Laramie Travel Guide

Updated October 2026

Overview and Things to Consider

Laramie sits on a high, windy basin between two ranges, the Laramie Range 7 miles east and the Snowy Range about 30 miles west, at 7,165 feet. It's a town of 31,407 people (2020 census) built around a Union Pacific main line and the University of Wyoming, the state's only public university. BootsnAll folds it into its Midwest Wyoming guide with Casper, which undersells the geography: Laramie looks south to the Colorado Front Range, 50 miles from Cheyenne and 130 from Denver, far more than it looks north.

The appeal is what's within half an hour. Vedauwoo's 1.4-billion-year-old Sherman granite is 16 miles east on I-80. The Snowy Range, with lakes above 10,000 feet and a 12,018-foot summit, is west on WY 130. Curt Gowdy State Park's three reservoirs and mountain bike trails are 24 miles east. Town itself is a downtown historic district on the National Register, the university campus a few blocks east, and freight trains rolling through the middle of everything.

You'll like Laramie if you climb, fish, ride mountain bikes or simply want a cheap, unbothered place to sleep between days outdoors. You'll be bored if you want a scene. Nightlife is a few brewpubs and student bars, the museums are university collections and one frontier prison, and the wind blows hard enough most of the winter that locals plan around it.

The 2026 moment is quieter than the football schedule suggests. UW's fall 2026 enrollment is 10,630, down 1.7 percent, even as first-year students from out of state jumped 19.9 percent. The stadium shrank to 29,181 seats after renovations that ran from spring 2024 into 2025. Gas costs far more than a year ago. None of it changes the basic deal, which is mountains at the edge of town and hardly anyone in line for them.

How Laramie Got Here

Laramie began in the mid-1860s as a tent city near the Overland Stage route, just north of the Army's Fort Sanders, and the Union Pacific's track crews reached it on May 4, 1868. The first months were the end-of-tracks chaos you'd expect. The first mayor quit after six weeks, complaining about the "incapacity and laxity" of the officials elected with him, and on October 28, 1868, a vigilance committee led by sheriff N. K. Boswell lynched three half-brothers who ran a saloon called the Bucket of Blood. The town incorporated in 1874, and the railroad shaped it for the next century; passenger trains ran until 1971, Amtrak until 1997.

Two firsts define the town's civic story. In March 1870 Laramie seated the first women anywhere to serve on a jury, and on September 6 that year Louisa Swain became the first woman in the United States to cast a legal vote in a general election. The territorial prison opened in 1872 and held Butch Cassidy from 1894 to 1896. The university opened in 1887. In 1998 the murder of gay UW student Matthew Shepard put Laramie in front of the world and led to The Laramie Project; in 2015 the city passed an ordinance banning discrimination against LGBT people in jobs, housing and public places such as bars and restaurants.

Getting There and Around

Laramie Regional Airport (LAR) has one commercial route, United Express to Denver (DEN), kept alive by the federal Essential Air Service subsidy. It is small: 17,850 people boarded there in 2025. The upside is skipping the drive and the Denver airport parking. The downside is that a cancelled regional flight leaves you a two-and-a-half-hour drive from your connection. Snowy Range Taxi charges a $25 flat fare to or from the airport.

Most people come through Denver International and drive: I-25 north to Cheyenne, then I-80 west, about 130 miles from Denver. There is no direct airport shuttle. Greyhound runs daily from Denver Union Station to the Petro Travel Center on West Curtis Street in about 2 hours 55 minutes, with fares from $31.48. Groome Transportation runs DEN to Cheyenne for $59 online ($64 standard), about two hours ten minutes, but its Wyoming service stops there, so you still need a ride for the last 50 miles. In summer, US 287 up from Fort Collins is a shorter alternative, though Wikivoyage's verdict is that it isn't noticeably faster than the interstate.

Entry rules are the standard US ones. UK, Australian and most EU passport holders travel on the Visa Waiver Program with an approved ESTA, which costs $40.27 and lasts up to two years or until the passport expires; Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania are still outside the program. Canadians can usually stay six months without a visa, but anyone staying longer than 30 days must be registered with the US government. Passenger trains stopped here in 1997, so Amtrak trains are not an option.

