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Best free outdoor things to do in Boulder

Almost everything outdoors in Boulder is free. Hiking on city open space costs nothing, most trailheads have free parking, and the Boulder Creek Path, Sawhill Ponds, Mount Sanitas, NCAR, and Chautauqua on a weekday won't cost you a cent. The charges are narrow and predictable: a handful of OSMP fee trailheads at $5 a day, paid parking at Chautauqua on summer weekends, and entrance fees at Eldorado Canyon, Boulder Reservoir, and Brainard Lake.

Outdoor Boulder › Destinations › Best free outdoor things to do

Boulder has a reputation for being expensive, and the outdoors is the part that isn't. The trails on City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks land are free to hike, the county's open space properties charge nothing at all, and the paved path through the middle of town is free to walk or ride any day of the year.

What trips people up is parking. A short, specific list of trailheads charges for it, and three of the region's marquee destinations charge to get in. Below we've split the two apart: what costs nothing, what costs something and exactly how much, and the handful of moves that keep a day outside free. Every figure here comes from our own guide for that place, and each one links back so you can check it.

What costs nothing in Boulder

Twenty places our guides confirm are free to visit and free to park at. Each one links to its full guide, where the fee note and the source live.

Place Where Why it's free
Boulder Creek Path Through town Paved, flat, and free end to end. It's the car-free spine across Boulder, and you can join it almost anywhere.
Chautauqua Park At the Flatirons No fee to enter the park or hike the trails. Parking is free on weekdays and in the off-season, and the shuttle is free all season.
Mount Sanitas West of downtown No parking fee at the Centennial Trailhead and no charge to hike. The gentler Sanitas Valley Trail starts from the same free lot.
NCAR and the Mesa Trail South Boulder Free to park and free to walk, with the wheelchair-accessible Walter Orr Roberts Nature Trail and a direct link onto the Mesa Trail.
Sawhill Ponds East Boulder One of the best birding spots in the county, and it isn't on OSMP's permit list, so parking is free.
Wonderland Lake North Boulder No entrance or parking fee at the trailhead. A flat lake loop with a full Flatirons backdrop for nothing.
Boulder Valley Ranch North of town Wide, rolling grassland trails and free parking. It isn't one of OSMP's fee locations, so no permit is needed.
Walden Ponds East Boulder Boulder County publishes no entrance or parking fee here. Flat trails, birding, and fishing on reclaimed gravel pits.
Coot Lake North Boulder It sits outside the Boulder Reservoir entry gate, and the city doesn't publish an entry fee for Coot Lake itself.
Teller Farm and White Rocks East Boulder Neither OSMP trailhead page lists a parking fee. Easy, mobility-friendly farm-country walking with big open sky.
South Boulder Creek Trail South Boulder The Bobolink Trailhead isn't one of OSMP's paid zones, so there's no permit to buy for this nearly flat creekside walk.
Betasso Preserve Above Boulder Canyon No entrance or parking fee. Ponderosa singletrack that hikers get to themselves on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when bikes are banned.
Walker Ranch Foothills southwest No entry or parking fee at this Boulder County foothills property above the canyon.
Heil Valley Ranch North foothills Boulder County charges no entrance or parking fee across all 6,231 acres. Day use only, and no dogs.
Hall Ranch Near Lyons No entrance or parking fee, day use only, sunrise to sunset. Another no-pets Boulder County property.
Rabbit Mountain Northeast of Lyons Free, and lower, drier, and sunnier than the foothills, which makes it the cold-season pick when everything else is snowed in.
Mud Lake Open Space Near Nederland Free Boulder County open space with short, easy high-country loops, a lake, and ice skating in winter.
Ceran St. Vrain Trail Foothills northwest The Forest Service trailhead page lists no entrance or parking fee and no required pass. A shaded creekside walk through the pines.
Hessie Trailhead Above Nederland No day-use fee, and the seasonal shuttle from Nederland is free with no passes, reservations, or fares. It's the free door into the Indian Peaks lakes.
Gross Reservoir Foothills southwest Denver Water lists no fees or reservations. Access is limited by the dam-raise construction, so recreation has moved to the free North Shore area.

