Things to do in Loveland – Colorado’s Sweetheart City
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Loveland may sound like a new reality show or a new board game – but it is actually a city with a big heart in Colorado’s front range. Loveland is often overshadowed by well-known towns like Boulder and Fort Collins, but it’s a super alternative to both of these towns. Just an hour’s drive from my home in Denver, Loveland is perfect for a day trip or weekend getaway. It’s also an ideal jumping-off point for exploring Rocky Mountain National Park or enjoying one of the town’s many festivals.
Yes – love is in the air all around Loveland. However, you’ll also find a vibrant art scene (the best in Colorado!) The author John Villani dubbed Loveland the second-best art town in America in his book “The 100 Best Art Towns in America”. Wander through the phenomenal public art collection (valued at $12.3 million), tour one of the largest bronze foundries in the country, stroll through the myriad charming downtown galleries, or even peek into an artist studio during the Loveland Art Studio Tour in October.
The city earned the title of “Sweetheart City” for its famous Valentine’s re-mailing program, where people from around the world send their Valentine’s Day cards to Loveland to be stamped with a unique, decorative postmark (that changes every year) and a poetic message before being forwarded to the intended recipient. The Valentine re-mailing program began in 1947 when Loveland postmaster Elmer Ivers and Chamber of Commerce president Ted Thompson wanted to promote the city. They came up with stamping Valentine’s cards with a romantic postmark from Loveland to add a sentimental touch for recipients.
This is still happening today! People send their pre-addressed and stamped valentines in a larger envelope to the Loveland post office. Volunteers open these envelopes, stamp each valentine with the special Loveland cachet and postmark, and mail them out.
Here’s how you can participate!
Table of Contents
Love At First Sight
Your first stop is the Visitor Center, located right on Highway 34, where you enter the city from I-25. It’s a super place to orient yourself and check out all of the love-filled merchandise.
All roads eventually lead to Loveland’s historic downtown streets, lined with tempting shops, restaurants, and galleries and adorned with a smattering of sculptures, of course. Everything you love is here in the heart of Northern Colorado.
Things to Do in Loveland, Colorado
There’s so much to love about Colorado’s Sweetheart City. I have personally experienced all the items on this list of things to do during several trips to Loveland.
Lock Your Love
Pledge your love year-round at Loveland’s two LOVE lock sculptures. Similar to the lock bridges you find in Europe, there are a couple of Instagramable Love sculptures in Loveland where you can purchase a lock, engrave it, and lock it to the sculpture. The LOVE sign, located at the Loveland Visitor’s Center, is the largest of its kind in the U.S. Buy a lock and engrave it for free inside the Visitor’s Center. The second sculpture, shaped like a heart, lives at Lake Loveland with the majestic Rocky Mountains as a backdrop.
Hiking Devils Backbone Open Space
If you love the outdoors, then Loveland will not disappoint. The town is nestled right up to the foothills, which means there’s plenty of nature to love. Take a moderate hike along Devil’s Backbone nature trail, a two-mile strip of Dakota sandstone providing a backbone-like structure to the landscape. Make sure you take your camera along to capture the unique “keyhole” arch formation along the route.
Devil’s Backbone Nature Trail is part of a 12-mile scenic trail network in the 2,198-acre Devil’s Backbone Open Space, which also connects to Rimrock Open Space and Horsetooth Mountain Open Space. The area is perfect for hiking, biking, horseback riding, running, wildlife viewing, and observing nature. Devil’s Backbone will steal your heart with its rugged beauty—try not to fall too hard!
Horseback Riding at Sylvan Dale Ranch
Saddle up for love at Sylvan Dale Ranch! This family-run ranch has been in operation since 1946 and is nestled between the Big Thompson River Valley and Eagle Ridge just outside of Loveland. It is a great place to get a taste of Colorado’s Western culture. Even though this is a full-service Dude Ranch, you can also just come out for the day and go horseback riding through its 3200 acres of ranchland. They also have great little riverside cabins to rent for a longer weekend stay.
Walk around Benson Sculpture Garden
The city has a love affair with the sculptural arts. Benson Sculpture Garden is home to 185+ permanent bronze sculptures placed throughout 10 acres of dedicated parkland. The sculptures are nestled in mature trees, native plants, and tranquil ponds and range from wildlife to people to humor to Native American culture. The variety alone is stunning.
I’ll admit—this wasn’t high on my list when I first visited. Then I walked around it and fell in love with the creativity, skill, and beauty of the sculptures and overall environment. Now, I tell everyone that they must not miss the sculpture garden, as it’s one of Colorado’s coolest art experiences!
The Park is incredibly stunning in autumn, bursting with fall colors. Benson Sculpture Garden is a free public park founded in 1985, and new pieces are added annually.
Take a Bronze Foundry Tour
Melt your heart with this bronze foundry tour in Loveland! After a four-year hiatus, Art Castings of Colorado recently started offering public tours again. Tucked away in a quiet south Loveland neighborhood is a nondescript white warehouse known by artists across the globe. Inside, you’ll find stunning bronze statues.
