Where to Park in Vail, Beaver Creek, Avon and Edwards: A Vail Valley Parking Guide

Where should you park in Vail Village and Lionshead?

Most day visitors to Vail park in one of the two big town-owned structures along the South Frontage Road. The Vail Village Parking Structure at 241 South Frontage Road East is the closest public parking to Vail Village and houses the Vail Transportation Center, where regional buses and the free in-town shuttle stop. The Lionshead Parking Structure at 354 South Frontage Road West serves Lionshead Village and the Eagle Bahn Gondola side of the mountain, and it has its own transit center on site. Both structures are run by the Town of Vail, both use the same retail rate schedule, and both fill early on powder days and holiday weekends, when the town may open overflow parking on the Frontage Road.

Vail prices these structures by length of stay and by whether the day is designated peak or non-peak on the town's parking calendar. A short stop is free, charges rise in hourly bands, and peak days carry a higher daily cap than non-peak days. The table below lists the bands from the town's most recent published winter program. The town also runs a long-standing Free After 3 rule: vehicles that enter the Vail Village or Lionshead structure after 3 p.m. park free until the early morning, which makes an afternoon lap, an evening dinner or a concert in the village inexpensive. A separate overnight charge applies to any vehicle still in the structure during the early-morning check window, so the structures are not a free place to leave a car overnight.

If the two main structures are full or you want to save money, the Town of Vail runs three smaller paid areas. Red Sandstone Garage at 551 North Frontage Road West is a short walk to Lionshead and is served by the free bus; its lower levels are the town's designated option for paid overnight parking. The Ford Park lot at 720 South Frontage Road East and the Soccer lot at 646 Vail Valley Drive sit near Golden Peak, the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater; both use a lower rate schedule, both are regularly reserved for events, and neither allows overnight parking. Check the town's event parking calendar before planning around Ford Park, because concerts and games change what is available.

Private garages also exist. The Town of Vail lists the Solaris garage at 141 East Meadow Drive, the Cascade garage in Cascade Village and the Evergreen Hotel garage on the South Frontage Road, along with several hotel valets. Private operators set their own rates and rules, and hotel parking is usually reserved for guests. If you are staying at a lodge, ask before you arrive whether a space is included, whether it is valet only, and whether there is a height limit for roof boxes and ski racks.

Is there free parking in Vail?

Yes, with conditions. Donovan Park, at 1600 South Frontage Road West, offers free day parking. You register your license plate by scanning the QR code on the signs in the lot, and the free Town of Vail bus runs from there into Vail Village and Lionshead. Donovan Park can be restricted on days when Donovan Pavilion hosts an event, and the town prohibits overnight parking there between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Registration also lets the town tell you the same day if the lot is closing for an event, so register even when the lot looks empty.

Beyond Donovan Park, free parking in Vail is mostly about timing and passes. Short visits are free in the main structures, entries after 3 p.m. are free under the town's published program, and the Ford Park, Soccer and Red Sandstone areas allow a free short stay. Eagle County residents, Vail property owners and people who work in Vail can buy a town parking pass that discounts these rates, and certain employee passes make daytime parking at the outlying lots free. Those passes and their eligibility rules are covered in our ski-season parking guide for locals and seasonal workers.

On heavy days the town uses the North Frontage Road in West Vail, across from the West Vail Mall and west of Fire Station 3, as signed overflow parking with free bus service into the villages. Frontage Road overflow is only legal where and when signs allow it. Vail has been reducing the number of overflow days, and the parking program's stated goals include limiting Frontage Road parking and encouraging use of the free bus system. Do not assume a shoulder is available because cars were parked there on a previous weekend.

Where do you park for Beaver Creek?

Beaver Creek Resort sits above Avon, and there are two main ways to park for it. The first is the covered garages in Beaver Creek Village: Ford Hall garage is steps from the Centennial Express lift, and the heated Villa Montane garage next to the Vilar Performing Arts Center is the resort's designated garage for ADA-accessible parking. Garage parking puts you in the village next to shops, restaurants and lifts, but Beaver Creek states that no overnight parking is permitted at any of its garages. Garage rates are posted at the entrances and change by time of day, so check the signs when you pull in.