In town, the University of Wyoming's free shuttles run weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., the Express route every 10 minutes around campus and the Link every 20 minutes out to Walmart and residential stops. UW's free SafeRide covers anywhere in city limits on late nights and weekends, booked through its app. Downtown and campus are close enough to walk between. Snowy Range Taxi charges a $14 flat rate for up to 5 miles inside Laramie but runs only Tuesday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to 5 a.m., and Uber has operated in town since 2017. Rent a car; Hertz is at the airport and Enterprise is on Grand Avenue. The WYDOT 511 site or its app is the first thing to check before any winter drive.

What's Changed Since 2016

Spring 2024 to spring 2025: War Memorial Stadium went through a two-stage renovation that cut capacity to 29,181. At 7,220 feet it is still the highest stadium in top-tier college football, well above Air Force's 6,621, and the record crowd of 34,745 from 1997 now can't be matched.

Prices moved. The Wyoming Territorial Prison now charges adults $9, where Wikivoyage still lists $5, and from October to April it opens only Thursday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nonresidents pay $12 per vehicle per day at Wyoming state parks in 2026, against $7 for residents. Wyoming's average regular gas was $4.46 on October 4, 2026, against $3.06 a year earlier.

Downtown's beer map changed. Visit Laramie's brewery tour counts four breweries and still lists Black Tooth, the Sheridan brewery, at 108 Grand Avenue, but Black Tooth's own site now lists only Sheridan, Cheyenne and Casper. Altitude Chophouse and Bond's Brewing, open since August 2019 with no kitchen and food trucks instead, are the steady ones.

March and April 2026: Union Pacific's Big Boy No. 4014, on its coast-to-coast steam tour for the country's 250th, stopped at Laramie's 1924 depot on March 29 and again on April 24. It's a reminder that the main line still runs straight through town, and the old depot, a museum now, is open by appointment.

Fall 2026: UW counted 10,630 students, down 1.7 percent from a year earlier, while first-time students from outside Wyoming rose 19.9 percent to 620. That puts the out-of-state share of new first-year students at about 41 percent, a shift for a university that has long been Wyoming's own.

What the Usual Advice Gets Wrong

"While you're in Laramie, see Fort Laramie National Historic Site, and hike the Bighorns." Fort Laramie is not in Laramie. The park entrance is 3 miles from the town of Fort Laramie, about 100 miles north of Cheyenne, which is itself 50 miles east of Laramie. Treat it as a stop on a drive north, not a half-day. The Bighorns are farther still. Laramie's own frontier site is the Wyoming Territorial Prison on the west side of town, and its own mountains are the Snowy Range and the Laramie Range.

"Catch the airport shuttle from Denver to Laramie." Wikipedia still lists a Green Ride shuttle from Laramie to DEN, but its greenrideco.com site would not load when we checked in October 2026, and Groome's Wyoming service lists only Cheyenne and F.E. Warren Air Force Base. The scheduled option is Greyhound from Denver Union Station, not the airport, at about 2 hours 55 minutes. Otherwise fly United Express into LAR, or rent at DEN and drive.

"The Snowy Range Road is a quick scenic drive you can do any time." WY 130 over Snowy Range Pass is closed roughly November to May, and Medicine Bow Peak usually carries snow from October to late June. Sugarloaf, the highest campground near the peaks, often doesn't open until mid-July. The full road runs 98 miles from Laramie to Walcott, so plan a day, start early, and be off the summit before the afternoon storms.

"Downtown has five breweries within a few blocks." Visit Laramie's brewery tour counts four, and one of them, Black Tooth, no longer lists a Laramie taproom on its own website. Altitude Chophouse at 320 S. 2nd Street, with two World Beer Cup golds for its altbier, and Bond's are the anchors, and the Library Sports Grille on Custer Street is the sports bar. Check hours before you build a crawl.

