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In you opinion which one wins According to the criteria?
Transportation:
Skyline:
Big City feeling:
Scenery:
Downtown Area:
Suburbs:
Climate:
Things to do:
Traffic:
Pollution:
Entertainment:
Nightlife:
Culture:
anything you can think of!
Any resposes are appreciated!
Transportation: Utah Transit Authority is far superior Denver Regional Transit District.
Commuter rail from north Ogden to Provo, excellent light rail system
Denver's RTD is inefficient, many light rail lines but many lines built in very low density areas that not many ride.
Skyline: Advantage to Denver:
Denver has a massive skyline compared to Salt Lake City.
Big city feeling: Tie
Salt Lake City is a huge university town, very vibrant downtown with two large malls, lots of musums and torusit attractions.
Denver's core neighorboods feel like very dense for a Western city and it is a very large downtown for it's size.
Denver's downtown university which is called Auraria is an outdated commuter campus compared to the elegant University of Utah campus.
Scenery: Advantage Salt Lake City in a huge landslide.
Salt Lake City has more foilage per-capita and is at the foot of huge mountains. They are right next to the city. Salt Lake City seemed more lush than the typical semi-arid city much of the year.
Denver has mountain views but from much of the city it looks so distant. Denver has lots of trees in a select few neighborhoods but half the city just looks so dry and the semi-arid climate really shows.
Downtown: Advantage Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City has two huge outdoor malls, dozens of tourist attractions, huge university campus a mile away, many hospitals, excellent library in the downtown.
Denver has alot of great historic architecture downtown and a large number of companies located there with the skyscrapers but it just is so disorganized.
Suburbs: Advantage Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City has a suburb for everyone. Quaint suburbs like Bontiful, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay. Urban suburbs like Murray and Millcreek. Family-oriented Draper and South Jordan.
Pollution: Tie
Salt Lake City and Denver both have inversion days where the air quality is absolutely terrible.
Salt Lake City worst pollution days are worse than Denver. Denver has more high pollution days but the worst days aren't nearly as polluted.
Most of the suburbs in Arapahoe and Adams County are mass-produced, tiny lots and every few miles a small retail area. Jefferson County suburbs generally are older, more unique and more scenic. Douglas County is satisfactory in the scenery department also but nothing entertains me in it, sort of unoriginal.
Climate: Advantage Denver
Salt Lake City tends to have a consistant winter: Gray, cold and snowy Highs in the 30s and Lows in the 20s.
Denver in the winter goes from sub-zero low temperatures into the 60s and back below zero for lows and back in the 60s all in the same week sometimes. Sunnier winters though.
Salt Lake City and Denver have similar temperatures in the summer. Denver has a wetter summer though.
Nightlife:
Salt Lake City has a very vibrant nightlife, much better city for singles, much more variety although less quanity of bars and clubs.
Salt Lake City nightlife is much better quality, so much more fun. Salt Lake City is absolute magic when it comes to the singles nightlife scene, compared to Denver
Denver might have more quanity but mainly expensive wine tasting rooms for the rich or pretentious craft beer places for married people and couples.
Denver's nightlife is mainly married couples going out to take pictures for their social media resumes.
Interesting how a vast majority of those in Denver go to bars and clubs with those they are already engaged and married.
Denver's bars and clubs are either very pretentious wine tasting rooms for millionaires or pretentious craft brew places that are extremely aloof.
Culture: Advantage Salt Lake City infinity times over Denver.
Denver has become a tremendous pretentious city. Very judgemental population. Many pretend atheletes. Majority of the residents have gaunt, wrinkled faces by 30 years old. Lots of very untrustworthy and flaky population.
Salt Lake City is more down to earth, much more intelligent and entertaining. A 40 year old in Salt Lake City looks younger than the typical 30 year old in Denver.
I would hope Saks Fifth Avenue delivers by now. Haha at that poster. And so much for entertainment or jobs too! More people= more competition, DOES NOT equal more talent in a remote world. I hope everyone is ready for the bubble to pop.
I'll be honest, I was kind of disappointed by SLC. It's not a bad place, I just expected more. I didn't find its downtown to be all that fun to walk around and explore. Wiiiiiiiiiiiiide streets, not much to engage you as you walk about. Denver is better about that (though still plenty of room to improve).
