Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S. > City vs. City
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
View Poll Results: Which city has the best scenery and outdoor access?
Seattle 37 82.22%
Denver 8 17.78%
Voters: 45. You may not vote on this poll

Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 10-11-2013, 11:00 PM
 
399 posts, read 879,053 times
Reputation: 264

Advertisements

Which city has the best scenery and outdoor access, Seattle or Denver?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-12-2013, 03:44 AM
 
Location: Phoenix
29,783 posts, read 18,638,771 times
Reputation: 25769
Best scenery is Seattle...Puget Sound, Lake Washington, Olympic Mountains to the SW and Cascade Mountains to the east, lush forests, huge trees.

Best outdoor access depends on whether you can stand the rain more (Seattle) or the cold more (Denver). I would pick Denver for outdoor access.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-12-2013, 07:31 AM
 
Location: Austell, Georgia
2,217 posts, read 3,876,933 times
Reputation: 2252
Scenery is a giving Seattle, probably the most beautiful city in the lower 48s.

Denver has the closer access to the mountains and ski resorts. Seattle has the Pudget sound and close enough proximity to the Cascades. If you like to ski Denver is the better option but I personally think Seattle on a clear day offers more to do outdoors as a whole. Both are great for the outdoors type, and make us people back east blush.

I voted Seattle but can understand if someone voted Denver.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-12-2013, 11:53 AM
 
399 posts, read 879,053 times
Reputation: 264
I think the flatness and prairies is what mostly holds Denver back, and lack of a large body of water. Its also really brown there.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-12-2013, 12:04 PM
 
Location: Denver/Atlanta
6,083 posts, read 10,634,243 times
Reputation: 5872
OMG, I knew this thread was coming some day. Denver will lose so badly.

For Scenery, Seattle. For Outdoor activity, tie.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoorSeattle View Post
I think the flatness and prairies is what mostly holds Denver back, and lack of a large body of water. Its also really brown there.
No, Denver is not brown. The plains around Denver and around the Airport are brown. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. People will never learn this.

Last edited by Mezter; 10-12-2013 at 12:54 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-12-2013, 12:07 PM
 
9,961 posts, read 17,435,379 times
Reputation: 9193
Both are very close to mountain scenery and skiing. Actually Seattle is actually closer to skiing than Denver itself, since Snoqualmie Pass can be reached in under an hour without traffic or evenclose to about 45 minutes if you drive fast enough. However Snoqualmie, with the exception of super steep little Alpental is sort of small-scale and more of a begginners hills on the connected areas there. To get to better skiing you're going to be driving a little further to Stevens Pass(1.5 hours) or Crystal Mountain(which is the closest thing to a big Colorado-style resort in Washington) about an 1 hour 45 minutes away.

From Denver on the other hand one can reach Loveland Pass and Araphoe Basin in about an 1 hour 15 minutes(or closer if you're on the west side of the metro) and Winter Park in about the same. Though where Denver really starts outshining Seattle is when you look at what's availble for skiing(and with multi-resort passes it's even more accesible) within 1.5-3 hours of Denver. Then you have Vail/Beaver Creek, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, Aspen and Snowmass and Aspen Highlands. And drive further and you can reach Crested Butte with only Telluride maybe too far for a weekend trip.

As far as mountains for hiking or climbing go, both have great access--Mt Rainier is probably the most spectacular place for mountaineering within that close a distance to a major city anywhere in the US. There's places like the Alpine Lakes area closer to Seattle as well along with the North Cascades which are a little further along with the Olympics, but they're both in a similar range to driving deeper into the mountains from Denver. The difference with Denver is that once you go west, you're in the mountains with more mountains in every direction for a couple hours. The access to the mountains in Washington is different--you can end up taking a ferry across the Sound to get to the Olympics or driving north along the flatter areas and valleys to get into the North Cascades.

The scenery in Washington is a more varied experience from Seattle, though you can't go wrong with either for the mountains. If someone just wants to ski though, I'd say Denver, skiing from Seattle is good, but doesn't have the range of Colorado. But Seattle is no slouch when it comes to mountains overall--there are mountains that are among the closest to resembling the Alps as anything in the lower 48 in Washington. Colorado has easier access to the mountains(you can drive to the top of some of them) for non-hikers, whereas Washington is a place where some of the most beautiful mountains vistas are a long hike in.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-12-2013, 06:34 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
654 posts, read 1,901,931 times
Reputation: 911
I voted Denver. The title of the thread said best scenery AND outdoor access. Seattle is prettier in the city, no doubt, although I think Denver is pretty too. It is in the combination of the greater area as well as outdoor access that I felt swung my vote to Denver.

Posters have already mentioned skiing. In the Denver area, the ski resorts are larger, more developed, and have better quality snow for skiing. For other recreation in the mountains and in the city, Denver's weather make it much more enjoyable. Seattle has incredible summers but year round Denver has much more sun.

I love the prairie but I understand not everyone does. It is a personal preference. I don't share the love of the ocean that so many do. The prairies make the world seem so vast with the view of the skies and stars. There is also something special about thunderstorms on the plains. I love that you can begin to see the first of the Rockies from freaking Limon, CO! What is that, like 75 miles from the mountains.

There is no loser between these two. They are both wonderful cities for a mix of city life with outdoor recreation. I'd love to live in either.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-13-2013, 02:31 AM
 
Location: Pacific NW
6,413 posts, read 12,088,268 times
Reputation: 5860
I think Seattle, by virtue of it's waterfront location, simply has more variety of outdoor activity than Denver could ever think of having. If all you want to do is ski, then Denver might be better.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-13-2013, 07:28 AM
 
Location: Friday Harbor
100 posts, read 224,439 times
Reputation: 119
Very longtime Boulder resident here. Seattle wins squarely. So many of our friends have moved there and love it. Greener. More variety. Less dry. Gorgeous scenery. Water! Less time to get to the lifts. Islands. Better summer.

The clincher for us is the brown. Denver is TOO brown for so much of the year. Brown is much more depressing than cloud cover.

Still love Colorado; it just can't win this poll though.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-13-2013, 02:24 PM
 
542 posts, read 1,675,305 times
Reputation: 923
Seattle is second to none

Best city in the US
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S. > City vs. City

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top