Attractions

The Boulder Creek Winery, 6440 Odell Place (tel. 303/516-9031; www.bouldercreekwine.com), offers a complimentary tasting on Thursdays through Sundays from 1 to 5:30pm in summer and 1 to 5pm Saturdays and Sundays spring and fall, but is closed in winter.

Museums & Galleries

There are three art galleries on the University of Colorado campus, all with free admission. The CU Art Galleries, in the Sibell-Wolle Fine Arts Building near Euclid Avenue and Broadway (tel. 303/492-8300), displays the work of CU students and faculty as well as pieces from the Colorado Collection, about 5,000 works by international artists including Warhol, Dürer, Rembrandt, Tiepolo, Hogarth, Hiroshige, Matisse, and Picasso. There are also rotating exhibits. The gallery is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm, Tuesday 10am to 7pm, and Saturday from noon to 4pm (bus: HOP, SKIP).

At the University Memorial Center, the UMC Art Gallery (tel. 303/492-7465) organizes and hosts a variety of exhibitions featuring regional and national artists. In the music-listening rooms, visitors can peruse current periodicals while listening to modern and classical music. The gallery is on the second floor of the center, just left of the information desk; it's open Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm (bus: HOP, SKIP, STAMPEDE).

The Andrew J. Macky Gallery (tel. 303/492-8423), at the main entrance of Macky Auditorium, shows touring exhibits and works by local artists. It's open Wednesday from 9am to 4pm (bus: HOP, SKIP, STAMPEDE).

There are also studios and a gallery at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St. (tel. 303/440-7826; www.thedairy.org), which also houses two theaters, classrooms, and several dance, theater, and arts organizations.

Especially for Kids

City parks offer the best diversions for children.

On the Boulder Creek Path, the underwater fish observatory behind the Millennium Harvest House fascinates youngsters. They can feed the huge trout swimming behind a glass barrier on the creek (machines cough up handfuls of fish food for 25¢). Farther up the path, on the south bank around 6th Street, Kids' Fishing Ponds, stocked by the Boulder Fish and Game Club, are open to children under 12. There's no charge for either activity.

The Fiske Planetarium (tel. 303/492-5001) offers visitors a walk through the solar system. Dedicated to the memory of CU alumnus Ellison Onizuka and the six other astronauts who died in the space shuttle Challenger explosion, the outdoor scale model begins at the entrance to the planetarium with the sun and inner planets, and continues across Regent Drive to the outer planets, located along the walkway to the Engineering Center. Admission is free; allow at least a half-hour. The planetarium offers after-school and summer discovery programs for kids, star shows, and other programs in which you get a chance to look at the sky through the planetarium's telescopes. Admission for these events is usually $3 to $6; call for the latest schedule (bus: HOP).