Denver City Guide

Denver is located in the South Platte River Valley, on the western edge of the high plains just east of the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is often referred to as the Mile-High City because it’s official elevation is exactly one mile (1.6km) above sea level.

Denver was founded as a gold mining camp in 1859 and as town at the center of the Old West. It was filled with all the elements of that era, cowboys and rodeos, gamblers, saloons, gunslingers and more. However over the last century, Denver has shed this rough and tumble image, and is a world class modern city equipped with many museums, cultural and historic attractions and a modern international airport, which connects it to the rest of the world.

Denver’s population consists of active nature lovers who like to take advantage of the city’s unique topography and climate, which encourages the pursuit of various recreational sports like skiing, hiking, mountain biking and fishing. It’s right to say that vacations to Denver are cut out for adventure sports enthusiasts.

Denver is home to many fabulous luxury hotels, spa hotels and charming boutique hotels though the city is also equipped with budget accommodation and discount hotels.

Most visitors to the Mile High city like to stay within the neighborhood of downtown Denver, an area which contains the recently revived and rejuvenated community of lower downtown, popularly referred to as ‘LoDo’. Most Denver hotels are concentrated with this neighborhood especially most of the luxury hotels in Denver.

Other popular accommodation locations for visitors to Denver include the neighborhoods of Cherry Creek, which runs along Cherry Creek and is a premier shopping, entertainment and dining district of Denver and the verdant neighborhood of Stapleton, which also has many reasonably priced hotels.

The favored accommodation list, further included the Capitol Hill area, which is home to Denver’s hipster population and the Denver Tech Center and the Denver International Airport area; both of which are both popular with business travelers who head to Denver for work.

The Museum of Contemporary Art is one of Denver's newest attractions, which opened its doors to the public in October 2007. It is located in downtown Denver on the corner of 15th and Delgany, two blocks from Union Station and is accessible by the various modes of public Transportation. Apart from its often changing expositions, which feature many international artists, it also offers informative and educational guided tours for groups of 10 or more which are conducted by a docent or a curator and are quite affordable. This is the place for the art aficionados on vacations to Denver.

The Colorado History Museum catalogues the colorful Wild West history of Denver. It offers an insight into the lives of Denver’s earliest inhabitants and its pioneer families through a collection that is made up of historic photographs, artifacts, and newspaper clippings. Besides its permanent collection, the museum also hosts special exhibits throughout the year and is equipped with an excellent bookstore and gift shop.

The Denver Art museum contains one of the largest collections of Native American art in the country. This museum, which is part of the Civic Center Cultural Complex in Downtown Denver, is housed in a huge seven storey building. Besides its extensive collection of Native American Art, the Denver Art Museum or DAM as it is popularly called, also hosts collections that feature native art from other regions of the world like Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. This is another place for art enthusiasts on Denver vacations.

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science caters to both children and adults as it offers a huge selection of interactive exhibits housed throughout the museum including its most popular areas like the Space Odyssey and the Prehistoric Journey Section. The museum also hosts an IMAX theater and many food outlets along with a gift shop.

A major attraction in the mile high city of Denver is the National Western Stock Show, which is held at the National Western Complex located in downtown Denver in January every year. The show is over a hundred years old and attracts more than 500,000 visitors each year. The National Western Stock Show started out in 1906 as a cattle trading show but has grown to encompass a whole host of events like the PRO Rodeo, the super dogs show, the Mexican Rodeo, the dancing horses show etc. All these shows have a distinct Wild West theme and provide hours of entertainment for all the family. If the wild-west has always fascinated you then you should plan a trip to Denver during the National Western Stock Show which is held in January, over a period of two weeks each year.

Denver’s climate can best be described as semi-arid with dry, cold winters and warm summers. The best time to plan vacations to Denver is in early fall, unless you plan to go skiing in the nearby Rocky Mountains.

In that case you would want to visit Denver during the winters when the city is known to receive as much as 60 inches of snowfall or ‘fresh powder’. Denver’s weather is, however, very unpredictable and the city is known to receive heavy unseasonal snowstorms that can bring the city to a standstill.

Once you get to Denver, its efficient public transport makes traveling much easier. To get to the city, you can try air flights or cars. While cars may be a time consuming method, the best way to save time is air flights. With Fare Buzz and its huge inventory of cheap air flights, you can find the best and cheapest air tickets and save money as well.

Denver is equipped with a good public transport system consisting mainly of buses and a light rail network that operates throughout the metropolitan area and links it with the outlying suburbs. From June to September a hop-on, hop-off trolley operates within the city center, which links the city’s main tourist attractions. Denver is also well equipped with taxis, which can be hailed from the city’s taxi ranks or booked on the phone.

However, if you need to rent a car in Denver, we can be of assistance for our portfolio of travel deals also includes affordable car rentals in various cities around the globe. So, when you are making your hotel booking for Denver, do make it a point to ask about car rentals in Denver.

Denver’s population is largely outdoorsy and sporty and hence the city is equipped with numerous stores that sell camping gear and skiing paraphernalia. Try these shops during winter Denver vacations and get some of the best equipments at reasonable prices.

The city like many other big US cities is also equipped with big malls like the Cherry Creek Mall which is home to all the big name luxe brands as well as outlets of department stores like Macy’s, Neiman Marcus and Sak’s Fifth Avenue.

The other main shopping destination in Denver is the 16th Street Mall which was built in 1982 and consists of a tree lined pedestrian promenade that runs along the center of the downtown area of Denver. This promenade features outdoor cafes, shops, restaurants and office building as well as fountains and plazas that host street performers and entertainers.

Situated as it is in cattle country, Denver offers numerous excellent steakhouses that serve a wide array of cuts like rib-eye, sirloin, flank, strip, porterhouse, t-bone and more. Some of the best steak houses in Denver include eateries like Sullivan’s, Elway’s and the Palm.

However aside from steakhouses, Denver is also equipped with many diverse restaurants, which serve a wide variety of global cuisines like Japanese, Mediterranean, Mexican, Indian, New American and more. Many of Denver’s most prominent and highly ranked restaurants and eateries are located in the city’s Larimer square district in the heart of downtown Denver. Some of the most well regarded eateries of Larimer Square include establishments like Lime, Rioja, Osteria Marco and Ocean Prime.

When visiting Denver you might want to explore the city's burgeoning micro brewery scene. The Mile city, in fact, is the epicenter of micro brewing in America and also hosts the Great American Beer Festival annually in the month of October.

Many of the micro breweries are also brewpubs and can make for a fun outing even if you have kids in tow. Some of the most well known Denver microbreweries are Wynkoop Brewing.

Company located at 18th Street is very popular with billiard players as it has more than 30 tables. The Rock Bottom Brewery is located at 16th Street Mall and is now a national chain. It was the first brew pub which was established in Denver and it has a large outdoor café. Another popular microbrewery is the Beckenbridge micro brewery which is located across the street from Coors Field and is the 'place' to be before and after a baseball game.