Denver, CO Road Trips

Denver sits in a broad valley where the High Plains meet the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 5280 feet (one mile or 1609.344 m), hence its nickname. In 2020, the City and County of Denver had a population of 715,522, while the 12-county Denver Metropolitan Area had a population of 3,623,560. Metropolitan Denver does have its growing pains. Urban sprawl has been a problem, with the metropolitan area sometimes growing faster than its infrastructure can handle, especially with public transportation. Denver is generally a driving city, and some problems with pollution and traffic are a part of everyday life. Extensive mass transportation and freeway expansion projects have been completed. Colorado is on Mountain Standard Time (UTC-07) in the winter and on Mountain Daylight Time (UTC-06) in the summer. The 105th Meridian West, the reference for the Mountain time zone, passes directly through Denver Union Station. Because it lies in the lee of the mountains, Denver has a milder climate than most surrounding areas. Denver residents enjoy a dry climate with abundant sunshine and four pronounced seasons. Heavy snowfalls can occur between October and March, often alternating with days of high temperatures and sunshine. About once a year, a snowfall of over a few feet occurs. Winter is also when the Denver area gets pounded by a phenomenon known as the "Chinook". That's when air flows over the mountains to the west and sinks on the leeward (eastern) slopes of the foothills and warms up. This raises air temperatures dramatically, which can last for several days.

Denver is a vibrant city with plenty of attractions for visitors, plus a diverse collection of neighborhoods that can be attractions in themselves. Many of Denver's older areas are the perfect density for exploration; you'll find an interesting mix of apartments and homes with flowery front gardens, wide flagstone sidewalks, bright green lawns and big, shady trees. Capitol Hill, Highlands, Baker, Berkeley, Uptown, Sloan's Lake, Cheesman, Washington, City and Congress Parks are just some of the neighborhoods bustling with people and places to see. Denver has many beautiful parks that are full of colorful gardens, meandering paths, crystal clear lakes, abundant wildlife and recreation opportunities. The city has a rich pioneer history, and there are plenty of museums where you can learn all about it. It's also a very environmentally conscious city, with one of the nation’s first municipal “Green Fleets”, public transit vehicles using hybrid and alternative fuel and a city tree-planting initiative. Hop on a green bus, grab a bike or just walk around to discover Denver. 1 Black American West Museum & Heritage Center, 3091 California St, ☏ +1 720-242-7428. F Sa 10AM-2PM. Set in the home of Dr. Justina Ford, Colorado's first Black woman doctor, this museum is dedicated to the contributions of Black pioneers in the Old West. The 19th-century building was moved 12 blocks to become a museum. Adults $17, seniors $15, youth 6-17/college ID/military ID $12, children 5 and under free.

Late spring and early autumn are excellent seasons to do things outdoors in Denver. Besides the city's various lush green parks, there are plenty of outdoor festivals, sports, and gondola rides. (Yes, gondola rides.) In winter, the snow-peaked mountains in the distance and the crisp air on your cheeks make it the perfect time to tour Denver's famous breweries or check out the downtown arts scene. 1 Convergence Station (Meow Wolf), 1338 1st St, toll-free: +1-866-636-9969. A labrynthine, immersive, surreal, confusing explosion of creativity in this five-floor installation by the Meow Wolf art team. "Convergence Station" is the official name for this location at Denver, but it is often referred to as "Meow Wolf". The narrative is that this is a station transporting you to other worlds. Your "tram" drops you off at an upper floor, and you percolate down to the ground floor and exit. There is a restaurant off the lobby, and a bar tucked away in one of the astral planes. General admission is for a specific date and time, but paying more buys flexibility. Be aware you will need to wait outside, in the weather, until that time arrives. $39 for fixed entry times, $51 for flexible entry, children 4-12 years less, children under 4 free. (updated Jul 2025) 2 The Southwest Rink at Skyline Park, 511 16th St, ☏ +1 303-825-6787, [email protected]. Skating rink in downtown Denver open from late November to mid February. Skate rental $8 adults/$6 kids, or bring your own skates. 3 Archery Games Denver, 5405 W 56th Ave, Unit D, ☏ +1 720-443 0287, [email protected].

