Denver, The Mile High City, is a vibrant and sophisticated destination to explore before or after your Colorado ski trip, writes Phil Osborn. Denver is the cultural heart beat of the Rocky Mountains. Exploring the various Denver neighbourhoods gives your body a chance to acclimatise to the high altitude of Colorado, if you are flying in from Australia.
Where is Denver, Colorado located?
Denver sits on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains front range and the western side of the Great Plains. Denver sits at 1,609 meters above sea level – exactly one mile high.
How Do You Get there?
Denver International Airport is the gateway to Colorado. It’s the third busiest airport in the US and sixth busiest airport in the world. For us, our United Airlines flight was scheduled to access Denver via LAX (Los Angeles Airport), but with a plane change from Australia, we ended up flying in from San Francisco (SFO). Depending on your travel within the US, flights to Denver are coming in from most key gateways, so it’s an easy place to access.
How to access the city from the airport?
Train: Catching the train is a 37 minute and 37 kilometre journey from the Denver Airport to downtown Union Station. It costs $10 for a ticket. Denver is a walkable city. So catching the train is a great solution.
Car: We hired a car, as our plan after visiting Denver was to drive to Telluride. We booked via DriveNow in Australia to score the best deal. Driving from the airport to the centre of Denver was easy, using our phones GPS directions.
Discover Denver
We love to travel internationally as a family and find new experience beyond ski resorts, to really build a unique holiday experience to appreciate the destination we are visiting. Denver, being the cultural and sporting hub of Colorado ticks a lot of exciting boxes.
Our journey to Denver, coincided with a polar vortex. If you are not familiar with a polar vortex, it’s extremely cold air that comes down from the arctic every couple of years to mainland USA. We arrived to -10 degrees celsius. It was truly a freezing experience. The arrival of the poler vortex also meant heavy snowfalls were happening at the same time across Colorado….an essentially ingredient for an amazing snow holiday! So we rugged up to tour Denver over the next couple of days of our visit. For our family, living at sea level in Sydney, the plan was to slowly build our acclimatisation to Colorado’s high elevation in Denver, before heading to Telluride and Aspen.
Where to Stay?
Denver has 11,000+ rooms of accommodation to suit all budgets. We stayed at The Rally Hotel at McGregor Square.
The Rally Hotel is 182 room hotel that is beautifully appointed and centrally located to access the best of Denver. For our family of 5, our room was the Mile High King Corner suite, which was spacious and really comfortable. It had a great view of the city. The Rally Hotel is the perfect location to recover from the flight from Australia. We loved the Skybridge rooftop deck & pool. Even in the most freezing conditions, we loved soaking in the warm water, it was lots of fun and a great chance for us to talk to locals about the challenges of the road conditions heading out of Denver during a winter storm. After listening to locals in the spa, we booked flights to Telluride, rather than tackle the I70 during a big winter storm.
Video Edit – Dash Osborn
What to do in Denver?
We had such an amazing time in Denver. Here are some activities to consider:
Denver Nuggests Basketball
If you love sport, then make sure you check out an NBA game of Basketball. US sport is so awesome. We booked our Denver Nuggets vs New Orleans Pelicans before leaving Australia to secure seats as games sell-out. For more information on games and tickets go to Nuggets official website.
Denver Union Station
The 1914 Beaux-Arts station was designed to make a formal statement, that Denver was a city with a very bright future. Union Station is a hub for transportation, dining, shopping and a great starting point for exploring Denver. Direct rail service connects Denver International Airport.
Larimer Square
Denver’s city shopping and dining district is also it’s most historic area at Larimer Square. At night, its glittering lights strung over the entire block creates a magical atmosphere.
Purchase The Mile High Culture Pass
If you are visiting in winter, it’s great to do activities that keep you warm, was our experience. The Mile High Culture Pass admits you to 7 participating attractions once over the course of 72 consecutive hours. The pass is activated at the first attraction visited. Attractions include, Clyfford Still Museum, Denver Art Museum, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, History Colorado Center, Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art and the Molly Brown House Museum.
Clyfford still Museum
Our family loved the Clyfford Still Museum. This museum showcases the work of Clyfford Still, considered one of the most important painters of the 20th century and among the first generation of abstract expressionist artists.
Denver Art Musuem
Another highlight of our visit, was the Denver Art Museum. See the famous collection of Native American art and explore the impressive artwork on display.
McGregor Square and Denver Milk Market
If you stay at The Rally Hotel, you are next door to McGregor Square. The Rally Store is a great place to buy local Colorado sports merchandise.
The Denver Milk Market is a cool place to have a meal. It’s got a great selection of food and drinks, served in a relaxed dining atmosphere, which is perfect for families.
16th Street Mall
The 16th Street Mall is a pedestrian promenade that runs through the centre of downtown Denver and is lined with shops and cafes. Free shuttle buses loop this area, allowing you to hop on and off at regular intervals.
So much more to see and do:
If we had more time, we would have loved to have visited the Denver Zoo. And I’d go and discover the Denver Beer trail and sample a few more of the 100+ brew pubs and taprooms that exist in Denver.
Would we recommend staying in Denver?
Exploring Denver before your ski trip allows you to acclimatise to the high elevation when you are coming from sea level. Denver is such a vibrant and lively destination, you get to immerse yourself in the Colorado lifestyle of great food, shopping and cultural activities. Just make sure you allow enough time in Denver, there is so much to do, you really need a good few days here to appreciate the city.
Meet the team from Denver in May for the Snow Travel Expo 2025 in Melbourne 18 May and Sydney 25 May.
For more information on visiting Denver click here