Named for an executive of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad who founded the town, Minturn cultivates a frontier authenticity that Vail and Beaver Creek strive to replicate. Minturn’s 946 residents dwell in quirky candy-colored bungalows and Craftsman-style duplexes, do laps around the Nordic track at one of the nation’s only public ski schools, and pretty much just enjoy life far removed from the inescapable buzz of I-70.

“It feels like the small-town Vail was when I grew up here,” says Sacha Gros, a former U.S. Ski Team racer who now runs his family’s Vista Bahn Ski Rentals in Vail Village and keeps a flock of chickens outside his cozy home on Minturn’s Main Street.

Same goes for Red Cliff, the oldest town in Eagle County. This hamlet, tucked in a valley beneath a soaring Art Deco bridge, is home to 263 very friendly people, plus a few more thanks to the Water Street Residences, nine new two- to three-bedroom townhomes among the Victorian cottages in the heart of town, starting at $430,000.

“You’re only 20 minutes from Vail and Beaver Creek,” says BHHS’s Kyle Denton.
Living in a valley lost in time.

Number of active listings on the market, at press time: 15

Median home price of active listings: $741K

Number of homes sold in 2020: 36

Median price of homes sold: $698K

Average number of days on the market: 117