The clear, shallow Eagle River running over stones in Edwards beneath cottonwood trees in full golden fall color
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The Eagle River in October. The cottonwoods turn gold, the crowds go home, and the river doesn’t care either way.
A Wandering Mustache Series · Greater Vail Valley · Stop Three

Minturn, Avon & Edwards

Where the locals eat, the prices come down, and a bear drinks from the restaurant fountain.

Here’s the secret the resorts would rather you didn’t know: the best-value food in the valley isn’t on the mountain or in the villages. It’s down the hill, in Minturn, Avon and Edwards, where we eat when we’re done paying resort prices.

Minturn is tiny, with a saloon, a whisky cottage and a taco shop with chairs. Avon sits at the foot of Beaver Creek, with a few more restaurants to choose from. Edwards is where we buy our groceries, our steaks and our running shoes, and where we eat lunch on the best patio in the valley.

Running through all three is the Eagle River, which Buddha, our Pup-Stache, considers his personal swimming pool. It picks up Gore Creek from Vail at Dowd Junction, near Minturn, and Beaver Creek in Avon on its way west, so every page in this series drains into his pool. You’ll see the evidence.

The Greater Vail Valley Series The Hub  ·  Vail  ·  Beaver Creek  ·  Minturn, Avon & Edwards

Full Disclosure
Trip Dates Summers, falls & ski weeks, 2015–2026 · Style Lunch, groceries and the river
Incentives Not a Dime · Photo Creds All Stache

We paid full price for everything. Every link in this post goes straight to the vendor. No commission, on links or on reviews. Ever.

Trust us? Check out our Edwards Wander Map and our Vail Valley, Avon & Beaver Creek Wander Map (Minturn and Avon are on that one).

*As always, no commissions from our links. We encourage booking early and direct. These maps are always a work in progress, and are curated from all past trips and current research.

These pins also power ai-tinerary, our invite-only itinerary tool. Same stamps, same opinions.

The Gripe

The Car, the Gondola and the Misses

We’ll do the bad first. We always do.

You need a car. That’s the price of the cheaper food. Core Transit runs a free bus along Highway 6 through Edwards, Avon and Vail, and a bus up to the Beaver Creek base, but we haven’t taken either one, so we can’t tell you how it works in practice.

Avon’s gondola problem. We’ve stayed at the Westin Riverfront in Avon. It’s a great property, and its ski access is the Riverfront Express gondola. But the gondola doesn’t run unless the Leav the Beav trail (the way back down to Avon, as the official trail map spells it) is open, and in a low-snow year it isn’t. Lately that happens more and more. Then you’re at the mercy of one or two shuttles. There is a reliable ski taxi, but it can’t always drop you near the lift. Sometimes it leaves you at the Vilar Performing Arts Center, which is quite the walk to the base in ski boots.

Cheaper isn’t always better. Down-valley has its misses too. We name them below.

Minturn

A Saloon, a Wee Dram and the World’s Most Best Tacos

The front of a small pink-and-white building with a Rocky Mountain Taco sign above the door in Minturn
Rocky Mountain Taco, Minturn: the only location with indoor seating. The tortas and burgers are a bonus; the tacos are still the world’s most best.

Minturn is small enough to see in an afternoon, and that’s the point. The Minturn Saloon serves good food in tiny Minturn. The Wee Dram, Minturn Whisky Co.’s tasting room, is dog friendly: grab a wee dram in a wee cottage. Sunrise Minturn pours great coffee. Thai Kitchen is good Thai for the mountains. It can be spicy.

And Rocky Mountain Taco: the world’s most best tacos. Need we say more? The Minturn shop is the only one with indoor seating, and the tortas and burgers are a real bonus. A Scout-Stache also tells us Magustos does good burgers. We haven’t been.

Avon

The Westin, the Gondola and Where to Eat Instead

Beaver Creek Mountain seen from Avon in late November, narrow white strips of man-made snow on the ski runs above a brown golf course
Late November: ski season, technically. Those white ribbons are snowmaking, not snow.

Where we stayed. The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa is an excellent hotel: large, very dog friendly, with excellent services and great skier services, when the gondola is running. See The Gripe. Inside the Westin, Colletta is new. We really wanted to love it. The service was good, but the food fell short. Large portions, though. Nearby, the Lookout Bar has great views; enjoy the maze trying to find the entrance.

Where we ate. Vin48 has good service, excellent food and a great wine list, with a dog-friendly patio. Fattoria: good food, good service, dog-friendly patio. Avon Bakery & Deli makes excellent sandwiches and to-go items. Rocky Mountain Taco has several taco-truck locations around Avon. And a Scout-Stache swears Phở 20 is the best pho in the valley.

The misses, honestly. Sauce on the Creek has great gluten-friendly options and middling food. Pazzo’s is OK pizza, with a dog-friendly patio. Ti Amo, technically in EagleVail, is old-school Italian: usually good, but it can miss. It sits on the Green Mile, the stretch of Highway 6 locals know as the place to buy THC, so if the people at the next table seem very happy with their bread basket, that may be why.

Supplies. R Farmers’ Market & Kitchen is a great small purveyor of meat and market goods. For the dog, Fresh Tracks Pet Shop has an excellent selection of food and toys. There’s an Avon store too, but the EagleVail shop is the one with the self-service dog baths, and after a muddy hike that’s the one that matters.