The second option is the resort's surface lots at the base of the mountain road. The Elk lot on US-6 and the Bear lot on Prater Road offer day parking with complimentary shuttles up to the Covered Bridge in Beaver Creek Village. Beaver Creek publishes the winter lot pricing: a per-vehicle charge for entries before 1 p.m., free entry after 1 p.m., and free lot parking outside the winter operating season. The parking-lot shuttles run early morning to after midnight daily, and you can follow them live in the Village Connect app. Like the garages, the Elk and Bear lots do not allow overnight parking in winter or summer.

Once you are in the village, Beaver Creek's on-demand Village Connect service links Beaver Creek, Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead at no charge. If you are coming from Vail or elsewhere in the valley, Core Transit's seasonal Vail/Beaver Creek Express and the fare-free Avon/Beaver Creek Connector, operated by Avon Transit, avoid the parking question entirely. Many locals who ski Beaver Creek regularly park in Avon and ride up rather than compete for village garage space on weekends.

What are the parking rules in Avon?

Avon, at the bottom of Beaver Creek and along the Eagle River, has the most generous public parking in the Vail Valley. The Town of Avon advertises more than 200 free parking spaces spread across the town center, with on-street bays, surface lots and structured parking, all within walking distance of the free Avon buses and the free Riverfront Express Gondola, which connects Avon to Beaver Creek during the winter season. Look for the town's blue circle P signs, which mark public spaces and their time limits.

Rules change by season. From April 1 through November 30, parking on town-owned streets such as East and West Benchmark Road, Lake Street and West Beaver Creek Boulevard is free during the day. From December 1 through March 31, vehicles must be registered for all on-street parking in Avon using the text-to-park number on each area's signs, with a free window and then an hourly charge during regulated daytime hours, as shown in the comparison table below. Separate rules apply at the Avon Recreation Center, Town Hall, Public Library and the Lot 16 lot north of Nottingham Park, which are managed for their patrons.

Overnight parking is not allowed on Avon's streets or in its town lots. Avon's parking regulations bar on-street parking in the early-morning hours year-round so that plows and street crews can work, and the town center lots post no parking from midnight to 6 a.m. That makes Avon a strong choice for a day at Beaver Creek or a dinner in town, but not a place to leave a car for a week while you stay somewhere else.

Where can you park in Edwards?

Edwards is an unincorporated community in Eagle County between Avon and Wolcott, strung along US-6 and the Eagle River. It has no town-run parking system like Vail or Avon. Most parking in Edwards belongs to shopping centers, offices, medical buildings and residential associations, and it is intended for their customers, tenants and residents. Posted time limits, customer-only signs and towing warnings are common, and using a retail lot as a ski-day park-and-ride is a quick way to be towed.

What Edwards does have is transit. Core Transit's Highway 6 route runs between Edwards and Vail with stops in Avon and Eagle-Vail, and the Valley route connects Edwards to Avon, Vail, Eagle and Gypsum. Both are fare-free within this part of the valley. For people who live or work in Edwards, that makes a car-free commute to Vail or Beaver Creek realistic, and it makes Edwards a practical base for anyone who needs somewhere legal and secure to keep a vehicle while they get around the resorts by bus.

Wins Parking operates a permitted monthly yard at the Edwards Stone Yard (33885 US-6, Edwards, CO 81632). It is not a daily pay lot; it serves businesses that need a reserved, legal place to keep vehicles for months at a time, in yard zones from $1,250 a month. Single vehicles use the second Wins lot near Eagle County Airport (60 Spring Creek Rd, Gypsum, CO 81637), where a Standard permit is $210 per month for one to five vehicles, billed monthly with a 3-month minimum term that renews in 3-month blocks unless canceled.

How do the buses and park-and-ride options connect the valley?

The Town of Vail describes its bus service as one of the largest free transportation systems in the country, and with Core Transit and Avon Transit layered on top, the Vail Valley is well covered by free buses. That is why the smartest parking plan is often to park once and ride. The Town of Vail runs free year-round buses throughout Vail, including the in-town shuttle between Vail Village and Lionshead and outlying neighborhood routes to and from Vail Mountain. Every Town of Vail parking area in this guide, including Donovan Park, Red Sandstone and the Frontage Road overflow, has free bus service into the villages.

For trips between towns, the regional operator is Core Transit, which took over the routes previously run by ECO Transit when the Eagle Valley Transportation Authority and ECO Transit combined operations. Core Transit keeps the familiar routes: the Valley route along I-70 from Dotsero and Gypsum through Eagle, Edwards and Avon to Vail; the Highway 6 route between Edwards and Vail; the Minturn and Leadville routes; and a seasonal Vail/Beaver Creek Express. Most Core Transit routes are fare-free. A fare applies only to trips to or from Gypsum, Eagle County Regional Airport or Leadville, and it is paid through the Core Transit mobile tickets app, since no cash is accepted on board.