I learned how bronze statues were made when I took the tour. It was fascinating to know how they created and put all the pieces together! The basic steps for bronze artwork include creating a mold, pouring wax, refining the wax, forming a ceramic shell, removing the wax, pouring the metal, sandblasting the cast metal, welding the pieces together, refining the metal, applying patina, and mounting the sculpture on a base. Now imagine doing this for a giant 20 ft. high sculpture!
Tours are held on Thursday mornings at 9:30 a.m.; a reservation is required.
Visit the Loveland Art Museum
Experience world-class art in Loveland’s intimate art museum in the heart of downtown. The Museum hosts up to ten exhibitions per year featuring iconic and local artists. When I was last there, I saw an Ansel Adams Exhibition…yes…Ansel Adams (!) features photographs of Manzanar, a Japanese American Relocation Camp during World War II. It’s a beautiful space to stop for an hour and see the latest exhibits!
NOCO Cat Café
My love for cats is fur real, so when I heard about the NOCO Cat Café downtown, I knew I had to check it out! It’s the first of its kind in Northern Colorado. The café offers coffee, tea, and light snacks while cuddling adoptable cats. The café aims to provide a safe, friendly environment for cats and community members to socialize. Adoptable cats and kittens are brought in from nonprofit partner Colorado Kitty Coalition cat rescue. They roam around and meet the patrons – or sometimes they just hide – they are cats, after all!
While I was there, a couple was picking up their newly adopted cat…it was so exciting to see!
Note: There is a $12 fee to enter the café, and the money goes toward rehoming the cats. I love to support any adoption organization.
Take a Walking Through Loveland’s Street Art Scene
Exploring street art in Loveland is like finding hidden love notes painted all over town! Downtown may be compact, but they’ve fit a lot of creativity into a 4 square block area. Check out the some of these murals located throughout town:
- “Art Tools” by J.C. Milner (in the alley behind Artworks Loveland)
- Lovecraftian octopus mural – northside of Dark Heart Coffee
- “Little Piece of My Heart” – eastside corner of 4th Street and Jefferson Ave.
- “Ladyface” by Wildrose Hamilton – Alley-facing wall of The Gressiwick
- “My Favorite Things” by DAAS – The Foundry parking structure exterior
- “Beettown” by J.C. Milner – 5thstreet; in-between Loveland Museum and Beet Education Center
- “Lady Day” by Sofia Ramirez – 423 N. Cleveland Avenue, northside of Black and Blues Music and Brews
- “Celebration of Music” by Morgan Gray – Alleyway E 4th Street
- “Madre Natura” by Don Rimx – corner of 5th and Cleveland on the Beet Education Center
Loveland is a great day trip from Denver!
Read about my other recommended day trips from Denver.
Where to Eat in Loveland
Taste Local Cafe
I’m a breakfast lover – it’s my favorite meal of the day. Every time I visit Loveland, I make sure I can have breakfast at Taste Local Café. This charming downtown spot has a delightful vibe – full of mismatched chairs and dishware. I like the décor, but I really LOVE the food – all made from local ingredients. I highly recommend the corn pudding found on the Southwestern Savory breakfast. And definitely try a crepe! I had the sweet crepe with a cherry cardamom sauce that was heavenly! Oh – and be sure to get some fresh squeezed juice!
Door 222
This is a favorite fine dining spot for locals. Located in historic downtown, Door 222 has indoor and outdoor seating. It has a robust menu and an extensive wine list! It’s a great place to go for a local vibe and a delicious dinner!
Dairy Delite
Take a time machine back to the 1970s for a car-hop service lunch. Locals love the ice cream and the great burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, and more at this family-owned-and-operated spot that’s been slinging tasty eats and treats for 45 years. As an ice cream lover, make sure that you save room for a little ice cream treat after you eat!
Runza
I know this may sound like a weird recommendation, but as a lifelong Nebraska Cornhusker, I have to highlight the one and only Runza restaurant located outside of Nebraska! I grew up eating Runzas, a baked, rectangular pocket of yeast dough stuffed with ground beef, cabbage, onions, and a secret blend of spices. Consider it a fancy hot pocket! You owe it to yourself to try one while you are in Loveland!
The Black Steer
Get a heaping of nostalgia here at this supper club steakhouse-style restaurant. The restaurant in the heart of downtown has been turning out the best steaks in the state for 55 years. It’s Loveland’s longest-standing restaurant. And make sure you leave room for the peanut butter pie!
Where to Drink in Loveland
Rosie’s Barber Shop Speakeasy
It’s a barbershop by day and a speakeasy by night – and it’s one of my favorite places in Loveland! After dinner, head to Rosie’s barber shop and walk through the closed barber shop (yes – it’s a real barber shop that leaves its front door open) to the back of the room. Go through the door on the back wall, and you’ll be greeted by a dark, speakeasy atmosphere filled with intimate tables and comfy sofas and chairs. The cocktails are inventive and fun, and the bartenders are friendly! You can even take you drink into the barber shop and drink it there!
