Tours & Attractions - Area Overview
Denver is, today, as it has been for more than 100 years, the largest metropolis between California and Missouri. An expansive self-regard still comes easily to the present inhabitants of Metro Denver, just as it did when the town was being established in the mid-1800s.
Most are proud of its agricultural roots, and many keep a pair of cowboy boots in the closet for times when hootin’ and hollerin’ are just what the doctor ordered. Even so, residents are well aware that Metro Denver is an economic powerhouse with a thriving cultural community, strong recreational offerings, and the best shopping in a seven-state region. The metropolitan area is defined by the city and county of Denver and its five suburban counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Douglas, and Jefferson. Boulder County is close by but regarded as having its own identity. Only about 40 percent of Greater Denver’s present citizens were born here. Natives and newcomers alike are uneasy about recent growth, and its threats to their quality of life, but boosterism runs rampant.
Because of its geographic location near the nation’s center, Denver is already a major hub of the railroad, airline, and highway systems. Denver International Airport helped secure the city’s potential as a focus of worldwide trade and transportation, playing on its location midway between Munich and Tokyo, Canada and Mexico.
Geography also has much to do with the city’s self-image. No matter where you are in Denver, you have only to look west to see the Rocky Mountains running north and south like a wall dividing west from east. Yet as the “Queen City of the Plains,” Denver has an urban fabric that extends into the mountains on the west and overlays the first swells of the Great Plains to the east.
Tours & Attractions
In this chapter we’ve rounded up our favorite museums, gardens, and historic houses. What Metro Denver has to offer in this category may surprise newcomers: The Museum of Nature and Science is the fifth largest of its kind in the country, and the newly expanded Denver Art Museum is the largest such institution between Kansas City and the West Coast. Denver’s Zoo and its Botanic Gardens are both highly respected, and the city is full of special-interest museums devoted to such diverse subjects as firefighters, railroads, African Americans in the West, dolls, and the English painter J. M. W. Turner. The new Clyfford Still Museum is home to the works of one of the greatest abstract expressionist artists of the 20th century. Among the most popular tourist attractions in the area are the tours at the US Mint in Denver and Coors Brewery in Golden.
We’ve organized this chapter by category: museums, historic houses and other historic sites, and parks and gardens. Readers with a particular interest in the arts may also want to check out The Arts chapter, as community art centers and galleries are listed there. At the end of the chapter, we suggest ways to combine visits to different sites that are near each other or that tie in thematically (for example, if you want to spend a day immersing yourself in Western history).
Because hours and admission prices are subject to change, we have included only the basics, with phone numbers and web addresses for you to check once you’re ready to visit.
Tours & Attractions - Kidstuff
We think of Denver as kids’ country. Metro Denver offers a multitude of activities for the younger set—but we admit we like the outings, too. Best of all, Denver’s laid-back attitude says kids are welcome just about anywhere—assuming they aren’t totally unrestrained, of course.
One of the first places guests to Metro Denver should look for fun is outdoors: Take them out to play with Mother Nature. It doesn’t matter what trail or mountainside you take them to; short hikes or climbs for smaller kids are found in the same places where adults and older kids go to get serious. There’s an abundance of trails and natural beauty close to Denver. When hiking, make sure to protect yourself and your kids by using sunscreen and taking water bottles.
Mother Nature is only one of the kid-friendly attractions around Metro Denver. Check the other chapters of this book for ideas, especially Tours & Attractions, Spectator Sports, Annual Events & Festivals, Parks & Recreation, and Day Trips.
What follows is limited to a reasonable number of unique attractions aimed at the younger set, but there are others too numerous to mention. Take the kids fishing at any of the many reservoirs and rivers along the Front Range and in the nearby mountains. Go horseback riding at any of the stables around Metro Denver. Walk or ride bicycles on trails, usually along creeks, rivers, canals, and lakeshores that thread the greenbelts of the metro area.
