Breckenridge — Page 5
By Tom Kagy | 04 Jul, 2026

The towns of Frisco and Georgetown added visual and atmospheric variety to the final days of our Breckenridge remote-work week.

Blue River Bistro on North Main offers dishes of hearty indulgence at the center of the rustic, historic north side of Breckenridge. (Tom Kagy Photo)

It would be shameful to create the impression that Breckenridge is mostly about what's on Ridge and Main Streets to the south of Lincoln.  Many of the most atmospheric establishments happen to be on North Main, along with a few notable town features, including a decaying museum/police station from decades before its ski-resort era, and the free BreckConnect gondola that carries visitors up toward the ski lifts in winter which, of course, double as scenic hiking trailheads in summer.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to enjoy this feature as it hadn't resumed summer operation yet.

Pure Kitchen in Frisco's newer north side offers dishes made with sustainable organic ingredients. (Tom Kagy Photo)

While exploring this atmospheric stretch of North Main and the trail running along the Blue River, we opted to lunch at Blue River Bistro.  The restaurant was between seasons, with a limited menu.  But it offered everything we needed: hearty—if not downright indulgent—burgers, butternut squash soup, loaded nachos, coffee and draft beer.  The tab came to around $75 with tip, as I recall, which seemed reasonable for a place with a tasteful natural-wood exterior, an industrial-chic interior and efficient, friendly service.

Frisco's historic Main Street has become a tourist attraction in its own right as well as a community for the service workers priced out of the exhorbitant Breckenridge housing market. (Tom Kagy Photo)

Then there's Pure Kitchen, a restaurant that has all the ingredients of a sustainable organic vegetarian restaurant while also offering a few choice meat dishes.  It's located in the newer northern section of the neighboring town of Frisco, in a modern mall near the I-70.   Pure Kitchen was our lunch selection on our Tuesday outing to explore the older, more picturesque southern part of Frisco.  We wanted a taste of what health-conscious locals were consuming in a place that wasn't catering to tourists. 

We ordered a summit stir-fry, which was teriyaki-ginger flavored, some Italian-seasoned hummus, and what might be called black beans and rice, along with a zingy turmeric ginger lemonade.  The tab with tip came to $67.32, a bit pricey for a fairly light lunch in a place that was airy and pleasant but not atmospheric.

The Nara Cafe anchors the west end of Georgetown's historic Sixth Street.  (Tom Kagy Photo)

Historic Frisco: Gateway to Breckenridge

For the vast majority of people who drive in via I-70 Frisco is the gateway to Breckenridge which is just nine miles south on Highway 9.  Breckenridge's pricey homes (generally priced in the low to mid seven-figure range) make Frisco the main bedroom community for the workers who staff Breckenridge, though Frisco real estate too has been soaring recently.

Georgetown's charming Sixth Street runs four blocks east from the I-70.  (Tom Kagy Photo)

Frisco's Main Street gives off a historic vibe while being low-key and unpretentious.  The snow-capped twin knolls that loom over its north end give the town a distinctive scenic quality of its own.  It may have grown up as an affordable bedroom community for those priced out of Breckenridge but it has become a tourist stop in its own right, what with the dramatic vista and attractive Victorian motif of the establishments lining Main Street.  It was well worth the short drive up for a leisurely afternoon experiencing its cafes, bakeries and shops.  

The incongruously elegant Hotel de Paris, now a museum, harkens back to the days when Georgetown was the state's top silver mining town.  (Tom Kagy Photo)

Georgetown: Charming Silver Boom Survivor

We saved Georgetown for our final day in Colorado as it's an hour east on I-70, at about the halfway point of our I-70 drive east to Denver International for our flight home.   The town's charm lies in being a beautifully preserved quiet Victorian mining town, founded in 1859, that didn't get the ski resort makeover and doesn't draw anything like the traffic of Breckenridge.  What gives the town its distinctive feel is the stark juxtaposition between its current population of 1,200 and its onetime status as Colorado's biggest silver mining town and the state's third most populous town.  

For visitors the center of the historic district is four-blocks along Sixth Street, about a mile south of the town's I-70 exit at Fifteenth Street.  The biggest tourist attraction is Hotel de Paris, built with Chinese labor.  It's now a museum but was once a fancy French inn with an English-style interior that drew luminaries like railroad magnate Jay Gould and celebrated Swedish opera singer Christina Nilsson, as well as countless swells from Denver wanting to experience the thrillingly precarious Loop Railroad which remains in operation for today's tourists.

We soaked up Georgetown's charm while enjoying a long chat about Colorado's high-adventure possibilities with Alec Reid—an engaging young songwriter who happens to be co-owner of Nara Visa Coffee—over an excellent latte and cinnamon roll.  Georgetown offers access to exceptional cross-country skiing for which Nara Visa also provides rentals.

For lunch we stopped at 511 Rose, a restaurant with the ambience of a mountain town but elevates comfort food to a level that would make foodies and gourmands happy, and even satisfy many a gourmet.  You don't expect to see fire-roasted tomato soup and grilled zucchini sandwiches on the menu of a mountain cafe.  We were thoroughly delighted by our lunch there, though we didn't have the time to linger as long as we would have liked.