Best nightlife neighborhood for bar hopping in Denver for one night out (Boulder: house)

[JohnGuterson]

We're staying at an AirBNB in the hills above Boulder for 4 nights in mid-December. My wife and I are coming with our 4 young kids (oldest is 8, youngest 1) and are planning on doing some relaxing, hiking and sledding (if we get snow). None of us have spent time in Colorado and have heard amazing things. The plan is to cook most meals at the house, although I suspect we'll head down into Boulder to grab lunch and check out what the town has to offer at some point.

We'll be joined by another couple who are bringing their infant baby. They said they'd be willing to babysit all the kids and give my wife and I a night out on the town. We're excited but have many questions.

1) Initially our plan was to go out in Boulder because the Pearl Street Mall is a 15 minute Uber ride from the house we're staying in, while Downtown Denver is a 45 minute ride. We've never been to either Boulder or Denver and assumed the nightlife would be similar, but after doing some research it seems Boulder's offerings are much more limited. It's a college town and the nightlife seems catered toward that crowd. We currently live near a college town but far from a big city and so were thinking we'd rather have a big city nightlife experience since it's harder for us to get to.

So, question 1: Is Denver really that much better than Boulder for nightlife, or are we reading the situation incorrectly? Is it worth the extra 30 minutes in the Uber?

2) Denver seems to have a lot of nightlife neighborhoods - Lodo, Highlands, Capitol Hill, Uptown, South Broadway, etc. I've been reading about these areas but it's hard to really get a sense without going there. Given that I'm 42 and my wife is 37, Lodo sounds a little too young for us. We like a nice mix of pubs, cocktail lounges, dive bars, etc where everything is in walking distance. Don't love the super-bro vibe. Some examples of nightlife neighborhoods we've enjoyed in other cities: Passyunk Square in Philly, Capitol Hill and Ballard in Seattle, Mission District in San Francisco, Main Street in Downtown Houston, Uptown in Minneapolis, Downtown LA, East Village and Park Slope in NYC.

Question 2: Assuming we'll have about 4-5 hours of time in Denver between 9pm and 2am, which area(s) should we go bar hopping in? We can either stay in one area or Uber between areas.

First we thought check out the Lower and Upper Highlands, but that's kind of far from the other areas that seem cool to us - Uptown, Capitol Hill, and South Broadway. And I'm sure there are other areas not on our radar. Is RINO worth checking out? Hard to get a read on that neighborhood. As I said, Lodo is probably not for us but is there a classy cocktail lounge downtown that would be a good place to start the night?

Any help would be much appreciated!! Thanks in advance.

[COcheesehead]

Denver has a different vibe than a lot of the places you mentioned that you like. I feel a little challenged by your question without really knowing what you are looking for. I think you’ll find many parts of Denver catering to a younger crowd at night. I enjoy Rino, with its many brew pubs, but not sure that is what you are looking for. Lodo, though you seem to have written that off, may actually have more of what you seek. It has speakeasies, wine bars, cocktail lounges, good restaurants and less of the brew pub atmosphere of Rino.

[FauxPasOhLala]

Honestly, being close to your ages ourselves, my husband and I really enjoy downtown Littleton more than downtown Denver. Highly walkable, condensed, wine bars, Irish pub, boutique restaurants off the Main Street, etc. it’s changed over the years and a few less authentic businesses have swooped in, but we still enjoy an evening out there.