This Denver Travel Guide will include TEN destinations (plus a few other recommendations, including eateries!) within a 9 mile stretch (but can be taken down to a 4.5 mile stretch without the two most east stops). From Natural History Museum to Union Station, my Denver Travel Guide includes historic landmarks, museums, art (architecture, paintings, murals, and more), and urban eateries plus an FAQ on where to stay and how to travel the town on a budget!
You can pack these stops into 1 or 2 days depending on how long you want to spend at each destination and what type of transportation you are using. I personally would recommend 2 days to enjoy each place and a few coffee shops along the way, but if you’re limited on time and want to see it all, it is definitely possible to see it all in 1.
If you’re really limited on time my MUST SEES for Denver Art & History are The State Capitol (History), Denver Art Museum (Art), and 16th Street Mall/Larimer Square (Denver City Culture/eateries and more Art!).
We will start East (near Aurora) and move West simply because the museums close earlier than the destinations at the end of the guide.
If you plan on stopping at 2 or more of these museums, I would recommend the Mile High Pass, which is only $32 for three day access to 7 Denver attractions!
Nature & Science Museum
included in the Mile High Pass
$20, 9am-5pm
I did not get the opportunity to stop at this museum as originally planned. But I do know it contains dinosaur fossils found at Dinosaur Ridge in Colorado, extensive butterfly and moth displays, world-famous wildlife dioramas, and more!
Botanic Garden
included in the Mile High Pass
$12.50, 9am-5pm
The Botanical Gardens were beautiful! There are several different buildings, each containing a different plant types. We enjoyed the tropical plants the most and took our time strolling through the various gardens. Unfortunately all of the outside plants (more than half the garden) were dead due to the snow. I would definitely recommend going during warmer weather.
Molly Brown House Museum
included in the Mile High Pass
$13, 10am-3:30pm
This Victorian mansion was built in the 1880’s and has been preserved and refurbished. It is located in the middle of a residential street.
Molly’s husband, J.J. Brown, became wealthy after mining a substantial amount of ore. Molly Brown was a town philanthropist who advocated for women’s education, assisted in fundraising for Denver’s Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, helped establish a juvenile court.
In 1912, Molly Brown survived the Titanic, giving her the name, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”, in the Broadway musical based of off her.
The Brown Museum was beautiful. The luxury and small collection of art and artifacts reminded me of Hearst Castle. Molly collected ceramic figurines from around the world. Flowers, painted and embossed, adorn every part of the house.
Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
Denver had a surprising amount of cathedrals. The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception stood out to me due to its French Gothic architecture and brass doors. It has more stained glass windows than any other church in America! The aerial shot above was taken outside the Capital Building.
Colorado Capital Building
FREE tours! 10am-3pm
Funny story, Cody and I actually wandered into the Capital Building on accident. Lucky for us, they give free tours every hour so we joined one right in time!
Although the dome is made of 24 carrot gold, many fixtures in the Capital Building are made of bronze, such as the rail and light fixtures. The Colorado State Capitol displays Colorado’s entire known supply of Rose Onyx, pictured above.
The buildings were open to the public so we saw press meetings going on and each room had a screen that told us what time different bills would be discussed.
The Colorado Capital Building is filled with stain glass windows and paintings of significant figures. Including those who are significant to Colorado’s history and all of our Presidents.
Getting to the top of the dome is a 99 stairs up, with a museum being after step 38, because Colorado was the 38th state. It has a fantastic view of the surrounding city.
This was one of my favorite stops that I would recommend as a must see. The building itself was absolutely breath taking, the staircase below was one of my favorite pieces. Outside is a step that shows you exactly where to stand to be a mile high above sea level. Aside from the architecture I found it really exciting that the state’s day to day government meetings were accessible to the public and happening right there! It was also really neat to learn about Colorado’s history while I visiting.
If you enjoy learning about history at the Colorado Capital Building, I would also recommend heading just across the street to the History Colorado Center. It is $14 (included in the Mile High Pass) and open 10am to 5pm.
Denver Art Museum
included in the Mile High Pass
$13, 10am-5pm
The Denver art scene is alive and thriving and the Denver Art Museum is a world class museum!
The Denver Art Museum included a variety of pieces from ancient art, architecture, statues, paintings (from varying eras), interactive displays, and fashion
It had a variety of “try it yourself” stops as well. I only practiced basic ink smudging art but, if time allowed, would have loved to try them all, especially the sculpting one!
In this art museum the exhibits are constantly changing so every time you are visiting Denver make sure to stop by!
One of my favorite exhibits was Julie Buffalohead. I enjoyed her metaphoric and colorful artwork.
If art is your favorite, I would recommend stopping at the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art museum nearby, for $10 (included in the Mile High Culture Pass) between 11am-5pm, as well.
Brown Palace and Hotel
11am-4pm
Henry Brown, not to be confused with Molly and J.J. Brown, was a real-estate-agent who purchased several acres of land in anticipation of the Denver boom. He donated land for the State Capitol Building and sold land for Capital Hill.
The Hotel itself was designed in Italian renaissance style using Colorado Red Granite. And here’s an interesting fact, Brown Palace was actually the second fire-proof building in all of America!
Unfortunately I did not have time to stop here. I assumed it would be similar to San Diego’s Coronado Hotel. But is is definitely at the top of my list for next time!
16th Street Mall/Larimer Square
The spot where Denver was founded is now a hotspot for shops and eateries. 16th street is a mile long mall in the Mile High City (that should be there slogan right?). I particularly enjoyed stopping at cafes for a nice drink in the freezing temperatures (I recommend Ink! Coffee) and roaming around the bookstores (Tattered Cover Bookstore is a must!). For a more upbeat day hang, around LoHi for the brewpubs.
If you’re willing to go out a little bit further I 100% would suggest taking Larimer to the RiNo District! There are over 40 murals there that I wish I had the time to explore and photograph them all, but alas that is for a different visit.
Aside from the hipster art scene, there are really cool eateries I wish I had enough time to try them all. Here’s a list of some I found interesting.
Dio Mio handmade pasta for about $20 a plate.
We had planned on stopping here for our Friday night dinner but the place was insanely busy! It is also first come, first serve seating so make sure to get there early.
Infinite Monkey Theorem urban winery (canned wine??? whaaat :o)
Retrograde 60’s themed ice cream parlor that will let you into their bar if you ask!
Millenium Bridge
The world’s first cable-stayed bridge connects LoDo Denver to Commons Park. It is at the end of 16th Street and right across from Union Station
Union Station
Denver Union Station is a 100 year old historic landmark which felt quite similar to Los Angeles’ Union Station due to its luxurious interior. It is a part of the Crawford Hotel and tours are available for $20.
Colorado Trip FAQ: Budget and Recommendations
STAY:
We stayed at a quiet Airbnb in Aurora for $25 a night! It was just a room, but we had the floor to ourselves which felt very private. Aurora was just a half hour or a bus ride from Denver and RiNo.
TRAVEL:
To get around we used the $6 bus day pass and the RDT app. (Coming from Aurora we mainly used the 15 and the 20!)
For rides to and from the airport or late nights we used Uber and Lyft. The Uber scheduling feature gave us peace of mind to know we’d have a ride to get to the airport on time! When we weren’t in a rush we used Uber and Lyft Pool since it was cheaper.
Flights were booked from Frontier and were only $40 a ticket!
Very interesting and beautiful.