One day in Denver (Colorado Springs, Boulder: sales, house, theater)

[Lester81]

I'll be in Denver for one day in a few weeks. What are the "can't miss" things my hubby and I have to do/see? We'll be staying in LoDo.

[DenverAztec]

Hi Lester81,

Below is a copy of some of the recommendations I gave someone that was here for 2 days. One day is not enough to really venture outside the city and get a true feel of the Rocky Mountains, but decide if you want city or mountains first. If you want city, see below, if you want mountain, that is a whole other topic. Hope this helps!

Denver Aztec

Downtown Denver is the 10th largest downtown in the country. Denver proper is not large but it is surrounded on all its boarders by large suburbs, making the Denver Metro area close to 3 million people. If you have not been to Denver before, you will enjoy it, summer is the best time to be here! It is easy to get around downtown and a significant number of places that are all within walking distance. Denver was just voted 4th most walkable city in the country.


Must See in Downtown:

• Brown Palace
• Union Station
• State Capitol (enter on the north side of the building on the ground entry door - airport security screening)
• Denver Art Museum, the new and old section, new is Daniel Libeskind's first American structure. He is currently one of the architects on the WTC rebuild.
• Cathedral Basilica
• Saint John's cathedral
• Denver Mint
• 16th Street Mall
• Equitable Building on 17th, the Tiffany glass windows inside are worth more then the entire building. 6 million hand placed tiles in the flying buttress ceiling. Built after the one in NYC.
• Civic Center Park, during the day as undesirables there at night
• LoDo for the night clubs, but also for the historical value and city views for photo shoots
• Museum of Contemporary Art, just opened in October 2007.
• Larimer Square
• Pavilions has a Gap, Hard Rock Cafe, United Artist Theater, Banana Republic, Nike Town, etc, if you forget something or just want to hang out and rest while people watching.
• Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the Paramount have concerts and shows continuously. Ticket sales are second only to NYC.
• Pepsi Center/Invesco Field and Coors fields are all easily reachable by foot/mall shuttle or light rail.
• use the free mall shuttle for downtown
• Take the light rail to see the outer sections of Denver. Advise to take it from downtown to at least the Park Meadows Mall as you can see the Denver Technological Center area. It is another downtown in itself, if you like modern buildings, but not very walkable.

Capitol Hill:

• Mansions on 11th and 12th and Pennsylvania
• Molly Brown's House
• Governor's mansion
• Denver Botanical Garden's (atrium is neat, but best for summer)
• Historic homes in Capitol Hill along 7th and 6th Avenue Parkway, Monaco Parkway, 17th Ave Parkway, Montview between Colorado and Monaco

Outside of Denver:

• Red Rocks Amphitheater
• Flat Irons in Boulder and the Pearl Street mall - outdoor pedestrian mall
• Lookout Mountain
• Central City and Blackhawk - old mining town turned into small stakes gambling.
• Roxborough Park
• Aspen 4 hour drive if weather decent, Glenwood canyon is fantastic, but expect delays on the weekends
• Vail 1.5 hours, weekends expect traffic
• Colorado Springs 2.5 hours, expect traffic heavy in the Denver Tech area and slow in Castle Rock, in the Springs, check out the Air Force Academy and the Garden of the Gods, not much to their downtown for having 600K in a population.

Cheap Eats:

• Tons on the 16th Street mall downtown for fast food (from Wendy's to Chipotle)
• Personal favorite is Snooze for breakfast, on 17th Ave, not 17th street, but walking distance from downtown
• Dixon's and Racine's have many plates for under $10.00 and both are very tasty.
• Spicy Pickle
• Noodles
• Kokoro Bowl
• Benny's Mexican
• High End eating and shopping is in the Cherry Creek area

Best Photo Op locations of the skyline:

• City Park golf course
• The rear entrance to the Museum of Natural History in City Park
• Barnum Park, top of the hill at the circle drive
• Highlands - new pedestrian bridge over the highway, shoot from Lola's
• Speer bridge as it enters the Highland area, just south are some places to park. Some great eats in the 32nd and Lowell area but in the mid range for plates.
• Rotunda of the State Capitol, if it is open
• View from the art museum extension
• The view from the bar at the top of the Hyatt is great for seeing west Denver and the mountains, plus Invesco field and north of the city.

Check out www.9news.com for local news and weather, plus www.westword.com for entertainment.