I also like the experience of walking from downtown into some of Denver's inner neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, Cheesman Park, Washington Park, etc. Walking around SLC, things felt more disconnected to me. The transitions to neighborhoods weren't as seamless.
The light rail system in SLC is pretty great, and probably the one area SLC punches well above its weight compared to other cities/metros its size. And super easy to get to/from the airport via the light rail. Denver's relatively new rail service to the airport is such a welcome addition, but it's so farrrrrrrrrrr away from downtown. Prior to the rail service opening, I took cabs, ubers, and tried the bus. They were all terrible options because of the distance and traffic.
I haven't explored either metro area's suburbs too extensively. I've visited Boulder, Lakewood, and Golden, and South Jordan. Out of that set, advantage Denver, but I know my sample size is tiny in both metros.
Transportation: Utah Transit Authority is far superior Denver Regional Transit District.
Commuter rail from north Ogden to Provo, excellent light rail system
Denver's RTD is inefficient, many light rail lines but many lines built in very low density areas that not many ride.
UTA averages about 153,000 daily riders while RTD is at nearly 300,000 daily riders. Advantage is probably to Denver or tied. The front range isn't nearly twice the size of the Wasatch.
Skyline: Advantage to Denver:
Denver has a massive skyline compared to Salt Lake City.
Quote:
Big city feeling: Tie
Salt Lake City is a huge university town, very vibrant downtown with two large malls, lots of musums and torusit attractions.
Denver's core neighorboods feel like very dense for a Western city and it is a very large downtown for it's size.
How is it a tie when you claim one is a huge university town?
Quote:
Scenery: Advantage Salt Lake City in a huge landslide.
Salt Lake City has more foilage per-capita and is at the foot of huge mountains. They are right next to the city. Salt Lake City seemed more lush than the typical semi-arid city much of the year.
Denver has mountain views but from much of the city it looks so distant. Denver has lots of trees in a select few neighborhoods but half the city just looks so dry and the semi-arid climate really shows.
They don't look distant at all. I live downtown and have no problem seeing them from the roof, balcony, or the street in some places.
Quote:
Downtown: Advantage Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City has two huge outdoor malls, dozens of tourist attractions, huge university campus a mile away, many hospitals, excellent library in the downtown.
Denver has alot of great historic architecture downtown and a large number of companies located there with the skyscrapers but it just is so disorganized.
A campus that isn't downtown doesn't help it. Denver has an actual downtown campus, an MLB stadium, museums, an amusement park, Denver Performance Arts Complex, an NBA arena, more jobs, and more restaurants. Disorganized? What does that even mean?
Quote:
Suburbs: Advantage Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City has a suburb for everyone. Quaint suburbs like Bontiful, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay. Urban suburbs like Murray and Millcreek. Family-oriented Draper and South Jordan.
Most of the suburbs in Arapahoe and Adams County are mass-produced, tiny lots and every few miles a small retail area. Jefferson County suburbs generally are older, more unique and more scenic. Douglas County is satisfactory in the scenery department also but nothing entertains me in it, sort of unoriginal.
What about a suburb for black people? Those places are all 90% white. Aurora is like Queens compared to those lily white suburbs.
Quote:
Nightlife:
Salt Lake City has a very vibrant nightlife, much better city for singles, much more variety although less quanity of bars and clubs.
Salt Lake City nightlife is much better quality, so much more fun. Salt Lake City is absolute magic when it comes to the singles nightlife scene, compared to Denver
Denver might have more quanity but mainly expensive wine tasting rooms for the rich or pretentious craft beer places for married people and couples.
Denver's nightlife is mainly married couples going out to take pictures for their social media resumes.
Interesting how a vast majority of those in Denver go to bars and clubs with those they are already engaged and married.
Denver's bars and clubs are either very pretentious wine tasting rooms for millionaires or pretentious craft brew places that are extremely aloof.
What are the black clubs like in Salt Lake City? Anything similar to Dorchester in Denver?