Mexican food is abundant and satisfying and takes a local Denver flavor. Green chili is the order of the day: a brown, chunky and spicy sauce made from pork and Pueblo or Hatch green chilies that works well on everything from chorizo and eggs to tamales. Denver is also known for "western" food using ingredients such as angus beef, buffalo, rattlesnake, cutthroat trout and Rocky Mountain oysters. The city also embraces its cultural diversity with a wide range of ethnic restaurants. Southeast Asian restaurants are especially abundant with a multitude of Thai and Vietnamese restaurants in every style and price range. Like other large cities, Denver has most types of cuisine, and several restaurants have been noted in top food publications. Smoking inside bars and restaurants is prohibited statewide; however, some places with outdoor patios still allow smoking there. The restaurant section of the weekly independent newspaper Westword (available for free every Thursday at newsstands and locations across the city) is a good place to find the food you are interested in for your price-range and location. Below is a sampling of some consistently good choices. 1 The Denver Central Market, 2669 Larimer St. (updated May 2022) Snarf's Sandwiches, multiple locations, ☏ +1 720-389-7920. Celebrated local chain of off-beat sandwich shops offering a variety of store-made ingredients, including their signature hot pepper giardiniera, in both traditional deli-style and more adventurous combinations.

Colorado produces more beer by volume than any other state and Denver ranks first for US cities. In fact, former Colorado governor (and former Denver mayor) John Hickenlooper was a microbrewer before running for office. Notable breweries in Denver and environs include: 1 Great Divide Brewing Co., 2201 Arapahoe St, ☏ +1 303-296-9460. Offers 30-minute tours on the hour M-F 3-5PM, Sa Su 2-6PM 2 Wynkoop Brewing Company. 3 Bull & Bush. 4 Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, 200 S Kalamath St (1/2 block north of Alameda, NE corner), ☏ +1 303-296-7440. 5 Rail's End Beer Company, 11625 Reed Ct. Unit B, Broomfield, ☏ +1 303-353-8121. Food trucks frequent this location. Parking lot is limited, but there is plenty of street parking. (updated May 2021) 6 Rock Bottom. A national chain of brewpubs. The effects of alcohol are magnified at higher elevations, so people may find themselves inebriated more quickly and with greater effect than they would at lower altitudes. Moderation is probably a good idea until you understand your body's reaction to alcohol and can acclimatize to its effects at higher elevations. That said, the following are some of the best bar-hopping locales in the city: LoDo is the name Colorado locals have given the Lower Downtown district of Denver. It's a great place for meals, entertainment, and nightlife, where restored Victorian buildings now house more than 90 sports bars, brew pubs, jazz clubs, and restaurants. 7 The Cruise Room, 1600 17th St, ☏ +1 303-825-1107. 1930s Art Deco martini bar inside the Oxford Hotel. Best martinis in Denver!

1 11th Avenue Hostel, 1112 N. Broadway (at 11th Ave), ☏ +1 303-894-0529, [email protected]. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 11AM. Dorms $30-34, private rooms from $54. (updated Feb 2019) 2 Hostel Fish, 1217 20th St, ☏ +1 303-954-0962, [email protected]. Upscale hostel that opened in July 2015 in a historic building in downtown Denver that occupies top 2 floors of the building and a restaurant and bar on the ground floor of the historic building. The 2 story hostel has 67 dorm beds and 2 private rooms available with free continental breakfast, free wi-fi, guest lounge, bar and kitchen. $45-48 dorms, $150-200 private rooms. (updated Jul 2015) 3 Courtyard Denver Stapleton, 7415 E 41st Ave, ☏ +1 303-333-3303, fax: +1 303-399-7356. Between the airport and downtown Denver. 24-hour market on-site. 4 Sonesta Denver Downtown, 1450 Glenarm Pl, ☏ +1 303-573-1450. Rooms are reasonably spacious and have free broadband internet access and a desk. Breakfast is modestly priced and modest in style. The lobby is typical Holiday Inn. Given the size of the hotel, reception and concierge staff numbers are small but there still seem to be no queues for their services. Stay high in a room on the Glenarm St. side if you want a mountain view. Airport shuttles ($21 to international) serve the hotel. (updated Feb 2021) 5 Embassy Suites by Hilton Denver Tech Center, 10250 East Costilla Ave, ☏ +1 303-792-0433. Near Denver Tech, hotel offers complimentary hot cooked-to-order breakfast and nightly Manager's Reception featuring complimentary cocktails and appetizers.

