Things To Do in Denver

Game day is basically a holiday

We are a sports town, full stop. Broncos Sundays shut the city down. You'll see orange everywhere, the tailgate lots at Empower Field fill up hours before kickoff, and being a fan here is closer to a way of life than a hobby. The Broncos are just the start, though.

• Nuggets and Avalanche at Ball Arena, both recent champions, with the Mammoth playing pro box lacrosse in the same building.
• Rockies baseball at Coors Field, the prettiest ballpark in the league with the mountains over the outfield. Grab cheap Rockpile seats and find the single row of purple seats that sits at exactly one mile high.
• Rapids soccer out at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City.
• For college ball, the CU Buffs, CSU Rams, and Air Force Falcons are all an easy drive.

Insider move: Ball Arena and Coors Field are both a short light rail ride from Union Station, so you can skip the parking headache entirely.

Red Rocks is a rite of passage

Every Coloradan remembers their first show at Red Rocks. It's a natural amphitheater carved into the foothills out by Morrison, the acoustics are unreal, and watching the sun drop behind the stage while a band plays is something you genuinely cannot get anywhere else in the country.

Here's what most visitors miss: Red Rocks is open to the public on days with no concert. Locals hike the trails, run the stairs for one of the hardest free workouts around, and soak in the view for nothing. In summer they run Film on the Rocks, where you catch a movie outdoors with a live opener first, and on Easter morning there's a sunrise service that goes back generations.

Beer, green chile, and Casa Bonita

Denver takes food and drink seriously. The metro has more than 150 breweries and taprooms, and the most fun of them cluster in RiNo and LoDo where you can walk from one to the next. If you learn one local thing about our food, learn this: Colorado green chile is its own style, usually built on pork, and we will happily argue about who does it best.

• Food halls like Denver Central Market in RiNo and Avanti let a whole group eat what they want under one roof.
• Larimer Square, Cherry Creek, South Pearl Street, and Tennyson in the Highlands are the dining districts worth your time.
• For a true Denver institution, get a reservation at Casa Bonita. The giant pink palace with cliff divers and sopapillas was bought and reopened by South Park creators and Colorado natives Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and it's pure nostalgia for anyone who grew up here. Reservations open in batches, so plan ahead.

Getting outside is the whole point

We get around 300 days of sunshine a year, and people here build their lives around being outdoors. You don't even have to drive to the mountains to feel it.

• The Cherry Creek and Platte River trails let you bike or run for miles straight through the city.
• Wash Park and Sloan's Lake are where locals run, paddleboard, and picnic all summer.
• Chatfield and Cherry Creek State Parks put boating, paddleboarding, swimming beaches, and trails right inside the metro.
• Roxborough State Park and the Highlands Ranch Backcountry have some of the best close in hiking, with red rock formations and a fraction of the crowds.

Climbing a 14er, one of Colorado's fifty plus peaks over 14,000 feet, is its own rite of passage. A few of the friendlier ones are an easy morning drive from town.

The mountains are 90 minutes away

This is the part that sells people on moving here. From the south metro you can be clicking into skis before lunch. Head west on I-70 and Loveland and Arapahoe Basin are closest, then Winter Park, Keystone, Breckenridge, and Copper aren't much farther. A-Basin is the local legend, famous for staying open into June some years.

A word of native advice: leave early and come home late to beat the I-70 ski traffic, which is a Colorado rite of passage all its own. And if you just want snow without the drive, you can sled and tube much closer to home all winter.

Day trips worth the drive

Some of my favorite weekends never leave the Front Range. A handful that are easy from the metro:

• Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, about an hour south, with free trails winding through towering red rock formations under Pikes Peak.
• Boulder, half an hour northwest, for the Pearl Street Mall and a hike under the Flatirons.
• Golden, fifteen minutes west, for tubing down Clear Creek in summer, the Coors brewery tour, and Buffalo Bill's grave up on Lookout Mountain.
• Georgetown and Idaho Springs, historic mining towns right off I-70 with Victorian main streets, the Georgetown Loop Railroad, and quick mountain access.
• Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, about ninety minutes out, for the big alpine scenery and Trail Ridge Road in summer.
• Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, where you can see real dinosaur tracks fifteen minutes from town.

The local traditions worth catching

The calendar fills up once the weather turns. The stuff locals actually look forward to:

• City Park Jazz, free Sunday evening concerts on the lawn all summer.
• First Friday Art Walks in the Santa Fe Art District and RiNo, where galleries open late and the streets come alive.
• Farmers markets everywhere, from South Pearl and Cherry Creek in the city to Parker, Castle Rock, and Highlands Ranch in the suburbs.
• Big summer events like the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, A Taste of Colorado, and the Underground Music Showcase, plus the Great American Beer Festival every fall.
• The Colorado Renaissance Festival out in Larkspur, a Douglas County summer staple.

For families

If you've got kids, you will never run out of options.

• The Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science both sit in City Park.
• Water World in Federal Heights is one of the biggest water parks in the country, and Elitch Gardens brings the roller coasters downtown.
• The Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, the Children's Museum, and the Downtown Aquarium are easy wins any day of the week.
• Meow Wolf's Convergence Station is a wild immersive art experience that older kids and adults love just as much.

My backyard: the south metro

This is where I live and work, and there's plenty to do without ever pointing the car downtown.

• Park Meadows in Lone Tree and Southlands in Aurora cover the big shopping and dining.
• Downtown Parker has Mainstreet, the PACE Center for live shows, good local restaurants, and Parker Days every summer.
• Downtown Castle Rock has the Outlets, a walkable main street, and the Star lighting on the bluff every November. Philip S. Miller Park even has a challenge incline if you want to earn your view.
• Highlands Ranch has the Backcountry Wilderness Area for hiking and free summer concerts on the Civic Green.
• Chatfield, Roxborough, and Daniels Park, where you can watch the bison herd, are all minutes away.
• Stanley Marketplace near Central Park is a fun food and maker hall on the north side.

What the seasons are actually like

People are always surprised by our weather. Winters in town are sunny and mild more often than not, and you'll catch yourself in shorts in February. Spring brings heavy wet snow that's usually gone by afternoon. Summer days are warm and dry with a quick thunderstorm that rolls through around three and clears right out. And fall is the showstopper. Drive Guanella Pass, Kenosha Pass, or the Peak to Peak Highway in late September when the aspens turn gold and you'll understand why none of us ever leave.