Craft beer places aren't pretentious, and wine tasting rooms? This isn't DC. I can tell you've never been out here to places like Dorchester or Denver Beer Hall. Most people who go out here are young and single, kind of like every single city in the country.
I should just make up stuff about Salt Lake City and say that the nightlife is all church girls who drink virgin daiquiris and guys who pass out copies of Watchtower.
Quote:
Culture: Advantage Salt Lake City infinity times over Denver.
Denver has become a tremendous pretentious city. Very judgemental population. Many pretend atheletes. Majority of the residents have gaunt, wrinkled faces by 30 years old. Lots of very untrustworthy and flaky population.
Salt Lake City is more down to earth, much more intelligent and entertaining. A 40 year old in Salt Lake City looks younger than the typical 30 year old in Denver.
Denver is nowhere near pretentious. Calls Denver judgemental, then proceeds to call Denver pretentious. Hmm. Also interesting how you've met most of the 3.5 million people in the metro.
Calls Denver pretentious then says that Salt Lake City is better because its more intelligent! That's good right there man. I couldn't have wrote a better joke to save my life.
Then goes on to say that everyone here is old looking and people in Salt Lake City look better. But Denver is the pretentious one. Hahaha ha. Thanks for the laughs buddy.
Denver is more diverse so many people who don't fit the demographic would feel more comfortable in metro Denver. Also, the stigma of Utah has to play a factor. Denver is also a decent amount larger than Salt Lake City.
Denver is certainly more diverse and cosmopolitan. But, Salt Lake City isn't exactly lacking in diversity. Thanks to its growth and, yes, the Church, it has attracted all sorts of people from across the globe. It's truly astonishing how much it has changed in just a few decades. The Olympics were an incredible catalyst.
Quote:
Originally Posted by koookooo
In you opinion which one wins According to the criteria?
Transportation:
Skyline:
Big City feeling:
Scenery:
Downtown Area:
Suburbs:
Climate:
Things to do:
Traffic:
Pollution:
Entertainment:
Nightlife:
Culture:
anything you can think of!
Any resposes are appreciated!
Transportation: I've never used public transit in either city. Salt Lake City's ease of navigation and street grid is far superior to Denver. Denver's downtown and downtown-adjacent area is incomprehensible, even to locals. I was stunned at how confused Coloradans seemed to be driving in the city center. Salt Lake has wide boulevards that are easy to navigate. Salt Lake City.
Skyline: Denver has a much bigger downtown district with taller buildings. However, they aren't very interesting. With Salt Lake City's completion of the City Creek Center, Larimer Square doesn't stand out so much anymore. I'll give Denver an edge for the size of the skyline. But, the distance of the mountains leaves the skyline without a compelling background.
Big City feeling: Denver undoubtedly feels like a bigger, denser, and more urban city. Minorities are more visible.
Scenery: Denver's biggest letdown. Denver is NOT a pretty city from anything I have seen. The mountains are right in your face and Temple Square is a very beautiful and extremely well-manicured area with gardens and water features.
Downtown Area: On balance, a tie. Shopping in Downtown SLC is better from what I have seen with City Creek Center. Cherry Creek is not in downtown Denver. Downtown SLC feels more popular with locals than Denver, and it has more to offer than office buildings—which dominates Downtown Denver.
Suburbs: Not very familiar with Denver suburbs. I've been to Boulder and the foothills. Salt Lake is about 30 minutes from Park City, one of the loveliest towns in the Mountain West. Holladay, Bountiful, Alpine, and Highland are gorgeous suburbs in the foothills.
Climate: Similar, but recently Denver experienced the Polar Vortex. SLC is not experiencing it.
Things to do: I've never been bored in either place. Ironically, COVID restrictions are more severe in Denver than in SLC.
Traffic: Bad in both cities, but Denver is definitely worse during the pandemic.
Pollution: Denver's air quality is significantly better according to all data. SLC is trapped in a bowl and experiences a horrifying weather pattern called an inversion that traps pollution in the valleys.
Entertainment: Performing arts are a big part of both cities, but Denver likely finds itself on tours more frequently than SLC.
Nightlife: Not SLC's strongsuit, but I can't compare. Cocktail bars are open in SLC longer than you might think. No problem during COVID finding something open at 10 or 11pm. That's different from my recent Denver experience.
