Denver Travel Tips

[the_gastropod]

Hey everybody!

My girlfriend and I will be visiting Denver at the end of October, and are looking for pro-tips on things to see and do. We both are into hiking and the outdoorsy stuff. We also appreciate a good beer, and have been lead to believe Denver has some of that. We're also planning to do a day trip to Fort Collins (I'm kiiiiiind of trying to sell the idea of possibly moving there eventually, maybe).

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

[ctuser1]

Denver downtown has lots of good beer, but I am not sure you'd get a lot of hiking/outdoorsy things unless you make your way into the mountains.

I've spent a lot of time in Denver, but never lived there. The 16th street and blocks around it was really nice and family friendly. It became a tiny bit iffy after the Marijuana legalization. Not quite unsafe - mind you, just not family friendly any more! Since it is just you and gf, I don't think it would matter.

For outdoorsy stuff, head out to mountains. Loads of small towns nearby with a lot of outdoorsy staff. My favorite used to be some small'ish towns around Vail without so many tourists in them, and Snowmass.

[bbqbonelesswing]

Check out a show at Red Rocks- you won't regret it! Coolest venue I've ever been to.

[IslandFiGirl]

Estes Park is a nice small touristy town in the Foothills about 1.5 hours Northwest of Denver.  From there you can go to Rocky Mountain National Park, which is beautiful and has tons of places to hike.  The hiking can be kind of iffy at the end of October if it's snowed and the trails have gotten muddy, so keep that in mind.  Trail Ridge Road (the highest continuous paved road in the United States) will likely be closed but it is a pretty cool drive!  I don't recommend trying to do the whole thing over the continental divide, it takes forever, and then you'll find yourself on the wrong side of the mountains!

Fort Collins has the famous New Belgium Brewery, where they make Fat Tire beer.  They give tours there, but you have to schedule it in advance.  Old Town Fort Collins is a nice stroll to see the shops and eat at some pretty good restaurants.  Disneyland's Main Street is modeled after Old Town Fort Collins, how cool is that???  The Colorado State University campus is a pretty walk, especially the Oval and the Annual Trial Gardens.  If you like to ride bikes, there are a lot of paved trails all through Fort Collins and Loveland with nice views.  There are several locations in Fort Collins near Old Town that have bike rentals. 

That's all I can think of at the moment!  Hope you have a great trip!

[IslandFiGirl]

Check out a show at Red Rocks- you won't regret it! Coolest venue I've ever been to.

Totally agree, Red Rocks is awesome!

[the_gastropod]

Excellent. Thanks for the tips! Funny enough, Wu-Tang Clan (one of my favorite musical groups ever) is doing a show at Red Rocks while I'll be there. Tickets are a whopping $150, though! I don't know if I want to see them that bad!

[kenner]

Excellent. Thanks for the tips! Funny enough, Wu-Tang Clan (one of my favorite musical groups ever) is doing a show at Red Rocks while I'll be there. Tickets are a whopping $150, though! I don't know if I want to see them that bad!

Just a suggestion if you do go to a show at Red Rocks: take stadium cushions or beach seats or something along those lines if you can.  Not that the rock seats are particularly uncomfortable, but they're bench type and just marked by a little placard, and there were a couple times before I started doing that where I was almost forced out of my seat by people who decided that since I was smaller it was fine to take up just a 'little' of my space (even when 'little' amounted to leaving me less than six inches before I was on top of the friend on my other side).  Now when they try that it's much easier to point out the actual space my seat occupies and the fact that they don't get to share it.