Denver & Colorado Resources
By Molly Kalafut
Molly's Denver & Colorado Visitor Guide
Museums & Tours
The Denver Art Museum (100 W 14th Avenue Pkwy, Denver, CO) offers a tour daily at 1:30. The main collections are European, American & “Western”, Asian, pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial. Across the street is the Colorado History Museum (1300 Broadway Denver, CO). The Denver Museum of Nature and Science (2001 Colorado Blvd, Denver CO is one of the largest science museums in the country and offers several educational IMAX movies. The Colorado Railroad Museum (17155 W. 44th Avenue, Golden, CO) in Golden, Colorado is described as “one of the best privately supported rail museums in the United States.” The Colorado State Capitol (200 East Colfax, Denver, CO) is situated exactly at 1 mile above sea-level, and covered in 42 ounces of pure gold. The Capitol offers a tour each week day. The Denver Mint (320 W. Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO) is a popular tourist attraction and has a free tour showing all the stages of the minting process, though it is recommended to make advance reservations. For an opportunity to pan your Colorado gold, the Phoenix Gold Mine (834 Country Rd 136 Idaho Springs, CO) is only 30 minutes outside of Denver and offers gold panning plus a tour of a working gold mine.
Nature
The Denver Zoo (2300 Steele St Denver, CO) is very attractive, clean and lovely. One of the best nature-experiences in March is the Butterfly Pavilion and Insect Center (6252 W 104th Ave, Westminster, CO) which features over 1,000+ butterflies in steamy, tropical gardens. It’s an excellent visit for both kids and adults, and easily accessible from the highway. Colorado’s Ocean Journey (700 Water St Denver, CO) is an enormous aquarium in the downtown Denver area. The Denver Botanic Gardens (1005 York St, Denver, CO) is also a popular visit for gardens. The 23-acre garden has seasonal exhibits and indoor area. The infamous Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre (Red Rocks Park, Morrison, CO) is a famous concert venue and the associated park has hiking in beautiful “red rock” scenery. It can be a lovely drive too, even without leaving the car. For a much longer trip south, the Pikes Peak (5069 Pikes Peak Hwy, Cascade, CO) is an impressive 14,110 feet tall and can be seen up close with a trip on the world’s highest cog railway.
Music & Theater
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (950 13th St Denver, CO) is one of the largest performing arts complexes in the United States. Jazz@Jacks (1553 Platte St, Denver, CO) usually has a nightly line-up of jazz or comedy. The Skylark Lounge (140 S. Broadway, Denver, CO) is a popular “retro” bar for live music; usually blues, swing and rockabilly. Herman’s Hideaway (1578 S. Broadway, Denver, CO) is a bar and small music venue offering many local bands on a nightly basis. Fado Irish Pub (1735 19th St, Denver, CO) alternates nightly between live music or sporting events. For an interesting movie experience, the Aurora Cinema Grill (13682 East Alameda Avenue, Aurora, CO) offers second-run movies with a full service restaurant. Waiters unobtrusively bring your food and drinks throughout the movie.
Shopping
The Denver 16th Street Mall (16th Street, Denver, CO) is a mile-long pedestrian mall in the heart of downtown Denver. It makes for a fun stroll and also offers a free shuttle every 5-10 minutes. The Pearl Street Mall (1420 Pearl St Ste 200, Boulder, CO) is also an interesting pedestrian mall in the beautiful Boulder area. The Cherry Creek Mall (3000 E First Ave, Denver, CO) area is a popular shopping district. The nearby area also offers a number of specialty art galleries, upscale jewelry, farmer’s markets and fancy restaurants. For book lovers, the Tattered Cover Bookstore (2955 E 1st Ave, Denver, CO) is the largest retail bookstore west of the Mississippi River.
Sports
The ESPN Zone (1187 16th Street, Denver, CO) on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver is an enormous facility with food, huge TV sports screens and games. Invesco Field at Mile High (1701 Bryant St, Denver, CO) offers a tour of the facility and the Sports Mall Legacy Walk. Colorado has a number of sports teams; including the Denver Nuggets (Basketball), Colorado Rapids (Soccer), Colorado Avalanche (Hockey), Denver Broncos (Football), Colorado Rockies (Baseball) and Colorado Mammoth (Lacrosse).
Brewpubs & Microbreweries
Denver is famous for its microbreweries! The Pint’s Pub (221 West 13th Avenue) is a great stop for lunch when visiting the Denver Art Museum and offers the largest collection of single malt whisky “this side of Edinburgh.” In downtown Denver, The Wynkoop Brewing Company (1634 18th Street, Denver CO) and the Rock Bottom Brewery (1001 16th Street, Denver, CO) are popular and offer good food plus entertainment. The Flying Dog Brewery (2401 Blake Street, Denver, CO) is a few blocks away from the Lower Downtown (LoDo) area. In the Cherry Creek shopping area, the Bull & Bush Pub & Brewery (4700 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO) offers tours of its facility. The Hops Brewpub (149 Steele Street, Denver, CO) is also in the Cherry Creek area and has delicious food. The Breckenridge Brewery (471 Kalamath Street, Denver, CO) is further away but also provides a tour and restaurant. The Coors Brewery Tour (12th St and Ford St, Golden, CO) is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Colorado. Another smaller but very interesting brewery tour is the Left Hand Brewing Company (1265 Boston Avenue, Longmont, CO)...though I may be partial to this one just because I’m left-handed!J
Gambling
The main gambling areas are outside of the Denver area. The closest to Denver are Black Hawk, Colorado and Central City, Colorado. Between the two of them, they have more than 25 casinos. Cripple Creek, Colorado has 12+ casinos but is several hours away from Denver. Be aware that the maximum bet is $5 at all the Colorado casinos. Denver also has greyhound dog racing at Wembley Park (6200 Dahlia Street, Commerce City, CO) between Wednesday and Saturday. It has a lovely view of downtown Denver at dusk. The “club” level isn’t very expensive and has very comfortable seating with nice views. For a well-rounded entertainment experience, Red & Jerry’s provides off-track dog and horse racing, plus a huge restaurant, arcade, billiards, golf simulators and many other games. Many of the restaurant tables have small televisions for watching the dog and horse racing events.
Photo taken on a trip to Leadville, Colorado
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Proof of Denver's Beautiful Weather | |
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| 7am after a snowstorm | 7pm after a snowstorm |
| In a mere 12 hours, most of the snow has melted! | |
Denver Resources
Denver Classified Ads
Denver News & Media
Denver Post - Typical newspaper
WestWord - Great for up-to-date local events
Denver Transportation
Denver Super Shuttles - The Denver airport is 30-40 minutes outside Denver, leading to long travel time and very expensive taxi rates ($40-50 usually). Super shuttles can be more affordable.
Denver Relocation Resources
Telecommunications
Comcast - Cable, internet, phone
Qwest - Phone, internet