What actually charges, and how much

This is the whole list. If a place isn't on it, our guide for it doesn't report a fee.

Place What it costs The details
Flagstaff Mountain OSMP parking permit: $5 daily or $25 annual Six self-service stations on the mountain, ParkMobile zone 24700. Our guide states the permit is for vehicles not registered in Boulder County.
Gregory Canyon OSMP parking permit: $5 daily or $25 annual Paid lot with 37 spaces at the base of Flagstaff Road, ParkMobile zone 24700. This is the one guide that doesn't claim a Boulder County exemption, because the OSMP fees page it cites doesn't list one.
Doudy Draw OSMP parking permit: $5 daily or $25 annual ParkMobile zone 24100. Our guide states the permit applies to vehicles not registered in Boulder County, and that buying online adds a $1.50 service charge the city doesn't keep.
Flatirons Vista OSMP parking permit: $5 daily or $25 annual Cashless station on site, ParkMobile zone 24200. Cell service can be patchy, so buying ahead is safer.
Marshall Mesa OSMP parking permit: $5 daily or $25 annual ParkMobile zone 24400 or pay at the trailhead. There's also an RTD Park-n-Ride crosswalk linking the trailhead to a lot across the road.
South Mesa (for South Boulder Peak) OSMP parking permit: $5 daily or $25 annual ParkMobile zone 24600. There's no fee to hike, only to park, and the 48-space lot fills fast on weekends.
Chautauqua, on summer weekends $2.50 per hour, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Paid parking applies only on summer weekends and holidays. Weekdays and the off-season are free, and the Park-to-Park shuttle is free whenever it runs.
Eldorado Canyon State Park $10 in-state vehicle, $15 out-of-state A $29 Keep Colorado Wild Pass bought with your Colorado vehicle registration covers every state park for the year. A timed vehicle-entry reservation is required Saturdays, Sundays, and summer holidays from May 1 through October 1, but not on weekdays or after 3:30 p.m.
Boulder Reservoir $12 per person in peak season, free November 1 through March 31 Peak-season day rates are $12 per person, $20 for a car of two, $30 for a carload of three to five, or $5 if you run, walk, or cycle in. Shoulder weeks drop to $5 per person or $10 per carload.
Brainard Lake Recreation Area $16 per vehicle plus a $2 reservation fee Timed entry is required to park inside the area in season, and Recreation.gov is the only source. It's $9 for a motorcycle and $38 for a multi-passenger van. An America the Beautiful, senior, or access pass drops it to just the $2 reservation fee, but you still have to book. Walking or biking in from the Gateway Trailhead is a $10 day-use fee with no reservation.

Free walks right in town

You don't need a car or a permit for any of these. The Boulder Creek Path is paved, flat, roughly 5.5 miles long, and free from end to end, which makes it the easiest free outing in Boulder. Mount Sanitas and the gentler Sanitas Valley Trail share the Centennial Trailhead just west of downtown, where there's no parking fee and no charge to hike. Wonderland Lake in north Boulder has no entrance or parking fee either, and it hands you a flat loop with the Flatirons behind it.

In south Boulder, the NCAR trailhead is free to park and free to walk, including the wheelchair-accessible Walter Orr Roberts Nature Trail and the connection onto the Mesa Trail. The South Boulder Creek Trail from the Bobolink Trailhead is another free one, and it's nearly flat.

Free water, ponds, and birding

Sawhill Ponds is the quiet star here: some of the best birding in the county, and it isn't on OSMP's permit list, so parking is free. Walden Ponds next door is Boulder County land with no published entrance or parking fee (the only fee the county lists there is $35 to reserve the Cottonwood Marsh shelter). Coot Lake sits outside the Boulder Reservoir entry gate, and the city doesn't publish an entry fee for Coot Lake itself, which makes it the free-water option when the reservoir is charging. See our Boulder water guide for the swimming and paddling picture.