Call nearby public libraries about story hours and other child-oriented activities. Call city and county departments of parks and recreation in your area to see about kid activities ranging from soccer and baseball to art classes. Local recreation centers are listed in our Parks & Recreation chapter.
One of your best local resources to kid activities is Colorado Parent magazine (303-320-1000; coloradoparent.com), a free monthly publication that can be found at 800 locations ranging from bookstores and libraries to doctors’ offices and day-care centers.
Tours & Attractions - Day Trips
Measure 100 miles from Denver in any direction and you’ll have defined more than 3,000 square miles from which to plan day trips. We’ve recommended a few that will take you north and south along the Front Range as well as west into the mountains. That’s not to say that the Great Plains to the east aren’t worth visiting. Few landscapes are more tranquilizing than the endless rolling prairie, and few things are more magnificent than 180 degrees of sky, but the majority of Colorado’s visitors come with mountain scenery in mind. Bear in mind that snowstorms can render high mountain roads treacherous, if not impassable, from September through May. Consider calling (303) 639-1111 for the Colorado State Highway Patrol’s report on road conditions before taking off on a mountain jaunt during these months. If conditions are bad, make sure your vehicle has good snow tires or carry chains. If the chain law is in effect at a particular pass, those without chains will be turned back, no matter how good their tires are. And sometimes the road will close to all traffic until the weather improves. It’s really a pain to pull out of Vail heading east up I-70 and discover that they’ve swung the gates closed across the interstate.
1. The Black American West Museum and Heritage Center
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (720) 242-7428
Address: 3091 California St.
Description: The Black American West Museum is a small but fascinating place that sets a lot of records straight and provides a long-buried picture of the role played by African Americans on the frontier. Among other topics, the museum depicts the stories of the Buffalo Soldiers, the Tuskegee Airmen, black cowboys, and countless others who came to the Western frontier. The museum is housed in the former home of Dr. Justina L. Ford, Colorado’s first licensed African-American female doctor. It is closed Sunday and Monday.
2. Buffalo Bill Grave and Museum
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 526-0744
Description: Dramatically located on top of Lookout Mountain, this fascinating museum is filled with memorabilia honoring the famous frontier scout, showman, and Pony Express rider William F. Cody, colloquially known as Buffalo Bill. Included are gun collections, costumes, and posters from the Wild West show and a collection of dime novels. The grave site affords an expansive view of the plains to the east and mountains to the west. A kids’ corral offers young visitors interactive opportunities. The museum is open daily May through October; Tuesday through Sunday the rest of the year.
3. The CELL (Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab)
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 844-4000
Address: 99 W. 12th Ave.
Description: Located next to the Denver Art Museum, the CELL exhibit is a high-tech, interactive experience that informs visitors about the threat of terrorism and addresses the issues that threaten community safety. The exhibit uses a blend of video clips, sound bites, and flash imagery to convey its dark and sometimes disturbing themes and messages.
4. Clyfford Still Museum
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (720) 354-4880
Address: 1250 Bannock St.
Description: Containing around 94 percent of the artist’s output—almost 2,400 paintings, drawings, and prints—the Clyfford Still Museum houses a beautifully displayed collection devoted to the life and works of this important abstract expressionist painter. Located next to the Denver Art Museum, it’s open every day except Monday.
5. Colorado Railroad Museum
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 279-4591, (800) 365-6263
Address: 17155 W. 44th Ave.
Insider Pick:
Description: One of our personal favorites, this museum houses more than 70 historic locomotives and cars as well as additional exhibits in a 15-acre outdoor setting. Don’t miss the D&RG Engine No. 346, the oldest operating locomotive in Colorado. The museum is open daily. To get to the museum, take exit 265 off I-70 West and follow the signs.
6. The Denver Art Museum
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (720) 865-5000 (recorded infor
Address: 100 W. 14th Ave. Pkwy.
Insider Pick:
Description: The Denver Art Museum is the largest art museum between Kansas City and the West Coast and is especially noted for its superb collections of Native American, pre-Columbian, and Spanish colonial art. Its 7 floors also house impressive displays of American, Asian, and contemporary art and galleries devoted to design, graphics, and architecture.