"I-80 is the fast way west from Laramie." In summer, yes. In winter, the 77 miles from Laramie to Walcott Junction is the stretch Wyoming nicknamed the Snow Chi Minh Trail, and the gates close for wind and blowing snow. It was snowed shut four days after it opened in October 1970, and WYDOT has floated rerouting it. Check wyoroad.info before you leave, not at Arlington.

Ideas to Consider for Your Visit

Have you thought about spending a whole day at Vedauwoo? Take I-80 east 15.8 miles to exit 329, and you're among Sherman granite domes that climbers cross the country for, mostly for the offwidth cracks, which are wide, awkward and humbling. Non-climbers can scramble and picnic among the same rocks. The Forest Service campground has 48 sites at $20 a night, open late May to November 1, and there are dispersed campsites in the national forest around it.

Do the Snowies properly. Drive WY 130 west through Centennial, then pick a Medicine Bow Peak route; Lewis Lake Trailhead is the most direct at 1.6 miles, and the Lake Marie loop is longer and gentler, with the peak reflected behind you on the way back if you go clockwise. Start early. Afternoon thunderstorms and hail are routine above treeline. The Gap Lakes Trail, 2.8 miles past South and North Gap Lakes with brook trout fishing along the way, is the quieter alternative. Near the summit, wreckage from the 1955 crash of United Flight 409 still lies at the base of the cliffs.

Spend an hour on campus. The UW Geological Museum at 1000 E. University Avenue is free, open Monday to Saturday 10 to 4, and has Big Al, the Allosaurus found in Wyoming, plus a 75-foot Apatosaurus. Outside stands a life-size copper T. rex, and campus lore says tossing a spruce cone into its mouth during finals week buys you a good grade.

Eat downtown, not on Grand Avenue. Sweet Melissa at 213 S. 1st Street has been doing vegetarian comfort food since 1999, and a Vietnamese-style seitan sandwich with pickled vegetables and sriracha mayo, plus vegan mashed potatoes, made Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in 2022. Alibi Wood Fire at 404 S. 4th Street bakes its own bread and does a brisket pizza on béchamel with horseradish cream. The Crowbar & Grill does thin string fries loaded many ways, bulgogi and pad Thai among them. For breakfast, J's Prairie Rose is the diner locals fill on fall Sunday mornings after a Cowboys win.

Follow the railroad. Start at the Laramie Railroad Depot, built in 1924 and the last Union Pacific building left in town, then cross the steel Garfield Street footbridge, built in 1930 so people stopped dodging trains across nine tracks. From the top you look straight down on the yards and across to downtown. Then walk the West Side historic district on the far side, following the self-guided tour of the old Laramie, Hahn's Peak and Pacific Railroad.

Take the frontier history in order. The Wyoming Territorial Prison at 975 Snowy Range Road is the 1872 cellblock that held Butch Cassidy, with a broom factory, the warden's house and a nature trail along the Big Laramie River. Then the Laramie Plains Museum runs one-hour guided tours of Edward Ivinson's Queen Anne mansion at 603 E. Ivinson Avenue, or a half-price walk-through if you're short on time.

If you have a summer afternoon, ride or walk Curt Gowdy State Park, 24 miles east between Laramie and Cheyenne. The mountain bike network is the draw, and Granite Reservoir has rainbow trout and kokanee, with paddling allowed but no swimming. Check the park's site first; a toxic algae advisory covered Granite's west causeway as of September 30, 2026. Nonresidents pay $12 per vehicle. On the way back, look for pronghorn on the prairie, which the Visit Laramie writers say are "basically everywhere, all the time."

The Part Most Guides Miss

The best thing about Laramie is how close the free stuff is. From a downtown motel you can be on Vedauwoo granite in 25 minutes, or walk the 3.2-mile paved Cirrus Sky Trail on the hill above the north side of town at sunset, or ride the 6-mile paved greenbelt along the Laramie River without getting in the car at all. Most guides treat Laramie as a gas stop between Cheyenne and Rawlins, or as a college town with mountains somewhere behind it. It works the other way around: a cheap, unglamorous bed with the Medicine Bow National Forest wrapped around it, and almost nobody at the trailhead on a weekday.

