Jeep Tours Durango Colorado: Tours & Rentals Compared

A guided jeep tour near Durango costs $69 to $149 per person as posted, and a Jeep rental costs $230 for a half day to $336 for a full day per vehicle. For two people the two come out about even. For four, the rental costs roughly half as much per head, but you do the driving. This guide compares six tour companies and seven rental shops, with posted prices from their own websites in October 2026, and works out the cost per person for groups of two and four.

Should you take a guided jeep tour or rent a Jeep?

Take the tour if this is your first time above treeline. Rent if you want a whole day at your own pace and you are comfortable on a shelf road with a drop on one side.

How much does a tour or rental cost per person?

The crossover is two people. We divided each posted price by the group size, with no fees, fuel or insurance added. Rentals are per Jeep, which seats five.

Read the table this way. A pair splitting a Wrangler pays about what the same pair pays for a tour, so the choice is about driving, not money. A group of four saves at least $25 per person by renting, and as much as $91. Add the extras before you decide: a full tank on return, and tire and glass cover at $25 a day with San Juan Backcountry or $39 with Colorado Outback.

Which Durango jeep tour companies compare?

Six companies sell guided tours. Five of them run something out of Durango, usually into La Plata Canyon. Mild to Wild, Rivertrippers and San Juan Backcountry also guide above Silverton, where the tour meets you in town.

Season: Mild to Wild runs May through early October, depending on snowmelt. Colorado Outback lists mid-May through early October. The other pages do not state dates. Some companies add fees on top. Mild to Wild adds 9 percent for access fees, and its tours need four paid seats to run.

Only one Silverton option starts in Durango. San Juan Backcountry sells a train-and-tour package in which a motor coach leaves the Durango depot at 9:30 a.m., a guide meets you in Silverton, and you ride the train home, arriving about 6:30 p.m. Everyone else makes you drive the 48 miles yourself. Our Million Dollar Highway guide covers that drive and our Silverton guide covers lunch.

Ouray has its own tour companies. Switzerland of America says each of its tours begins in Ouray, and we found none that lists a Durango pickup.

Where do the jeep tours actually go?

Two areas cover most of what you will book.

Above Silverton on the Alpine Loop. This is the headliner. The Bureau of Land Management describes the Alpine Loop as a 65-mile system of unpaved roads linking Lake City, Silverton and Ouray, topping out around 12,800 feet. It draws over 100,000 visitors a year. Half-day tours from Silverton usually head up toward Animas Forks, a mining camp at 11,200 feet that had about 450 residents by 1883. According to the BLM's Animas Forks page, a 23-day blizzard in 1884 buried the town under 25 feet of snow, and residents dug tunnels between buildings. The sister site's guide to Silverton jeep tours maps the rest of the loop.

Out of Durango in the La Plata Mountains. Rivertrippers and Mountain Waters both run up La Plata Canyon toward Kennebec Pass, past the old town site of La Plata City, founded in 1875. Rivertrippers says its route reaches private mining claims with a 25-foot waterfall. Its shorter waterfall tour climbs to 10,000 feet and does not go to the top of the pass. The canyon is about 20 minutes from town, so you give up less of your day to the drive. Colorado Outback runs a third option, a 4-hour Bolam Pass tour that climbs above 11,000 feet behind Purgatory Resort. Read more in our Colorado Outback spotlight.

Jeep rental Durango: who rents Jeeps and what do they charge?

Five shops rent Jeeps in Durango and three rent them in Silverton (Cliffhanger does both). Prices are per vehicle per day, as posted in October 2026.

Cliffhanger also rents Jeeps at 6 Mears Ave in Silverton, but its page posts no rates and asks renters to be 25 or older.

Two traps show up in the table. Southwest's page still carries 2025 in-season prices, so treat its $245 as a guess until it posts 2026. And Mild to Wild appears nowhere in the rental list. Its rental page covers river gear only, and we found no Jeep rentals on its site.

Want a side-by-side instead? These shops rent UTVs and RZRs, priced per machine.

Which roads can you drive yourself?

Plenty of people assume the Alpine Loop demands a lifted, winch-equipped monster. It does not, at least for the classics. It demands high clearance, four-wheel drive on the passes and a driver who stays calm next to a drop.

• Silverton to Animas Forks. The BLM lists it as 12.3 miles, rated moderate, best from May to October. It says the road is passable in summer by two-wheel drive vehicles. It is the easiest way to reach a ghost town.
• Engineer Pass (12,800 feet) and Cinnamon Pass (12,600 feet). Colorado DOT says both passes require a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle. The full loop runs 63 miles and takes 4 to 6 hours by CDOT's count. Lake City tells first-timers to plan six to eight hours with stops.
• Ophir Pass (11,814 feet). The Forest Service calls it generally an easy four-wheel-drive road, but rates it moderate because of a narrow half-mile where two vehicles struggle to pass. Downhill traffic yields to uphill.

Cell phones do not work on most of the Alpine Loop, says the BLM. Download a map before you leave town and tell someone your plan. The hard routes, Black Bear Pass, Poughkeepsie Gulch and Governor Basin, are off the table at every shop that names them.

When is jeep season in the San Juans?

Short and weather-bound. Mild to Wild says its season runs May through early October. Southwest says the 4x4 trails generally run mid-May through the end of October. The high passes come later. Lake City's guide says most open in late June and close after the first big fall storms, with the best wildflowers from mid-July into early August.

June brings snowbanks and loud waterfalls. July and August bring flowers and afternoon storms, so be off the passes by early afternoon. Late September turns the aspens red and gold. See the best time to visit Durango and the month-by-month weather guide for the bigger picture.

What does renting a Jeep or UTV involve?

Paperwork, mostly. Most shops want a driver 25 or older, a license, a credit card and full-coverage insurance, meaning comprehensive, collision and liability together. Your own policy may not extend to a rental off pavement, so ask your agent first.

For a UTV, Colorado Parks and Wildlife says every off-highway vehicle needs a registration or permit, and non-residents buy a permit. Plated street-legal vehicles need the permit on designated OHV trails too. Ask the shop whether it is already on the machine. Fuel up in town, because there is no gas on the Alpine Loop.

How do you choose an outfitter?

Ask four questions. A decent shop answers all of them without a pause.

1. Which route, specifically? "Alpine Loop" covers a lot of dirt. You want to know whether you are reaching Animas Forks, crossing a pass or skirting the edge of one.
2. What is the vehicle? An open-air rig with a roll cage and blankets is a different day from a closed van.
3. What is the weather policy? Tours reroute for road conditions, and some need a minimum of paid seats to run.
4. What fees sit on top? Mild to Wild adds 9 percent, San Juan Backcountry adds 6 percent, and some shops add insurance or tire cover.

Browse the full list under tours and outfitters or the local tour operators.

What should you bring, and what can you pair it with?

Layers, first. Passes run far colder than town, so pack a fleece even in July. Sturdy closed-toe shoes matter at the ruins, where old boards and metal lie in the dirt. Add sunscreen, polarized sunglasses and a water bottle. You will spend hours above 11,000 feet, so drink plenty the day before and go easy on the beer the night before.

A common pairing is the Durango & Silverton train up, a tour in the afternoon, and the rails home. If you would rather mix wheels and water, see our rafting companies compared, where Mild to Wild lists a raft-and-jeep day at $239.20. For more ways to fill a free day, browse the day trips from Durango.