Aspen · Nightlife

Roughly 450-capacity music club at 450 S Galena St that books touring acts across rock, hip-hop and bluegrass most nights in season; tickets go through the venue's own calendar and standing room fills fast. Phone 970 544 9800.

The 1889 opera house on Hyman Avenue, now Aspen's municipal performing-arts venue, programming music, comedy, theatre, film and talks through the year. It is the most reliable place to find something on when the bars are quiet.

The bar at Hotel Jerome, 330 East Main Street, open 11:45am to 11pm Sunday to Wednesday and to midnight Thursday to Saturday. It does burgers and cocktails in a room that dates to the silver-mining town; hotel-bar pricing applies.

Through the summer season the festival puts on orchestral and chamber concerts most evenings, with the box office at 960 North 3rd Street. There is a Free Fridays scheme for under-35s; check the calendar before you plan a night around it.

Aspen shuts down twice a year: roughly mid-April to late May after the lifts close, and late October into November before they open. Restaurants and bars close outright for weeks in those windows, so a night out in shoulder season can mean two or three doors open in the whole town.