Things to do in Denver, splurging
Clyfford Still and RiNo, Uchiko and Hop Alley for dinner, a martini at the Cruise Room.
This is Denver for people who eat and drink seriously: a fine-dining table most nights, rooms worth coming back to, and afternoons spent in good museums or hunting the right boutique. The plan moves through LoHi, Cherry Creek, and City Park without ever feeling like a slog, and the city's walkable neighbourhood logic makes it easy to stay out late and still feel human the next morning.
Day 1: LoHi, RiNo, and a mezcal dinner
Start slow over coffee at Stowaway, walk RiNo's mural blocks, eat well at The Bindery, take in the MCA's sharp building, then give the evening to Mezcaleria Alma and a last martini in the Cruise Room.
- 9:30 AM
Stowaway Kitchen
Breakfast with Asian accents and strong espresso in a bright room on Walnut Street, a short walk to the murals.
Map - 10:30 AM
RiNo (River North Art District)
Walk the RiNo murals, large-scale walls refreshed annually make this Denver's best free outdoor gallery, an easy stroll from LoHi.
Map - 12:30 PM
The Bindery
Linda Hampsten Fox's LoHi room with a bakery counter; at lunch share the house bread and a pasta.
Map - 2:30 PM
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
Compact, well-curated contemporary art museum steps from the neighbourhood, the architecture alone is worth the stop.
Map - 7:30 PM
Mezcaleria Alma
Johnny Curiel's mezcal bar and kitchen in LoHi; order a flight and the seafood plates, and book ahead.
Map - 9:30 PM
Cruise Room
Prohibition-era art-deco martini bar inside Denver's oldest hotel, the perfect one last drink before midnight.
Map
Day 2: Capitol Hill museums into Cherry Creek
A serious morning at the Clyfford Still Museum and the Molly Brown House gives way to afternoon in Cherry Creek, where the night ends at Uchiko's Japanese counter before a wind-down beer at Cherry Cricket.
- 10:30 AM
Clyfford Still Museum
Nearly everything Clyfford Still painted, in a quiet concrete building next to the Denver Art Museum.
Map - 12:30 PM
Uptown Banh Mi & Pho
Banh mi and pho off Colfax, a quick lunch between the morning museum and the Molly Brown House.
Map - 2:30 PM
Molly Brown House Museum
Well-guided tour of the 1889 Titanic survivor's home, a vivid window into mining-boom Denver.
Map - 7:30 PM
Uchiko Denver
Tyson Cole's smoke-and-fire Japanese menu in Cherry Creek; start with the hama chili and let them pace it.
Map - 9:30 PM
Duffy's Cherry Cricket
Cherry Creek's beloved local bar, a top-rated wind-down drink close to dinner without going far.
Map
Day 3: City Park, pizza, and a spa finish
Spend the morning at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, grab a proper slice at Blue Pan, decompress lakeside in City Park, then dinner at Hop Alley and a booked-ahead soak at Oakwell Beer Spa.
- 10:30 AM
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Dinosaur halls, a vault of Colorado gold and gems, and a planetarium, with the Front Range out the back windows.
Map - 12:30 PM
- 2:30 PM
City Park
Postcard lake-and-mountains view, stroll the paths and decompress before a big dinner.
Map - 7:30 PM
Hop Alley
Tommy Lee's loud, lively Chinese room in RiNo; share the la zi ji fried chicken and the noodles.
Map - 9:30 PM
Oakwell Beer Spa
90-minute private spa suite with a hops-and-barley hydrotherapy tub, infrared sauna and a craft beer tap wall. Book weeks ahead.
Map
Where to stay
Four Seasons Hotel Denver
The Four Seasons sits at the centre of the plan and matches the spend level of every dinner on this itinerary.
HALCYON, A Hotel in Cherry Creek, Denver
HALCYON puts you a short walk from Uchiko and Cherry Cricket, and its boutique-hotel feel fits the design-conscious tone of the whole trip.
Make Denver your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App StoreBefore you go
Book ahead
- Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre: weeks ahead
- Meow Wolf Denver | Convergence Station: a few days ahead
- Denver Performing Arts Complex: a few days ahead
- Comedy Works Downtown: a few days ahead
- Oakwell Beer Spa: a few days ahead
- Arrowhead Golf Club: a few days ahead
Skip these
- 16th Street as a destination in itself: ride it and walk it, but the sights are at its ends and a block off it.
- Casa Bonita for the food, or without a reservation: it is theatre that serves dinner.
- The Downtown Aquarium, Elitch Gardens and the US Mint tour as adult headline sights: fillers, not pillars.
The full Denver travel guide: when to go, safety, getting around