Free open space outside city limits

Boulder County Parks and Open Space doesn't charge an entrance or parking fee at its properties, which is a lot of free ground. Betasso Preserve above Boulder Canyon, Walker Ranch in the southwest foothills, Heil Valley Ranch and Hall Ranch to the north, and Rabbit Mountain northeast of Lyons are all free, day use only. Up higher, Mud Lake near Nederland is free too, and the Ceran St. Vrain Trail is a national forest trailhead whose Forest Service page lists no fee and no required pass. Note that Heil Valley Ranch and Hall Ranch are both no-dog properties.

Two more with a caveat. Gross Reservoir has no fees or reservations, but the dam-raise construction has closed the south side and pushed recreation to the free North Shore area. Boulder Falls is free with roadside parking, and it's currently closed for rockfall repairs, so check before you drive up the canyon.

Chautauqua and the Flatirons, for free

This is the one most visitors get wrong. There's no fee to enter Chautauqua Park or to hike any of its trails. The only cost is parking, and only on summer weekends and holidays, when it's $2.50 per hour from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On weekdays and throughout the off-season, parking at Chautauqua is free. That means the Chautauqua Trail, the Bluebell-Baird Trail, and Royal Arch are all free hikes if you time your visit, and the free Park-to-Park shuttle covers you even when you can't. Green Mountain and Bear Peak are free to hike as well, though the trailhead you choose decides whether you pay to park.

How the OSMP parking permit works

City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks charges for parking at a short, specific list of trailheads: Flagstaff Mountain (which includes the Gregory Canyon station at the base of Flagstaff Road), Doudy Draw, Flatirons Vista, South Boulder Creek West, Marshall Mesa, Greenbelt Plateau, and South Mesa. A daily permit is $5 and an annual permit is $25, and the daily permit is good at every OSMP fee trailhead on the date you buy it, so one $5 purchase covers a two-stop day. Buying online adds a $1.50 service charge that doesn't go to the city.

Who pays is the part worth knowing. Our Boulder trailhead parking guide, along with our Flagstaff Mountain and Doudy Draw guides, states that OSMP parking fees apply only to vehicles that aren't registered in Boulder County, so Boulder County plates park free at those lots. Our Gregory Canyon guide is the one exception: it doesn't claim a resident exemption, because the OSMP fees page it cites doesn't list one. If you're a county resident heading to Gregory Canyon, budget the $5 and treat a free park as a bonus.

Four ways to keep the day free

  • Ride the free shuttle. The Park-to-Park shuttle to Chautauqua is free, runs every 30 minutes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends and summer holidays, and its 2026 season runs Saturday, May 23 through Monday, September 7. You park free in a downtown city garage and skip the $2.50 an hour entirely. The free Hessie Shuttle does the same job for the Indian Peaks lakes, running from Nederland High School to the Hessie Trailhead on Fridays, weekends, and holidays from May 22 through October 11, 2026, with no passes, reservations, or fares.
  • Go on a weekday. Chautauqua parking is free on weekdays and in the off-season, and Eldorado Canyon's timed-entry reservation only applies on Saturdays, Sundays, and summer holidays from May 1 through October 1, or before 3:30 p.m. Weekdays skip the booking and most of the crowd.
  • Walk or bus in. The Boulder Creek Path connects much of town to the foothills for free, and RTD buses reach several in-town trailheads. Our car-free trailheads guide lays out which routes go where. At Marshall Mesa there's an RTD Park-n-Ride crosswalk linking the trailhead to a lot across the road.
  • Go in the off-season. Boulder Reservoir charges a day-use fee April 1 through October 31 and nothing at all from November 1 through March 31, so a winter shoreline walk there is free. If you'd rather not wait, note that even in peak season it's only $5 to run, walk, or cycle in rather than drive.

