Denver in 48 hours; exploring the “Mile-high City”
Our recent visit to Colorado allowed us several days to further explore downtown Denver, the “Mile-high City”. It’s a lovely cosmopolitan town, and we discovered a few new highlights beyond our two previous visits. The city lies at the foot of the Front Range of the mighty Rockies, so you have lots of options if hiking, skiing, exploring and adventure is in your blood!
Let’s start with Denver itself; begin your tour at the location designated a “mile high”, the State Capitol. Find the west steps at exactly 5,280 feet above sea level – one mile high – and climb to the Capitol Rotunda for a western panoramic view of some towering, snow-capped peaks, many over 14,000 feet.
We then migrated to a favorite portion of the old downtown, the 16th Street Mall, a fetching, one-mile stretch that helps Denver claim a “most-walkable downtown in the US” award, with leafy street trees and thousands of flowers, with outdoor cafés, offering marvelous people watching. Along the Mall, we found The Blue Agave Restaurant for a great meal. Architect I. M. Pei designed the pink and gray granite pathway; a free shuttle bus can save you steps. The Mall is anchored by the Daniels and Fisher Tower, built as part of the city’s largest department store in 1910. At 325 feet tall it was then the tallest building between St. Louis and California; when the department store was torn down in 1971, the tower was saved, now home to shops and apartments and a lofty observation deck.
Downtown Denver also offers the transformed Denver Union Station, a 1914 train terminal now a favorite for restaurants, shopping and entertainment (and a stop on Denver’s light rail, with option to shuttle to Denver’s airport). Other downtown stops include Larimer Square, a block-long stretch of Victorian buildings lively with restaurants, bars, outdoor dining and comedy clubs. One night we enjoyed a sumptuous dinner at Ocean Prime in Larimer Square and walked a few blocks to see the play The Color Purple, at Denver’s Buell Theatre, “Broadway’s home away from home”. Delightful!
Confluence Park, featuring the Downtown Aquarium, Children’s Museum of Denver and the Platte River Trolley are nearby. Additional attractions include the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Denver Zoo, Denver Botanic Gardens and the US Mint, where the US stamps millions of coins each day, with a tiny “D” denoting Denver.
On another day’s downtown visit, we explored LODO; the Lower Downtown district is filled with historic buildings, home to restaurants, rooftop cafés, and numerous brewpubs and sports bars. We made our way to Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver’s first brewpub. The next day, we returned downtown for Sunday brunch at La Loma, packed with sports fans, directly across the street from the historic Brown Palace Hotel. If you are a sports nut, find nearby Coors Field, home to baseball’s Rockies as well as the NFL’s Bronco’s Stadium.
An easy day-trip took us out to the city of Boulder, and we followed Boulder Canyon Drive west out of town, finding the lovely Boulder Falls roaring with spring snow-melt, just a ¼ mile hike off the highway. Continue west to the old mountain town of Nederland, and lofty views of the Rockies, still covered with snow above 10,000 feet. Travel further to the northwest and find one of the US’s most visited national parks, Rocky Mountain National Park, a must-stop if you have the time to see its herds of elk and lofty peaks.
Golden is just 20 miles southwest into the foothills, once capital of the Colorado Territory from 1862 to 1867. Founded in the 1850s as part of the Pikes Peak gold rush, it’s home to the huge Coors Brewery (self-guided tours daily, and samples to those over 21), Colorado School of Mines, National Earthquake Center, California Railroad Museum and an historic downtown with shops, restaurants and brewpubs spread throughout.
The state offers other national parks - Great Sand Dunes (five hours south of Denver), and Mesa Verde National Park (eight hours to the Southwest, featuring the ancient cliff-dwellings of our indigenous peoples). We visited those natural wonders a year earlier; well worth the time.
Denver is also just hours from big resorts nestled in the Rockies, such as Breckenridge and Steamboat Springs. Plan a downtown stop at Steamboat’s F. M. Light and Sons, an historic western shop crammed with everything needed to deck you, or your kids, out as a Colorado cowboy. Vail, Aspen and other resorts dot the Rockies, offering year-round attractions and making Colorado a top adventure destination.
Plan on weather variables: when we arrived in Denver, we were met with a week-plus in the mid 70s, followed by cloudy, gray and wet 50° weather for five days. If planning a long stay, bring cool-weather gear, for the Rockies nurture a fast-changing climate.
For more information, Colorado, Colorado.com; Denver, Denver.org.
Where are you traveling? Contact Tim, tviall@msn.com. Happy travels in your world!
This article originally appeared on The Record: Denver in 48 hours; exploring the “Mile-high City”