7. Denver Firefighters Museum
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 892-1436
Address: 1326 Tremont Place
Description: Housed in old Station No. 1, which was built in 1909, the museum has a collection of original hand-drawn firefighting equipment, two engines from the 1920s, and various antique firefighting memorabilia, including helmets, uniforms, and trophies. The museum is open Monday through Saturday.
8. Denver Museum of Miniatures Dolls & Toys
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 322-1053
Address: 1880 Gaylord St.
Description: The 2-story Pearce-McAllister Cottage, built in 1899, is of interest for its architecture, original decor, and changing displays of vintage dolls, dollhouses, toys, and miniatures. The museum offers year-round workshops for adults and kids on doll-making, toys, and arts and crafts in miniature. A small gift shop sells toys, dolls, and dollhouse furniture. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday (closed major holidays).
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 2001 Colorado Blvd. (in City Park
10. Downtown Aquarium
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 561-4450
Address: 700 Water St. (in the Platte River Valle
Description: Denver’s most unusual attraction isn’t exactly a museum, but it fits well under the category of other top-notch local and tourist spots. Opened in the summer of 1999, this long-awaited addition to the Central Platte Valley was originally called Colorado Ocean Journey because it showcased water as it made its ways on two journeys from the Continental Divide to the Sea of Cortez and from an Indonesian rain forest to the depths of the Pacific. The 17-acre complex was purchased in 2003 by Landry’s Restaurants and reopened in 2005 as an entertainment and dining complex. Downtown is open daily. Parking is extra, as are meals.
11. Forney Transportation Museum
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 297-1113
Address: 4303 Brighton Blvd.
Description: This longtime Denver favorite displays all kinds of old vehicles, including a number of one-of-a-kinds. Of special interest are the world’s largest steam locomotive, Prince Aly Khan’s Rolls Royce Phantom I, and an original McCormick reaper. The museum is open Monday through Saturday, but is closed on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s Day.
12. Fort Vasquez
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (970) 785-2832
Address: 13412 US Hwy. 85
Description: Forty miles downstream from Denver on the South Platte River lies Fort Vasquez, a reconstructed 1830s fur-trading post operated as a museum by the Colorado Historical Society. The museum features exhibits and dioramas depicting the trading era. In summer “mountain men” entertain visitors with reenactments of Old West trading days. A buffalo tepee will interest youngsters. Admission is free; it is open daily Memorial Day to Labor Day and Wednesday through Sunday the rest of the year.
13. History Colorado Center
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 447-8679
Address: 1200 Broadway
Insider Pick:
Description: Opened in 2012, the History Colorado Center is an experiential museum with numerous interactive and digital exhibits. Even natives will find much they never knew about their home state. Blending technology, media, artifacts, and environment, the museum brings to life the state’s history. Some of the high-tech highlights include taking a virtual ride across the plains in a Model T, soaring off a virtual ski jump, strapping on a headlamp and descending into a hard rock mine, and exploring state history with a virtual “time machine” on a 60-foot interactive floor map of Colorado. Open daily.
14. Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 832-8576
Address: 1311 Pearl St.
Description: Housed in one of the oldest commercial art buildings in Colorado, the Kirkland Museum contains an extensive collection of 20th-century decorative arts ranging from Art Nouveau and Bauhaus through modern and pop art. It’s open Tuesday through Sunday. Children under 13 are not allowed due to the fragile nature of the collections.
15. Mizel Museum
City: Denver, CO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (303) 394-9993
Address: 400 S. Kearney St.
Description: The Rocky Mountain region’s only museum of Judaica was established in 1982. Special programs, workshops, speakers, seminars, and films are designed to complement the museum’s changing exhibitions, whether drawn from its own collection or borrowed from such prestigious institutions as the Israel Museum and the Smithsonian Institution. In 2001 it merged with the Mizel Family Cultural Arts Center and moved to the campus of the Jewish Community Center.