Denver, Colorado

Denver is an amazing city full of fantastic breweries, delicious eats, amazing hotels, and unique things to do!

Denver Tips: 

  • Be aware of the altitude! It's real! Stay hydrated and take things slow to avoid feeling sick, especially when you first arrive

  • If you are leaving the city back-ups on I-70 can be insane—so be sure to allow for extra time. My recommendations for Rocky Mountain National Park, Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Frisco, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Greeley can be found at the link below:

CHECK OUT MY COLORADO GUIDE HERE
Cohesion Brewing

Denver Top Recommendations:

  • Cohesion Brewing Company: A great brewery focused on Lagers. They have a cozy taproom in an industrial area north of RiNo. They have 5 taps and some guest beers, usually one of which is from Primitive and worth trying!

  • Cerebral Brewing: This is a great brewery with 3 locations around Denver: Congress Park, Aurora Arts, and West Highland. Their Stouts and IPAs are what they do best in my opinion.

  • Finn’s Manor: A great beer and cocktail bar in the heart of RiNo. They have a great tap list, chill vibes, and a killer patio space.

  • New Image Brewing: New Image has two taprooms in the Denver suburbs: Arvada and Wheat Ridge. This is a top-notch brewery that I highly recommend. At Wheat Ridge their onsite food truck Social Dough Pizza is ridiculously good as well!

  • The River North (RiNo) neighborhood is full of art and breweries, what more do you need? 

    • Bierstadt Lagerhaus: This is the Mecca of Lager beers. Get a Slow Pour Pils and Giant Ass Pretzel and don’t look back

    • Our Mutual Friend Brewing: Lots of fantastic IPAs in particular. They also have rotating food trucks and an outside patio

    • Ratio Beerworks: Fantastic outdoor space with cornhole and a patio. They have a wide variety of beers and it’s an overall fun & funky spot

    • Odell Brewing: Another solid option in the RiNo neighborhood with a variety of beers

    • Central Market is a great food hall in the heart of the RiNo neighborhood

  • Stay at The Maven Hotel: This incredible hotel is located at the Dairy Block in downtown Denver right across from Coors Field. The rooms and balcony views are fantastic, and the unique setup of this area takes things to the next level! There are a ton of shops, restaurants and bars all housed within this block. My favorites:

    • Westbound & Down: A great brewery right behind the hotel

    • Kachina Restaurant: Delicious Mexican eats in the hotel lobby

    • Seven Grand: A cool whiskey bar that partners with the hotel for a very informative tasting 

    • Huckleberry Roasters: A cute coffee shop in the lobby—they also have a couple other locations around town as well.

    • The Dairy Block Food Hall has a ton of options right in the lobby as well!

  • Milieu Fermentation: A great brewery with a large tap list in Aurora. Definitely recommend!

  • Rosenberg Bagels: Incredible spot for bagels, highly recommend!

  • Voodoo Donuts: Creative and crazy donuts that are incredibly delicious!

  • Knotted Root Brewing Company: A solid brewery with locations in Nederland and Denver. Their beers used to be extremely good and have become a little more average with time and expansion, but it is still worth checking out. Pro-tip if you are heading to the Brainard Lake Recreation Area for a hike or to hang at the lake the Nederland taproom is right down the road.

  • Check out Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater: The amphitheater is touristy but worth checking out! They do concerts, yoga, and numerous activities in this space. Catching a concert here is amazing!

    • I would definitely recommend hiking in the park if you’re not visiting for a concert. I did a 4.3 mile trail that had diverse landscape and wasn’t too challenging.

    • Fairfield Inn Lakewood is a perfectly average hotel stay near Red Rocks

  • Novel Strand Brewing Company: A solid brewery and coffee shop in South Denver. Great neighborhood-y vibes.

  • Denver Biscuit Company: A phenomenal, albeit touristy, spot for breakfast! The biscuits are massive, flaky, soft, and amazing.

  • Monolith Brewing: A solid brewery in a beautiful space with games, snacks, and a brewery dog!

  • Middle State Coffee: This coffee shop has several locations in the Denver area and is great! The Highlands neighborhood spot is cute.

  • Wanderment Brewing: A solid brewery with a good variety of styles. Their focus is on Saisons which I found to be tasty, but did not love their IPA.

  • Explore the Littleton neighborhood: This is a cute little downtown area perfect for bopping around. My two favorite spots:

The Maven Hotel

Balcony view from The Maven Hotel

Great Hikes Near Denver:

  • Mount Flora Trail: This trail is 6.3 miles long with 1,788ft of elevation gain and takes about 3.5 hours to complete. There are nice views throughout the trail, and you can also add on different segments to make the trail longer if you’d like. It is a 13er with a very exposed trail so expect quite a bit of wind at times. Mount Flora is in the Arapaho National Forest and just one hour from Denver so it is a popular trail.

  • Lake Isabelle via Pawnee Pass Trail: This trail is 6.6 miles long with 672ft of elevation gain and takes a little over two hours to complete. It is pretty with three lakes: Brainard, Long, and Isabelle with mountain views throughout. The trail is mostly flat aside from one section at the end. You will need to reserve parking ahead of time for the Brainard Lake Recreation Area.

  • Herman Gulch Trail: This trail is 6.5 miles long with 1,755ft of elevation gain and takes about 3.5 hours to complete. It leads out to a chill lake and is a nice trail overall. It is in the Arapaho National Forest just an hour from Denver and right off I-70 so it is very popular.

See the rest of my Colorado recommendations here—there are great hikes all over the state!

Mount Flora Summit

Mount Flora Summit

Other Denver Ideas: