It became the cathedral of the Diocese of Colorado Springs in 1983 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Saint Mary’s Catholic Church.

Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church is a historic complex made up of a parish hall, bell tower, sanctuary and educational wing. Together, these buildings show the development of the congregation from the nineteenth century into the twentieth.

The original 1895 building now serves as the parish hall, while the large Gothic Revival sanctuary was completed in 1926. The tower has a design reminiscent of Magdalen College at Oxford University. Gothic Revival and Tudor Revival influences appear throughout the complex.

Chadbourn Spanish Gospel Mission

In the Conejos District, the Chadbourn Spanish Gospel Mission stands out for its Mission Revival design. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it served the local community from 1928 through religious services, education, sports and other mission programs.

It offers a different perspective on Colorado Springs history: one focused on community life and local services rather than civic institutions or wealthy residences.

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center brings together a museum, an art school and a performance venue. Founded in 1936, it occupies a building designed by New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem, whose work combines Pueblo Revival and Art Deco influences.

Exterior murals by Boardman Robinson and Eric Bransby add to the building’s artistic character. The Fine Arts Center has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986.

Colorado College and historic architecture

Colorado College was established in 1874 and anchors a historic area with buildings influenced by Romanesque, Classical Revival and English-inspired styles. Shove Memorial Chapel and the former Plaza Hotel, now the William L. Spencer Center, are among the notable buildings associated with this area.

The surrounding tours also include First Congregational Church, Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Lennox House, Frederick H. Cossitt Memorial Hall, McGregor Hall, Montgomery Hall, Ticknor Hall and Gwynne–Love House. Together, they reveal the architectural character of Colorado Springs’s Gilded Age North End.

Van Briggle Pottery Company

The Van Briggle Pottery Company building adds an artistic dimension to the city’s historic architecture. Van Briggle art pottery is also represented in the collection of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, connecting the building with the wider story of local decorative arts.

It appears alongside Bemis Hall, Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and historic houses on the city’s northwest edge.

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum explores the history and culture of the American athletes who have represented Team USA. It opened on July 30, 2020, as part of Colorado Springs’ City for Champions development project.

The 60,000-square-foot building contains galleries, a theater and a gift shop connected by a winding, step-free route. Accessibility is integrated into the visit through captions, audio tracks, American Sign Language translations and RFID-enabled lanyards for visitors with visual disabilities. Team USA athletes contributed to the museum’s development.

National Museum of World War II Aviation

At Colorado Springs Airport, the National Museum of World War II Aviation focuses exclusively on the role of aircraft and aviation during World War II. Established in 2012, it occupies a 109,000-square-foot facility with galleries, workshops and an aircraft restoration center.

The Kaija Raven Shook Aeronautical Pavilion contains more than a dozen operational World War II aircraft, including fully restored planes capable of flying. The museum also holds more than 3,000 artifacts and historical documents, as well as operational vehicles used by American and allied forces.

Peterson Air and Space Museum

The Peterson Air and Space Museum traces the history of the Air Defense Command, Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command. Its exhibits are housed in the original terminal building of Colorado Springs Airport, built in 1941 for the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport.

The displays include the building’s World War II role as a training facility for the 14th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron and a tribute to First Lieutenant Edward J. Peterson. Aircraft are displayed in the Air Park behind the terminal; the EC-121 Warning Star is the only aircraft there available for guided tours.

Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site

Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site is a living-history museum and working farm at Garden of the Gods. Staff and volunteers in period clothing present changing ways of life across more than a century of regional history.

The site’s buildings and settings make it possible to explore the Pikes Peak region through a more immersive, hands-on approach. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Penrose Heritage Museum

The Penrose Heritage Museum explores the lives of Spencer and Julie Penrose and their connection with the Pikes Peak region. Its collection includes photographs, personal objects, motorsport memorabilia and thirty carriages, many of which were owned and used by the Penroses.

The Pikes Peak Hill Climb Experience focuses on the race launched by Spencer Penrose in 1916. It includes the official race car, event memorabilia and a virtual journey toward the summit of Pikes Peak.

Ghost Town Museum

Ghost Town Museum recreates a vanished town using authentic objects and exhibits from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Established in 1954, it presents the small communities that developed alongside the railroad industry after gold was discovered in the Rocky Mountains in the late 1800s.

The building was originally a maintenance facility for the Colorado Midland Railroad and is connected with the nearby Golden Cycle Mill. Visitors can try a butter churn, play antique arcade games, use the shooting gallery and, during the summer, pan for real gold.

The Michael Garman Museum and Gallery

The Michael Garman Museum and Gallery displays handmade sculptures inspired by everyday American heroes, including cowboys, firefighters, linemen, aviators and soldiers. More than 500 handcrafted pieces are exhibited.

Its centerpiece is Magic Town, a 3,000-square-foot sculptural theater built at one-sixth scale. The miniature city block includes hand-sculpted characters, neon signs, moving illusions and holograms.

American Numismatic and Money Museum

The American Numismatic and Money Museum, housed within the national headquarters of the American Numismatic Association, traces the history of money through objects ranging from ancient coins to modern currency. It provides a contrasting experience to the city’s art, military and regional-history museums.

Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum

The Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum offers another specialized collection in Colorado Springs. Its focus on motorcycles adds to the city’s unusually broad range of museums, from historic aircraft and carriages to coins, sculpture and sporting history.

Explore Colorado Springs with a self-guided audio tour

Neywo’s Colorado Springs audio guide includes three walking tours, one bus route and one bike route, with 63 narrated places across the city. The walking tours cover 2.4 km in 82 minutes with 10 stops, 3.02 km in 99 minutes with 12 stops, and 1.98 km in 53 minutes with 6 stops. The bus route covers 1.9 km in 8 minutes with 4 stops, while the bike route covers 2.2 km in 11 minutes with 4 stops.

The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages. Download Neywo and turn your visit into a Colorado Springs self-guided walking tour through the city’s museums, churches, historic buildings and cultural landmarks.