The Eldora Parking Situation
There are essentially two Eldora parking lots, but they are connected and sort of shaped like an hourglass. Both USED to be Free. Now they are $20/car if you have less than 3 people. The below photo is of the upper parking lot, which is right up against the base area. The earlier you arrive, the closer you park. However, even if you get the last spot in the lower lot, you are only going to walk about 120 yards to the lifts. Better still, because Eldora is awesome, there are free shuttle buses from the lower lot if you don’t want to walk. Eldora is mainly visited by very fit, very athletic people who come up here to ski, so if anyone under 60 is taking these shuttles, you can be sure that the locals have an opinion about it.
Eldora Upper Parking Lot
Eldora Lower Parking Lot
The lower parking lot at Eldora is right in front of the Nordic and family ski area, so if you are coming up here to cross country or ski on the family side, parking in the lower lot is closer to where you are headed. There are bathrooms at the top of this lot, which you can see in the above picture. They are the brown buildings on the left.
Again, these lots are free and there really is plenty of parking.
Overflow parking
For the 2013-14 season, Eldora was part of the Vail Epic pass and there were just tons of people up here trying to avoid I-70. That isn’t the case anymore, so the crowds will be smaller, and the parking will be more available. When there are tons of people up here, such as with a big powder day, there is overflow parking along the drive in. There are employees helping guide people to the right spots. Many of these spots are farther from the base area, but the free shuttles will still pick up people, and truly the walk isn’t that far.
So fear not. You can always come up and find free parking at Eldora–even on a busy day. Just be sure to get here early if you need a close spot.