Culture: Subjective. I find the Mormon culture fascinating. But, I also like big city cosmopolitanism to an extent. Denver is more cosmopolitan.
I think that most 'city people' will prefer Denver. But, those that like nature more favor SLC. A Denverite once wrote on this forum, "Denver is a bad compromise between big city and nature." From what I have seen and experienced, I think that is spot on.
They don't look distant at all. I live downtown and have no problem seeing them from the roof, balcony, or the street in some places.
Honey, the mountains are way far away in Denver compared to SLC. When I was in Denver last week, you couldn't see anything for days from downtown until Sunday. In SLC, the downtown is in the foothills. It couldn't be hazy enough not to see some of the mountains there.
Denver is certainly more diverse and cosmopolitan. But, Salt Lake City isn't exactly lacking in diversity. Thanks to its growth and, yes, the Church, it has attracted all sorts of people from across the globe. It's truly astonishing how much it has changed in just a few decades. The Olympics were an incredible catalyst.
It was merely a suggestion for why the polls were lopsided, 10 years ago.
Quote:
Transportation: I've never used public transit in either city. Salt Lake City's ease of navigation and street grid is far superior to Denver. Denver's downtown and downtown-adjacent area is incomprehensible, even to locals. I was stunned at how confused Coloradans seemed to be driving in the city center. Salt Lake has wide boulevards that are easy to navigate. Salt Lake City.
Its literally a grid, I don't know how that is incomprehensible.
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Scenery: Denver's biggest letdown. Denver is NOT a pretty city from anything I have seen. The mountains are right in your face and Temple Square is a very beautiful and extremely well-manicured area with gardens and water features.
Scenery is Denvers biggest let down? Jesus I'd hate to see what you think of places nowhere near mountains. The metro literally butts up against the foothills, the urban area literally couldn't move closer. I get that downtown SLC is closer but downtown Denver is 20 mins away from the foothills. To call that Denvers biggest let down is ridiculous.
There are water fountains in Denver too.
I would think the biggest let down is something actually important like the homeless.
Quote:
I think that most 'city people' will prefer Denver. But, those that like nature more favor SLC. A Denverite once wrote on this forum, "Denver is a bad compromise between big city and nature." From what I have seen and experienced, I think that is spot on.
Which also seems ridiculous. Both are large enough cities surrounded by world class recreational activities. Denver and Salt Lake City are perfect mixes of big city and nature. As are many western cities like Seattle and Portland.
Most Americans are happy to have something nowhere near as beautiful as the Rockies or Wasatch within a 5 hour drive and people like you complain about not having the Rockies 15 minutes closer. Its like complaining that your wife took the Bentley and made you drive the Aston Martin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hiruko
Honey, the mountains are way far away in Denver compared to SLC. When I was in Denver last week, you couldn't see anything for days from downtown until Sunday. In SLC, the downtown is in the foothills. It couldn't be hazy enough not to see some of the mountains there.
Baby, that's not normal. And no they aren't far away. Far away is when the mountains aren't in your metro area. Far away is when you drive for an hour and you start seeing them. Far away is when you can't go ski and work in the same day. (Yes its possible) Far away is the distance from Nashville to the Smokies (which is generally considered an attractive attribute for Nashville). Far away is not being able to stand on my buildings roof and gaze at the skyline and the front range at once. Far away is Evanston from any mountain range. People out here are really unappreciative of how close they are to world class nature.
Although Denver’s foothills are 20 -30 min away, more people live in our mountain areas so there are dozens of canyons roads to choose from and thousands of trails maintained by Boulder, Denver, and Jefferson counties(counties with high populations and well run).
So I believe the infrastructure in Colorado is way better and we way have way more options even though you may have to drive.
Scenery: Denver's biggest letdown. Denver is NOT a pretty city from anything I have seen.
I agree with this. It can be very brown and dusty, and the built environment isn't particularly attractive. For some people, the "mountain view" makes up for it, but it just doesn't do anything for me.
Not a bad city, but probably one of the most overhyped in terms of beauty in my opinion. Though, again, it depends on what you prefer.
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