Verboten Brewing and Barrel Project
Located in the heart of downtown – Verboten Brewing is normally my first stop in Loveland. They are known for their dark, barrel-aged beer – big beers with big ABVs. Verboten is a German word meaning forbidden. This is a nod to the ingredients the German Purity Law rejected for beer, the Reinheitsgebot. Under the purity law, beer can only be made with three ingredients: barley, water, hops, and yeast. Verboten’s beers incorporate the forbidden ingredients of fruit and spice, barrel aging, and other distinctive ‘rule-breaking’ ingredients to make craft beer. And if you know me, you know I love to break the rules.
Loveland Aleworks
Yet another brewery in Loveland (they have 10!). Yes, Loveland Aleworks has great beers with many unusual sours (my favorite style), such as blackberry lemon bar sour, PB&J sour, and pickle sour. However, I like to stop here because they have amazing beer slushies (only in the summer months). Yes – you read that right…a beer slushie. Before you go, Ewwwwww, you gotta try it! With flavors like salted caramel beer slushie or orange cream beer slushie – it’s more like a beer dessert…and really… what’s wrong with that?
Sweetheart Winery
Looking for a beautiful outdoor space full of lovely views and bold wines – Loveland has that, too! Sweetheart Winery uses grapes sourced through partnerships with small-lot vineyards and wineries in California and Colorado. Enjoy a tour of the property then sit back and enjoy a glass of wine and one of their delicious charcuterie boards while enjoying the views of the Devil’s Backbone Natural Space.
Where to Stay in Loveland
I like to stay in the heart of Loveland’s historic downtown so that I can walk around from place to place without worrying about driving. My preferred hotel is Towneplace Suites – it’s close to everything and has easy parking.
Loveland Festivals to Not Miss
The sweetheart city loves its festivals, and they always seem to have something fun going on. I like heading there for festival weekends as they are much easier to navigate than Denver’s events, and I frankly love their creativity!
Valentine’s Sweetheart Festival – February
Celebrate all things LOVE in the Sweetheart City at the annual Loveland Sweetheart Festival. During this free celebration in Downtown Loveland, enjoy live music, art installations, local brews, and interactive activities at four venues in the center of town. They even crown a Little Miss Valentine and Little Mister Cupid.
Sculpture in the Park – August
The heart of Loveland’s art scene is Sculpture in the Park, held every August. Sculpture in the Park attracts nearly 20,000 attendees from around the country and the globe. It’s the country’s largest outdoor juried sculpture show, with annual sales of over $1 million. Proceeds from the event will go towards the purchase of new sculptures for the Benson Sculpture Garden–where the show takes place—and the maintenance of the Park.
I attended last summer and found it fascinating and so inspiring! I rarely get the opportunity to look at art and have the artist standing right there to ask questions! How many times have you looked at art and wondered – “what in the world was the artist thinking?” There were so many pieces of artwork there that it felt like a world-class museum visit. And each piece and artist had a story to tell. There were quite a few pieces that I fell in love with and wished I could’ve taken home! They also had a silent auction of more miniature pieces by the artists in the show, which was great to browse through.
Winter Wonderlights Festivities – December
Who doesn’t love holiday lights? They are even better when they are free! Winter Wonderlights is a walkable show created using string lights, twinkling bulbs, LED snowflakes and heart arches, illuminated African stone sculptures, a 23-ft LED Christmas tree, and featuring a 30-minute choreographed light show set to music. The event from mid-November to January 1st begins each evening at 5 p.m. Enjoy live entertainment, themed activities, live reindeer, ice carving, and a brand-new holiday market akin to a Christkindl market on specific nights.
I was there for the opening weekend, and it was such a festive event! Plus – the opening weekend is also filled with other holiday events in historic downtown.
Concerts and Events at Blue Arena
Escape the big city and head to Loveland for concerts and sporting events. Blue Arena is where Loveland’s heart beats loudest, from roaring hockey crowds to the heart-thumping base of concerts. Blue Arena is a great and easy alternative to Denver’s busy and big concert venues. I went to a wonderful holiday concert by Pentatonix there last year. It’s the perfect-sized venue where the thrill of the event will sweep you off your feet! See their event lineup here.
Find Your Perfect Match (of Activities) in Loveland
As you explore the wonders of Loveland, Colorado, you’ll find yourself smitten by the Sweetheart City. From falling head over heels for the stunning mountain views to unlocking memories at the Love Lock sculpture, Loveland is a place that will capture your heart. It has captured mine! Whether you’re admiring masterpieces at Benson Sculpture Garden, toasting to love at a craft brewery, or simply losing yourself in the natural beauty of Devil’s Backbone, each moment here is bound to be a love story in the making. So pack your bags and get ready to fall in love with Loveland, one unforgettable experience at a time!
Disclosure:
I was a guest of Visit Loveland on multiple visits to Loveland, however all opinions expressed here are my own.