Denver Guide - 2024

Overview: A guide to navigating Denver for at least a week.

Transportation

Lyft, Uber, and the light rail are available in Denver. Some of the city is walkable but it’s easier to navigate neighborhoods around downtown via bikes and scooters, which are available to rent. Renting a car in Colorado is recommended if you want to see any of the outdoor destinations that Colorado is known for.

Noteworthy Eats

Restaurants by Neighborhood

Downtown Eats

West Colfax Eats

  • Bistro Vendôme (French)

  • Appaloosa Grill (American)

    • Live music

  • Tamayo (Mexican)

  • Red Square Bistro (European/Russian)

  • Yazoo BBQ Company (barbeque)

  • My Brother’s Bar (American)

    • Oldest bar in Denver (est. 1873)

Highlands Eats

RiNo/Five Points Eats

  • Linger (Eclectic)

  • Root Down (American)

  • Little Man Ice Cream

  • Rise and Shine Biscuit Kitchen

    • North Carolina style breakfast

  • Rupert’s on the Edge (American)

    • Breakfast & lunch

  • Himchuli (Indian & Nepali)

  • Blue Pan Pizza (pizza)

 

Uptown Eats

Curtis Park Eats

  • Watercourse Foods (vegan)

  • Hamburger Mary's Denver (American)

  • The Corner Beet (vegetarian)

  • Steuben's Uptown (American)

  • Ace Eat Serve

    • Eatery with ping-pong hall

  • Nocturne Jazz

    • Jazz club and eatery

Baker/Speer/Sante Fe Eats

City Park Eats

  • Denver Biscuit Company (breakfast)

  • The Thin Man (bar)

Capitol Hill/Alamo Placita Eats

SoBo/Washington Park Eats

  • Melita’s Greek Cafe (Greek)

  • Charlie Brown's Bar & Grill (Greek)

    • Live music (piano)

  • Little India on 6th (Indian)

  • SubCulture (sandwiches)

  • City O’City (vegetarian)

  • Little Gingko Asian Cafe (Chinese)

  • Ritual Social House (American)

  • Benny Blanco’s Slice Of The Bronx (pizza)

  • Illegal Pete's (southwestern)

  • Sputnik (vegetarian/vegan)

Alameda/Federal

 

  • Vinh Xuong Bakery (Vietnamese)

    • Best banh mi

  • Tony Phở

  • Phở 95

 

Places to Go

Coffee Shops

Music Venues

  • Roostercat Coffeehouse

  • The Corner Beet

  • Mutiny Cafe

  • Copper Door Coffee Roasters

  • Hudson Hill

  • Sky Tea (Drip Denver)

  • Pablo’s Coffee

  • Queen City Collective Coffee

  • The Bardo Coffee House

  • Metropolis Coffee

  • Thump Coffee

  • Doppio Coffee

  • Novo Coffee

  • The Ogden

  • Bluebird Theater

  • Mission Ballroom

  • Milk Bar

  • Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom

  • The Black Box

  • Fillmore Auditorium

  • Your Mom’s House

  • Mercury Cafe

  • Howl at the Moon Denver

  • Marquis Theater

  • Nocturn Jazz Club

  • Hi-Dive

  • Red Rocks

Happy Hour Spots & Bars

Breweries

  • Epic Brewing Company

  • Spangalang Brewery

  • TRVE Brewing Company

  • Bierstadt Lagerhaus

  • Cerebral Brewing

  • Odell Brewing Co.

  • Crooked Stave

  • New Belgium Brewing

  • Denver Beer Co Platte Street

    • Brewery and outdoor beer garden in the Highlands

  • Wynkoop Brewing Company

  • Great Divide Brewing Company

Theaters

Dispensaries

  • Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

  • Paramount Theatre

  • Landmark’s Esquire Theatre

  • Alternative Medicine on Capital Hill

  • LivWell

  • Green Man

  • High Level Health

  • Good Chemistry

  • DenCo

  • Life Flower

  • Green Solution

  • Native Roots

  • Emerald Fields

  • The Giving Tree of Denver

  • Lightshade

  • Kind Love

Museums & Monuments

Notable Neighborhoods

  • Meow Wolf

  • Molly Brown House Museum

  • Denver Art Museum

  • Denver Botanic Gardens

  • Denver Museum of Nature & Science

    • Viewing platform exists on the second floor of the museum to get a perfect view of the Denver skyline in front of the mountains

  • Union Station

    • Functioning station

    • Gathering place with historic architecture

    • Various shops and eateries

  • Colorado State Capitol

    • Between Capitol Hill and downtown with pretty views from the steps

Capitol Hill neighborhood

  • Has cool independent shops on 13th

  • Cheeseman Park

  • Colfax Ave is lively but not recommended for tourists

South Broadway neighborhood (SoBo)

  • Independent shops and bars near 1st and Broadway

Highlands neighborhood

  • Sloan’s Lake

Washington Park neighborhood

Lodo and RiNo

South Pearl

Art Districts & Murals, Markets

Hiking & Hot Springs (car required)

  • Mount Falcon

  • Hanging Lake

  • St. Mary’s Glacier

  • Indian Hot Springs

Retail Shops

Parks & Trails

  • Rocky Mountain Punk Nature Art & Oddities

    • Absolutely worth visiting

  • Wax Trax Records

    • Record store in Capitol Hill

  • Edgewater Public Market

  • Leevers Locavore

  • Milk Market

  • Sloan’s Lake Park

  • City Park

    • Free jazz on Sundays in the summer

  • Washington Park

    • Huge but often crowded

  • Cherry Creek Trail

    • Lowered trail leading from Capitol Hill to the upscale Cherry Creek neighborhood with ample shops and eateries

Tours

 

  • The Dark Side of Denver Ghost Tours

    • Walking tour around Capitol Hill neighborhood with a group; it’s more historical than scary.