Free outdoors in Boulder: what to know before you go

Free doesn't mean casual. Boulder starts around a mile above sea level, the sun is strong, the air is dry, and summer afternoons build thunderstorms fast, so bring more water than feels necessary and start early. Fee rules and shuttle seasons also change from year to year, so check the guide for the specific place, and the managing agency, before you drive out. Our parking guide tracks the permit zones and shuttle dates, and the hiking hub sorts every trail on the site by difficulty.

Free things to do outdoors in Boulder: FAQ

Do you have to pay to hike in Boulder?

Mostly no. Hiking itself is free on City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks land, and most trailheads have free parking, including Mount Sanitas, NCAR, Wonderland Lake, Sawhill Ponds, and Boulder Valley Ranch. What you sometimes pay for is parking. OSMP charges a $5 daily or $25 annual permit at a short list of fee trailheads, Chautauqua meters parking on summer weekends and holidays at $2.50 per hour, and Eldorado Canyon, Boulder Reservoir, and Brainard Lake charge their own entrance or timed-entry fees.

Which Boulder trailheads are free to park at?

Most of them. Our guides confirm free parking at Mount Sanitas and the Sanitas Valley Trail (Centennial Trailhead), NCAR, Wonderland Lake, Sawhill Ponds, Boulder Valley Ranch, the Bobolink Trailhead on South Boulder Creek, and both Teller Farm lots. Chautauqua is free on weekdays and in the off-season. Boulder County properties like Betasso Preserve, Walker Ranch, Heil Valley Ranch, Hall Ranch, Rabbit Mountain, Walden Ponds, and Mud Lake charge no entrance or parking fee at all.

How much is the OSMP parking permit, and who has to buy one?

A daily OSMP permit is $5 and an annual permit is $25, and the daily one is valid at every OSMP fee trailhead on the date you buy it. Buying online adds a $1.50 service charge that doesn't go to the city. Our parking guide, along with the Flagstaff Mountain and Doudy Draw guides, states that the fee applies only to vehicles not registered in Boulder County, so Boulder County plates park free at those lots. Our Gregory Canyon guide is the exception: it doesn't claim a resident exemption, because the OSMP fees page it cites doesn't list one. The fee trailheads are Flagstaff Mountain (including Gregory Canyon), Doudy Draw, Flatirons Vista, South Boulder Creek West, Marshall Mesa, Greenbelt Plateau, and South Mesa.

Is there a free shuttle to Boulder trailheads?

Two of them. The City of Boulder's free Park-to-Park shuttle runs to Chautauqua on weekends and summer holidays, every 30 minutes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the 2026 season running Saturday, May 23 through Monday, September 7. You park free in a downtown city garage and ride in. Boulder County's free Hessie Shuttle runs from Nederland High School to the Hessie Trailhead on Fridays, weekends, and holidays from May 22 through October 11, 2026, roughly every 15 minutes, with no passes, reservations, or fares.

What can you do outdoors in Boulder for free?

Plenty. Walk or bike the paved Boulder Creek Path, hike Mount Sanitas or the Mesa Trail from NCAR, watch birds at Sawhill Ponds or Walden Ponds, loop Wonderland Lake, or drive out to free Boulder County open space at Betasso Preserve, Heil Valley Ranch, Hall Ranch, or Rabbit Mountain. Chautauqua and the Flatirons trails above it cost nothing to hike, and on a summer weekend the free shuttle gets you there without paying for parking.

Sources and notes

This is a synthesis page. Every fee, rate, and date above is taken from our own guide for that place, which cites the managing agency: City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, Boulder County Parks and Open Space, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the US Forest Service, or Denver Water. Where a place is listed as free, that's because our guide for it reports no published fee, not because we assumed one. Fees, permit rules, shuttle seasons, and closures change, so confirm with the linked guide and the agency before you go.

Last checked . We verify trail facts against the managing agency, and we say so when a figure isn't published.