Grand Junction is the largest city on Colorado's Western Slope, sitting in a wide valley where the Colorado and Gunnison rivers meet. It is not a tourist town in itself, but it is the gateway to some of the most dramatic landscape in the state — and an increasingly good wine region that surprises most visitors who think of Colorado as beer country only.
Colorado National Monument, just minutes from downtown, is the main draw: a series of red sandstone canyons, towering monoliths, and a scenic rim drive that rivals anything in Utah. The trails down into the canyons — Monument Canyon and Ute Canyon in particular — are excellent and far less crowded than their national park equivalents across the state line.
The Palisade wine country, ten miles east, produces surprisingly good wines in the warm, irrigated valley. There are about two dozen wineries along the Palisade fruit and wine byway, and the peach orchards here supply much of the state. Grand Junction also serves as a base for mountain biking — the Kokopelli Trail and the Lunch Loops system are well-regarded — and for rafting on the Colorado and Gunnison rivers.