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Which has more activity/more to do?
~Denver Has many things Seattle doesnt have Downtown. 3 sports venues,!
Ummm no. Seattle has 3 venues. You can argue that Seattle doesn't have an NBA team (which was sham), but Safeco, Qwest (rather ironic, since it's a Denver company) and Key Arena make 3. And Hec Ed and Husky Stadium, while not "Downtown", are 5 minutes from downtown.
Denver is superior to Seattle with mountain backdrop skylines but Seattle has a waterfront Denver lacks.. downtown activity is Seattle but Denver is catching up
Both are great examples of newer Western cities with excellent downtowns. To be honest, I think that aside from the Northeast Corridor, Western cities have the best, most compact and livable downtowns in the country. LA and Phoenix give the region a bad rap, as both have relatively poor downtowns for their city size (although LA is underrated in some regards, Phoenix is awful though) but San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Denver, and to a lesser extent San Diego all have great downtowns.
In any case, on that spectrum San Francisco is clearly at the top, but I would put Seattle second, and Denver/Portland tied for third. The reason I put Seattle above Denver is because it just has more of a big city, high-rise feel and more urban inner-neighborhoods. Let's put it this way, Seattle has real alleys, Denver does not.
Seattle downtown is decent but not great. Lots of edgy and gritty areas there, and Denver beats Seattle there. Seattle has over 250, not 1000 restaurants in its downtown. A tie there. Dt. Seattle is just a little better than Denver's but as good as San Jose, IMO. Denver's vitality is more than Denver's. Downtowns: San Jose-Seattle-Portland-Denver-San Diego-San Francisco-Los Angeles. Call me crazy, but I've been to all those cities, and I may be the only one who knows who's the best.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Denver is a much better sports city having all major league franchise (Seattle lost the NBA and never had the NHL) and Denver has way more passionate sports fans. Denver has a better climate with more abundant sunshine. Denver has a better bar scene, perhaps not in terms of numbers but it's just a much friendlier city and the bars there are more fun. As far as everything else go's from urban cohesiveness, downtown, skyline, dining, neighborhoods, transit I can only echo 90% of what everyone said, Seattle certainly comes out on top with not much contested.
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Originally Posted by durf
Seattle downtown is decent but not great. Lots of edgy and gritty areas there, and Denver beats Seattle there. Seattle has over 250, not 1000 restaurants in its downtown. A tie there. Dt. Seattle is just a little better than Denver's but as good as San Jose, IMO. Denver's vitality is more than Denver's. Downtowns: San Jose-Seattle-Portland-Denver-San Diego-San Francisco-Los Angeles. Call me crazy, but I've been to all those cities, and I may be the only one who knows who's the best.
Only you know what is best? huh? San Jose is dead last in terms of urban vibrancy, it's not even on the radar beyond its business stature. Denver also has edgy gritty areas near downtown, just take a ride up Colfax. So does LA, SF, and pretty much most every other city I've been to, so to say that Seattle has grit is very redundant.
Hi all - anyone who is familiar with both cities, your input would be much appreciated.
I'm not interested in outer neighborhoods or suburbs, but the downtown areas and inner neighborhoods. Also, I know Denver's COL is lower, but I'm hoping for an apples to apples comparison
Here are my questions:
Which has more activity/more to do?
It's pretty even. Though downtown Seattle has multiple nightlife areas, not just one (thought none of them impress individually). Seattle's downtown also has two proper dept. stores. Denver has none. OTOH, I'd rank LoDo, Denver over SoDo, Seattle any day.
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Which is more pedestrian friendly?
Seattle's downtown core is severed from First Hill and Capitol Hill by a wide freeway, with fairly limited crossings (though closely spaced at the financial district). But downtown Denver has massive areas of surface parking, whereas downtown Seattle has most of it's parking lots in the NE corner. Overall, I'd give Seattle the edge.
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Which is more urban and vibrant?
I'd give Seattle the edge here. Denver has the Minneapolis problem of only one real shopping street of any significance.
One big difference is that Greater Downtown Seattle East to Broadway, North to South Lake Union, South to the stadiums has over 5 million square feet of retail space (though much of it is currently vacant). I doubt downtown Denver even has half that.
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Theres over a 1000 restraunts and bars downtown also.
I think there's like 600 or so. And that's counting coffee shops as "restaurants". No way there's 1000. There's only like 1300 restaurants in the entire Seattle city limits.
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