Colorado Springs, CO

[Guest Knack]

What can anyone tell me about Colorado Springs?

[Guest laceyfish]

i live in fort collins, colorado, which is about three hours north on I-25 from colorado springs. my grandparents have lived in the springs my whole life, and i've spent a decent amount of time down there. from what i can tell, colorado springs is one of the most conservative cities in the state. it is the home of focus on the family and i heard something about the city having the highest number of churches per capita in some large region. despite that (or not, depending on your views), it's a nice place to live: there seems to be a strong community support though it's a really big city, and i think the crime rate is very low. the mountains are gorgeous, and there's a ton to see and do: garden of the gods, pikes peak, santa's north pole, cave of the winds, the broadmoor hotel, museums, etc., to name a few tourist attractions. the drive to denver's about an hour or two, so it's doable if you want to go to the "big city" for the night or the weekend.

because i'm almost always there as a visitor, i know very little about apartments, rental rates, where to live, or campus life (univ of colorado-colo springs, right?). it's a nice city, not too terribly big and not too terribly small either. best of luck.

[Jmarxwm]

I've lived in CO Springs for 3 years. Its a great area. The 1st poster was right about all the great outdoor activities you can do here. Hiking, biking, short drive to skiing, running, etc. Great Restaurants,sights, nice little downtown with some bars. Lots of young people (2 Air force bases, Air Force Academy and an army base). As far as her comments regarding the conservative nature of the town- focus on the family is here, but other than that it is not bad. There is a good sized liberal element here too, and unless you go looking for that "scene" you will not be bothered by the uber religious..unless you want to be. Housing is abundant because of the military. Lots of apartments, houses, rentals. Prices are low (about 700 a month for a nice 1 bedroom). Townhouses for rent too. I bought out here recently for not too much. You looking at CC, UCCS, or somewhere else?

[rainydays2020]

I'm finishing up a masters here in the Springs at UCCS so I've got some good experiences.

Transportation:

Beucase I didn't have much money, I went without a car for most of the time I've been here. It was extremely difficult to do because the bus routes are poorly laid out and slow. You usually have to transfer buses to get anywhere and it can take over an hour to get somewhere that would take 20 mins. by car. They buses also don't run late-- they stop running around 6-7 pm. So I strongly recommend having a car.

Restaurants and Bars:

The town itself is alright. It's very spread out but there are some fun bars downtown for both older and younger students. There's also a lot of cheap dive bars throughout town. Being from AZ though I think the Mexican food is terrible. I was also surprised to find out about the dearth of pizza places and late night restaurants considering the high number of universities in the area. There are a lot of places that roast coffee locally and Colorado is known for it's high number of local breweries so if you like craft beer, there is an abundance. Poor Richard's downtown has great coffee and wine/beer as well as live jazz on the weekends. Brewer's Republic is a favorite of mine downtown. It's a little bar which serves only craft beer from CO and the staff/owners/patrons are really friendly.

Political Ideology:

I'm a pretty liberal guy; I'm an atheist and a socialst who is tolerant of other people's beliefs. That being said, Colorado Springs' very conservative nature doesn't have to be bothersome. I've meet a number of similarly minded people through the university (I'm in sociology, a particularly liberal-mided field). There are a lot of military folks and religious conservatives here. Some of my best friends are in the military and are actually quite liberal. There are a couple of bars and social scenes that I have learned to stay away from because they tend to attract a conservative or religious crowd. If CSprings ends up being too much for you though, Manitou Springs is about 20 minutes away and is known as a "hippie" town. It's easy to drive from there to attend school in the Springs