See this Colorado travel map. 1 Denver International Airport (DEN IATA), 8500 Peña Boulevard, ☏ +1 303-342-2000, [email protected]. Locally known as "DIA", the airport is located 18 miles (29 km) east-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol and is one of the ten busiest airports in the world. The RTD commuter rail A line connects the airport to Denver Union Station in about 37 minutes. General aviation airports: 2 Centennial Airport (APA IATA), 7800 South Peoria Street, Centennial CO (off I-25), ☏ +1 303-790-0598. 3 Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC IATA), 11755 Airport Way, Broomfield CO (off US-36), ☏ +1 303-271-4850. Centennial and Rocky Mountain airports have relatively long runways to accommodate private jet traffic. Flight visibility in the Denver area is often excellent, although weather fronts can arrive suddenly. For small planes, any direction but west is a good choice. Denver is served by Amtrak via its daily California Zephyr service between Chicago and Emeryville, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Westbound trains depart at 8:05AM (for the best views of the Rocky Mountains), and eastbound trains depart at 7:10PM (for a restful night ride to Omaha.) However, as this is one of the longer train routes in the U.S., delays are quite common. 4 Denver Union Station, 1701 Wynkoop St, ☏ +1 833-391-0338. An extensive renovation has restored Union Station to its former glory. It now boasts an on-premise hotel, several restaurants and bars as well as plenty of seating for the tired traveller.

Numbered avenues run east-west in the north half of the metro area, including suburbs. Ellsworth Avenue is the "equatorial" street. Numbered streets increase as you travel north and are generally called avenues. Avenues south of Ellsworth are also named avenues. Named streets run north-south. Broadway is the "meridian" street. Ordered alphabetically going up as you travel east or west away from the city center, though not alphabetical closer to the city center. Addresses on named streets correspond to intersecting numbered streets, so "1701 Broadway" is at 17th and Broadway. North-south streets are generally called streets, not avenues. Downtown streets: The diagonal layout of the downtown area can be tricky, especially for first-time visitors. North of Colfax and west of Broadway, the streets are canted 45 degrees from all other streets in the city. The transition between the two systems is confusing even for locals. Southeast-northwest streets are numbered, while southwest-northeast streets are named. As this was the original grid system of Denver, some vestiges of it exist outside of downtown, creating diagonal cuts in certain parts of the city. Some of those streets include Park Avenue, Speer Boulevard and Morrison Road. Denver has a system of toll roads. There are two types, the Express Lanes and full toll roads. The Express Lanes take a lane on existing highways and are divided from regular traffic by double white lines. Crossing over these lines will be subject to a fine of up to $250 from 1st January 2025.

Denver is quite safe for a city its size. Use common sense when traveling, particularly in downtown and some of the other inner-city neighborhoods. Denver does have a visible population of people experiencing homelessness, but the city has strict laws about accosting for money. In general, panhandlers don't harm anyone. Downtown has a fairly active 24/7 population, especially in LoDo, so it's generally safe. Still, it may be a good idea not to travel alone at night in some of the neighborhoods surrounding downtown. Although the inner-city neighborhoods are not as bad as those in some other cities, they have higher rates of crime than the rest of the city. The rest of Denver is safe, though. Like the rest of the United States, the emergency number in Denver is 911. This will connect you to the local emergency services (police, medical, and fire). If you need to report a crime to the police, such as a burglary (not in progress), minor assault (no injuries and not in progress), car theft, etc. Dial ☏ +1 720-913-2000 and request for police assistance. The Denver Police is the main police force for the Denver Metro area. Most police officers are polite and trustworthy individuals, so if you need assistance, approaching a police officer is a good idea. Altitude sickness or Acute Mountain Sickness is an ailment that potentially anyone can have when they visit areas with higher altitudes than they are used to, due to decreases in barometric pressure (though not oxygen content).