Where to Base Yourself

Downtown (1st to 4th Streets). The pick for most visitors. You can walk to Sweet Melissa, Alibi, the Crowbar, the breweries and the depot, and the Garfield Street footbridge is a block away. The catch is that lodging right downtown is thin, mostly short-term rentals such as the Mason Loft Condos across from the Ivinson Mansion, which sleep six and suit families. Freight trains also run all night.

Grand Avenue and the I-80 exits. Where the chain hotels are, from Econo Lodge and Days Inn up to Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn, and the easiest place to get a room on short notice. It suits a road trip with an early start toward Vedauwoo or Cheyenne. You'll drive to dinner, and you'll be on a commercial strip that could be anywhere in the country.

Vedauwoo or the Snowies, in a tent. For climbers and hikers between late May and October, skip town entirely. Vedauwoo's Forest Service campground is $20 a night with water and vault toilets, and Sugarloaf in the Snowies puts you a short walk from the Lewis Lake trailhead. Nights are cold at 8,000 to 10,000 feet, even in August, and none of it works in winter.

Realities to Be Aware Of

Budgets, as of October 2026. Camping and cooking, the floor is about $20 for a Vedauwoo site plus groceries and gas, and gas is the big variable at $4.46 a gallon statewide. Mid-range, the federal government's own figure for Laramie this year is $113 a night for lodging and $68 a day for meals, a fair guide to a standard chain room and three ordinary meals. Comfortable means spending over that, and on home football weekends you may have to. Add a rental car; there's no serious way around it.

The altitude is the health issue people underestimate. Town sits at 7,165 feet and the Snowies trailheads around 10,000, high enough that people arriving straight from sea level often get headaches and sleep badly the first night or two. Take the first day easy, drink more water than you think you need, and go light on the beer. The sun is harsh at this height, and the air is dry year-round, with about 10.5 inches of precipitation a year.

Safety is mostly about weather and wildlife. Lightning and hail on Medicine Bow Peak end a lot of summer hikes, so be off the summit by early afternoon. The Snowy Range is where you'll see moose, elk and deer; give moose a lot of room. In winter, carry warm layers and water in the car, and stay off I-80 west in a high-profile vehicle when wind closures are posted. Crime and hassle are low, and there's no tout or scam economy to speak of.

Socially, Laramie is a university town in a conservative state. In 2015 it passed an ordinance banning discrimination against LGBT people in jobs, housing and public places, and Wyoming still had no state hate crimes law as of 2023. Dress is outdoor casual everywhere and tipping follows ordinary US practice. Book well ahead for UW home football weekends, when the town of 31,000 takes in a stadium of 29,000.

If Laramie Is Part of a Longer Trip

Laramie fits best as the Wyoming leg of a Front Range loop. Denver is two and a half hours south, and Boulder is a short detour if you take US 287 through Fort Collins in summer. From Fort Collins it's an easy run to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, so a week can be Denver, Laramie for Vedauwoo and the Snowies, then Estes Park and back to Denver without retracing much road. See the Colorado guide for the rest of that side.

Going west, I-80 runs west toward Salt Lake City, a long day of driving with few towns in between (Greyhound also runs it), and the gateway to the rest of Utah. Do it in summer. If Laramie is one stop on a longer multi-country trip, the realistic air gateway is Denver, which connects worldwide; a routing specialist like AirTreks can build Denver into an open-jaw or round-the-world ticket so you fly in there and out of somewhere else. The LAR to Denver hop is worth adding to a ticket only if you're not renting a car.

Yearly Things to Consider

The seasons here are driven by altitude and wind, not tourists. Summer is short and pleasant, with July highs around 81°F (27°C) and nights in the 40s, and it's when the pass road, the high trails and the campgrounds are all open. From November to April, highs sit in the 30s and 40s, I-80 west closes when the wind and snow pick up, and the Snowies belong to skiers and snowmobilers.