Outside. The Eagle River path through Avon is a dog-friendly walking path with pup splash zones in the river. EagleVail Golf Club is hit-or-miss golf with excellent views and great multi-pack discounts, but play is slow and the fairways suffer during water restrictions. It’s closed for the season until spring.

Edwards

The Best Patio in the Valley, Now With Bear

A young bear with a cinnamon-brown coat resting high in the leafy branches of a cottonwood at the Drunken Goat in Edwards
The Drunken Goat’s newest regular. Climbed down now and then for a drink from the fountain. Didn’t tip.

The Drunken Goat is our favorite restaurant down-valley: very dog friendly, excellent service, the best outdoor dining around, and lunch that runs from healthy to indulgent. The cheese selection alone is worth the drive. This fall, the patio acquired a bear. A young one got itself treed outside and climbed down now and then to drink from the restaurant’s fountain. You may be in town, but you’re still in the mountains.

Craftsman Brew Co has the best burgers and beer in the valley, plus chicken and sometimes a lobster roll. Good fries, gluten-free buns, an excellent mushroom Reuben for the vegetarians, and a full bar. il Mago does excellent gluten-free pizza and has a good wine list. Bender’z Burgers: good burgers, but stick to the regular fries. The truffle fries are a bit oily.

For breakfast, Café 163 has great breakfasts with outdoor seating (closed Mondays and Tuesdays). Village Bagel is a great local micro-chain for bagels and bagel sandwiches, with great French toast; the coffee is just OK. For better coffee, Yeti’s Grind, another local micro-chain. Hovey & Harrison is a nice spot for breakfast or lunch, and often has specialty groceries. Sundae scoops He-Stache’s favorite ice cream ever: salted cookies and cream.

Groceries. Village Market is our favorite local grocer, with great specialty foods. Cut is the best butcher in the valley. Vail Valley Pharmacy is an excellent locally owned pharmacy with a great selection of wines and gifts. Compounding is a bonus.

Shopping. Bookworm of Edwards is a super cute bookstore with great coffee, light bites and eclectic gifts. Peak Performance Footwear is the best shop for On running shoes and other high-end sneakers. Ptarmigan Sports has cute mountain and hiking clothes, including Patagonia, and often Hammitt bags. For women’s clothes and fun jewelry, try Valleygirl, Ruby Jane and Wild Heart, which is cute and somewhat more affordable.

Up the hill. Vista at Arrowhead serves excellent food with excellent service at the Country Club of the Rockies. Our notes call it a private club with a small area open to the public; its own site says it’s open to the public, behind a gated entrance. Either way, it’s closed between seasons, so check first.

A golf ball on a tee on a bright green fairway sloping toward a mountain valley at Cordillera
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Teed up, optimistic, unlikely.
A rolling green golf course surrounded by forested mountains under a blue sky at Cordillera
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The view is the hazard.

Golf at altitude: the ball flies farther. Sometimes. Depends entirely on who hit it.

Golf

The Best Courses Are Private

The best golf courses in the valley are private. Cordillera, above Edwards, is a members-only club. The resort and public courses in Vail, Beaver Creek and Avon are very good, but play can be slow. Pack patience, and a few extra balls.

The River

Pup-Stache’s Swimming Pool

She-Stache in a visor and He-Stache in sunglasses taking a smiling selfie beside the rushing Eagle River in Edwards in June
The Eagle River in June: fast, cold and the only thing in the valley moving faster than He-Stache to lunch.

The Eagle River runs right through Edwards, and it changes with the season. In June it’s fast and cold with snowmelt. By August it slows enough for a dog to swim. By October the cottonwoods along the banks turn gold and the river runs clear.

Pup-Stache treats every season as swim season. He tests the water one paw at a time, then commits with all four. We have the photos to prove it.

The easiest access we’ve found is in Avon, on the dog-friendly Eagle River path, which has pup splash zones built right in. Bring a towel. Bring two.

Pup-Stache wading into the clear, rocky Eagle River, stepping between round stones
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Testing the water. One paw at a time, then all four.
Pup-Stache standing chest-deep in the rippling Eagle River among smooth boulders
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Fully committed.
Pup-Stache swimming across a wide, shallow stretch of the Eagle River with evergreens on the far bank
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Swimming. Actually swimming this time. We have proof.
She-Stache sitting on river rocks while a wet Pup-Stache leans in for a hug
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She-Stache got the river. Pup-Stache got She-Stache.

Pup-Stache’s preferred water source: all of it.

Getting Around

Bring the Car

You’ll want a car down-valley. Everything here is spread along the highway, and the best spots are a short drive apart, not a short walk.

On a bike, the paved Eagle Valley Trail links Vail to Edwards, and e-bikes are welcome. There are a few short stretches where you’re forced onto the road, minimal unless there’s construction. It’s steep and the air is thin. Think twice before you skip the e-bike.

The Hard Reality

Eat Like a Local, Pay Like One

Down-valley is where you eat like a local and pay like one. Rent a car for at least a day, fill the cooler at Village Market and Cut, and let the dog swim.

Rent the car. Eat the tacos. Order the cheese. And look up before you sit down at the Drunken Goat.

Pup-Stache standing on rocks at the edge of the Eagle River in Edwards, shaggy and dry
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Post-swim hair.
The Links

We Wouldn’t Send You Somewhere We Wouldn’t Go

No kick-backs for links. Ever.

Last Stop
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