VLOG | Vail, Colorado Kid-Friendly Winter Travel Guide

We are just five weeks away from Baby Boy Hallak making his debut into this world and so, a babymoon was in order. We were so excited to have the opportunity to be hosted by The Sonnenalp in Vail, Colorado to enjoy a wintery, snowy babymoon this January and to experience all of that beauty during our last vacation as a family of three.

Living in sunny Southern California, we don’t get to experience many seasons so this was the perfect kid-friendly vacation, in our eyes. If you’re looking for a gorgeous family-friendly winter vacation in Colorado, we put together a travel guide of all of the fun things we got to experience while we were in Vail.

So here it is, our Hallak Family Travel Guide — A kid-friendly Vail, Colorado Travel Guide with the best things to do with kids in Vail, Colorado in the winter. Enjoy!

Sonnenalp Hotel

We had the absolute pleasure of being hosted by Sonnenalp Hotel Vail for our entire babymoon and let me tell you, we will definitely be going back! It’s the most beautiful hotel in the most darling little village with shops and restaurants and just a five minute walk from the ski resort and let’s just say, everything was perfection.

The breakfast view with all glass windows made us feel like we were surrounded in nature (it snowed that first morning and we’ve never experienced a more beautiful breakfast atmosphere), the concierge was unbelievable (we went there with no plan and quickly filled up our four day stay with so many kid-friendly activities) and the room — let’s just say you’re going to want to check out our vlog to see this room and the view we had from our balcony. Epic beauty, to say the least.

Silvercar Audi Car Rental

Silvercar made it so easy to get to and from the airport and to a couple of adventures we went off on! I typically dread renting cars but this Silvercar, an Audi Car Rental (we got the Audi Q5 for our trip) was so easy! We got off the plane, clicked “we’re here” on the Silvercar app, it told us exactly which doors to exit and where to wait for the shuttle, the shuttle took us over and our car was there waiting for us! Oh yeah, and they offer car seats which is so perfect for families traveling with kids still in car seats!

Thank you so much, Silvercar, for providing us with a sweet ride for our trip and making it all so easy!

Alpenrose | German Food in Vail

We waited all week to eat dinner here and it was so worth the wait. The decor is adorable, the waiters are amazing and the authentic German food is incredible. We absolutely loved our last meal in Vail here! And best of all, it was right there in the village just a minute walk from The Sonnenalp! But make sure to get your reservations in because they were booked every night!

The Best Vail Coffee Shop | Yeti’s Grind

One of my amazing followers recommended Yeti’s Grind for coffee and it was so amazing that we went back again our second day for a quick (and absolutely delicious) breakfast and their drinks are just to die for!

How to Find It: Yeti’s Grind is just inside the main village area, right near the skating rink!

Vail Kid-Friendly Ice Skating

Now this place was about a 3 minute walk from The Sonnenalp right in the center of the village. And we got the entire skating rink to ourselves!! Well, Ava and Frank did since baby boy in my belly prevented me from tagging along. We rented our skates from Bol Skate right when they opened at 11am and they had sizes small enough for Ava (they start at Size 8 in toddlers).

Ever since we went to Disney on Ice a couple weeks back, Ava’s been asking to go ice skating and when we finally went, she was smiling from ear to ear!

Free Vail Pedestrian Gondola

This may have been our favorite adventure of them all — the beauty at the top of the mountain was EPIC. If you follow that same path along the river to the ski report, you’ll see the pedestrian Gondola. And it’s FREE after 3:30pm and doesn’t close until late, I think 9pm? We headed up just around 4:30 and The Sonnenalp actually just drove us over, which was a pretty awesome amenity they offer! It was a 5-10 minute trip up there and when we got to the top the view was incredible. Photos and video just don’t do it justice! 

We headed into the animal little nature museum at the top which was a fun little pit stop and then headed out to the mountain for the sunset. We met the sweetest couple who told us that “for purple mountains majesty” was named after this view and let me tell you, it’s so true. Stay there until it’s almost completely dark and you’ll see the most gorgeous view you’ve ever seen — just indescribable.

Sledding For Kids + The Most Beautiful River Walk

Since Ava’s only two years old, we didn’t really need any huge hills for sledding. In fact, the concierge recommended a beautiful walk by the river which had a snow-covered path, gave us sleds to use for the day and off we went, sledding down the most beautiful river walk you’ve ever seen! 

My husband pulled Ava and we found some little hills along the way!

How to Find It: If your back is facing the entrance of the Sonnenalp valet, head up the street (to the right) until you hit the first intersection (only about 20 steps). Cross the street to the left and follow the signs toward the hospital. Once you pass the hospital on your right, the street will end and you’ll see the path I’m talking about! You’ll walk along the river for about 5 minutes, reach the ski resort and if you keep on walking past the resort, the bike path connects up again on the other side and that’s where we went down to the river for a whole lot of beauty and some perfect sledding hills for Ava! 

Coors Brewery

Golden, Colorado, where the Coors Brewery is located, is almost right on your way from the Denver airport to Vail, Colorado. And since Frank’s dad used to work for Coors for as long as Frank can remember, it was the perfect little pit stop for us to make. The brewery tours are first come first serve and the line was a good hour and a half (outside in the freezing cold) so we decided to park and head on in and look around ourselves! We got to visit the gift shop, take some photos, see some super cool Coors artifacts and then everyone who heads in (who’s over 21, of course) gets free tastings! Yep, free! Of course I didn’t partake in that this time (they gave me lemonade) but we headed into the bar for some drinks before we got back on the road and made our way over to Vail!

Ice Castles

These ice castles were incredible! We saw them at night time when everything was lit up but I’ve seen photos during the day and it looks beautiful in the light too. We may just have to go back during the day ;) And this was Ava’s favorite part of the trip (mostly because she was looking for Elsa) — We crawled through ice tunnels, went down slides, explored all of the beauty and then after, we headed over to the coffee shop at the bowling alley directly across the street for some much-needed hot chocolate.