The counterintuitive pick is September. The pass is still open, the high trails are usually clear, and highs are around 70°F (21°C), with October's trail closures still weeks away. The catch is football. Check the UW home schedule and come midweek or on a road-game weekend. Late June has longer days but more snow up high than people expect, since Medicine Bow Peak often holds it until then.

Ideas for Itineraries

3 Days in Laramie

Day one, settle into the altitude gently with the Geological Museum, the Territorial Prison and the Ivinson Mansion, then dinner downtown at Sweet Melissa or Alibi and a walk over the Garfield Street footbridge at dusk. Day two, Vedauwoo, all day: scramble or climb in the morning, then picnic among the rocks. Day three, in summer, drive WY 130 to the Snowies and hike to Medicine Bow Peak or the Gap Lakes, starting early. In winter, when the pass is closed, spend day three at Curt Gowdy State Park, which stays open year-round, or back among the rocks at Vedauwoo.

5 Days in Laramie

Use the three-day plan, then add Curt Gowdy State Park for a morning on the bike trails or the water, and an afternoon at the depot and on the Cirrus Sky Trail. On day five, camp a night at Sugarloaf to see Lewis and Libby Lakes at dawn and fish for brook trout in the Gap Lakes, or drive the whole of WY 130 over the pass and loop back on I-80 from Walcott.

1 Week in Laramie

A week makes Laramie the middle of a loop. Fly into Denver, drive north on US 287 through Fort Collins, and give Laramie four nights: Vedauwoo, the Snowies, Curt Gowdy and a town day. Then drop back into Colorado for two nights in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park before returning to Denver. In winter, cut the mountain driving, add ski days, and check the road report every morning.

2 Weeks or More in Laramie

Two weeks suits a climbing or fishing trip with Laramie as home. Rent somewhere downtown so you can walk to dinner, and spend weekdays at Vedauwoo or on the Snowy Range lakes, where midweek you'll often have the trailheads to yourself. Use weekends for longer runs: Fort Laramie National Historic Site to the north, or Fort Collins and Boulder to the south. Leave one slow day just for the greenbelt, a long breakfast and the Laramie Plains Museum.

Sources

What this guide is built on. Every page below was read for this guide; prices and rules were checked in October 2026.

• Laramie, Wyoming, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
• Laramie, Wikivoyage (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
• Laramie Regional Airport, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Wyoming shuttle service, Groome Transportation (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Transportation Services, University of Wyoming Transportation Services (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Standard Rates, Snowy Range Taxi (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Snowy Range Taxi, Snowy Range Taxi (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Bus from Denver, CO to Laramie, WY, Greyhound (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Interstate 80 in Wyoming, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Nautilus Rock Trailhead, USDA Forest Service, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Travel advice and advisories: United States, Government of Canada (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Visa Waiver Program, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• UW First-Time Student Enrollment Grows 4.7 Percent, University of Wyoming (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• War Memorial Stadium (Wyoming)), Wikipedia (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Wyoming Territorial Prison, Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Permits and Fees, Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Curt Gowdy State Park, Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Vedauwoo Campground, USDA Forest Service, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Vedauwoo, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Wyoming Highway 130, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Medicine Bow Peak, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• How to Spend a Weekend in the Snowy Range, Visit Laramie (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Geological Museum, University of Wyoming (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Guy Fieri's Flavortown Favorites in Laramie, Visit Laramie (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Laramie Beer Brewery Tour, Visit Laramie (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Black Tooth Brewing Company locations, Black Tooth Brewing Company (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Big Boy Steam Engine Itinerary, Visit Laramie (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Sweet Melissa Cafe, Sweet Melissa Cafe (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Alibi Wood Fire Pizzeria and Bakery, Alibi Wood Fire (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Laramie Railroad Depot, Laramie Railroad Depot Association (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• Laramie Plains Museum at the Ivinson Mansion, Laramie Plains Museum (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
• FY 2027 per diem rates for Laramie, Wyoming, U.S. General Services Administration (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
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• Budget-Friendly Laramie Fun: Summer and Fall Edition, Visit Laramie (accessed Oct 4, 2026)