In Avon, the Town of Avon's free buses loop through town and stop at Beaver Creek's Elk lot, and the fare-free Avon/Beaver Creek Connector runs between Avon and Beaver Creek Village with transfers to Core Transit's regional routes. Beaver Creek's own complimentary shuttles cover the trip from the Elk and Bear lots to the Covered Bridge. Put together, a driver can leave a vehicle in one legal place, whether a free day lot, a paid structure or a monthly permit space, and reach both mountains without moving the car.

Schedules change twice a year. Core Transit publishes separate summer and winter timetables, and winter service is when the Vail/Beaver Creek Express and the most frequent departures run. Check the current schedule and live bus tracking before relying on a specific connection, especially for early starts and late returns.

What are the winter overnight parking and snow-removal rules?

Winter is when parking rules in the Vail Valley are enforced most strictly, because plows need clear streets. Each fall the Town of Vail moves to winter snow-removal operations, and in recent seasons that has meant no on-street parking anywhere in town from mid-November until late April. The town does not allow on-street or shoulder parking during snow operations, including for construction vehicles, and vehicles left on town streets or shoulders may be ticketed or towed. After a storm, roads serving the hospital, schools, commercial areas and the ski area are plowed first, with residential streets following.

Overnight options in Vail are limited and deliberate. The Vail Village and Lionshead structures charge an overnight fee to any vehicle present during the early-morning window, the lower levels of Red Sandstone Garage are the town's designated paid overnight option, and Ford Park, the Soccer lot and Donovan Park do not allow overnight parking at all. Oversized vehicles such as RVs and trailers may park overnight only in the roped area west of Vail Fire Station 3 on the North Frontage Road. Beaver Creek allows no overnight parking in its garages or in the Elk and Bear lots, and Avon prohibits overnight parking on its streets and in its town lots.

The practical result is that there is no free, legal place in the resort towns to leave a car for several nights in a row. Visitors staying in a lodge should use the lodging's own parking. Anyone else, such as a second-home owner who flies in and out, a seasonal worker living without an assigned space, or a long-stay visitor staying with friends, needs an off-street arrangement: a private garage, a lodging space, or a monthly permit at a lot that allows vehicles to stay.

Winter rules also reach the highway. Colorado's Traction Law is in effect every year from September 1 through May 31 on the I-70 Mountain Corridor between Dotsero and Morrison, which includes the entire Vail Valley stretch of I-70. Under the updated law, vehicles need tires with at least 3/16-inch tread that are winter, all-weather or mud-and-snow rated, or chains or an approved traction device, and the rule applies to four-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles as well.

When does a monthly permit in Gypsum make more sense?

For a single ski day, a weekend or a week at a lodge with parking, the resort structures, Beaver Creek lots and free options above are the right choice, and a monthly permit is not. A Wins Parking permit is built for a different situation: a vehicle that needs to stay put, legally and securely, for a month or more. That covers seasonal workers who live without a reliable space, second-home owners who keep a car in the valley between visits, long-stay visitors, and anyone whose employer, landlord or HOA does not provide winter parking.

The terms are simple. A Standard permit for a car, SUV or pickup is $210 per month for one to five vehicles, with lower per-vehicle rates for six or more, and a 3-month minimum term that lines up with a ski season. You are billed monthly, and the term renews in 3-month blocks unless you cancel before it ends. There are no hourly, daily or weekly charges, and no taxes or fees are added. Both lots offer around-the-clock access, lighting and snow removal, and you reserve and pay online. The Gypsum lot is near Eagle County Regional Airport on the Valley route; businesses can instead rent a yard zone at the Edwards Stone Yard on US-6, on the Highway 6 and Valley bus corridors, from $1,250 a month.

The trade-off is location. Neither lot is in Vail Village or Beaver Creek, so you ride the bus or drive the last stretch. What you gain is a fixed monthly cost instead of paying resort structure rates day after day, no risk of a snow-removal tow, no need to move the car between free lots, and a known place to leave a vehicle while you travel. If your plan involves leaving a car for weeks, compare the resort daily caps in the tables on this page with a single monthly permit, and read our ski-season parking guide for a fuller comparison of season-long options.