Best What to See Denver Colorado Day 2023

Greetings Internet Stranger and welcome to the best what to see Denver Colorado day. The state of Colorado has become quite popular with tourists recently. But many of these travelers would rather head into the Rocky Mountains than enjoy a what to see Denver Colorado day. I’m here to tell you that people who give Denver a pass are sad, deluded individuals!

Denver is the capital of Colorado, and it is a fine place to spend at least a weekend. With a what to see Denver Colorado day, you can immerse yourself in the art scene. You can also get a fine drink or ten. We don’t want to waste any more time, so let’s go now!

Want to cut right to the chase, Internet Stranger? The best activity in Denver is this cocktail tour, which will give you a great time in America’s chillest city.

Or if you want to explore all tours in Denver, check this search engine right here to find the best deals!

what to see Denver Colorado day

Where to Stay?

You’re in luck, Internet Stranger, because I have the perfect place to hang your hat during your what to see Denver Colorado day. Denver is such a charming city and so I recommend staying at an equally charming bed and breakfast called the Patterson Inn.

They will give you breakfast made to order each morning. (Just feast your eyes on that flawless avocado toast with egg above.) They also have a happy hour with drinks and snacks every evening. You’ll hardly need to pay for other food when you stay here!

If you are interested in trying this amazing experience for yourself, click here.

And if you’d rather explore great deals on hundreds of hotels in Denver, click here!

This search engine will help you find the perfect place to stay during your what to see Denver Colorado day. With hundreds of options to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something for your schedule and budget.

what to see Denver Colorado day

Morning: Molly Brown House Museum

At this point, you’re probably thinking the name Molly Brown sounds familiar. Was she a distant cousin? Your third grade gym teacher? If I add the word Unsinkable in front of her name, does that help? What if I said “Kathy Bates”?

Yes, Ms. Molly Brown is most famous for being on the Titanic, yet not drowning even a little bit. But many people don’t know is that Molly Brown also lived in Denver, Colorado. If you are interested in learning more about her fabulous life, which you really should be, you can visit the Molly Brown House Museum.

You can only visit the house by guided tour. The earliest tour leaves at 10 AM, and you’re going to need to take that one to make our afternoon schedule for the rest of our what to see Denver Colorado day. So let’s get straight to the…

three fun facts: molly brown house museum

1) How’d she get such a nice place?

You’re probably thinking Molly Brown was born to luxury, right? After all, that’s usually the case with people who have mansions. But Miss Brown was born to a poor family of Irish immigrants. (Back then her maiden name was Margaret Tobin.) She dreamed of marrying a wealthy man, until one day she met Mr. J.J. Brown.

He…had no money either. But he and Molly loved each other, so they were married. Lucky for Molly, Mr. Brown soon struck it rich in the mining business. So she chose love over money and ended up having both. This is the kind of luck we can only dream of having!

PS. Mrs. Brown was never referred to as Molly during her life. Our docent told us Molly was a name for an Irish servant, so a lady like Mrs. Brown wouldn’t have used it. She went by Maggie to her friends. So don’t be surprised if your docent refuses to call her Molly during the tour.

2) What’s the deal with the titanic?

Molly Brown isn’t just famous for not sinking on the Titanic. She was enormously helpful after the ship began to sank. As a woman in first class, she was easily able to get into a lifeboat. But she didn’t give up on the others who were left behind.

She encouraged the crewman in charge of her lifeboat to go back and rescue as many people as possible. (You might recall this scene in the movie Titanic, and it’s pretty historically accurate.)

What the movie doesn’t show is that Mrs. Brown didn’t give up on the rest of the survivors even after she was safe shore. She started a committee to help the less wealthy passengers on the Titanic rebuild their life. The committee raised over 10,000 dollars, which was quite a lot of money back in those days.

Throughout her life, Mrs. Brown was known for her involvement in charitable causes. She even helped resolve a strike between a group of miners in Ludlow, Colorado and their boss. (You might have heard of him because he was also the head of an obscure family named Rockefeller.) No matter how rich and famous Mrs. Brown became, she never forgot where she came from.

3) how did her house become a museum?

Mr. and Mrs. Brown separated after 20 years of marriage, though they were never officially divorced. Mrs. Brown continued to devote herself to noble causes, like advancing women’s suffrage. But even the Unsinkable Molly Brown was affected by the Great Depression. She had to turn the Brown Mansion into a boarding house.

Fortunately for her, by this point she had moved to New York City to pursue a career in the theater. (It’s not every woman who would be willing to take the stage for the first time in her 50s. But I think we’ve established that Margaret Brown was not Every Woman.)

Like many other historic buildings, the house was almost demolished in the 1960s. Fortunately Historic Denver was able to buy it and turn it into a museum, so you and I can visit it to this day!

what to see Denver Colorado day

Afternoon: The Denver Art Tour

I was alarmed to find out that there was a neighborhood in Denver called RiNo. Are there really wild rhinos in Denver? How are we to tame them? But in fact RiNo in Denver refers to the River North Art District. Since Denver is a city full of hipsters, the RiNo probably has the largest concentration of hipsters of anywhere in the continental United States.

But don’t let that deter you from visiting! The RiNo also has fantastic art, food, and interesting history, for such a relatively young city. That’s why I saw as much public art as I could in this area during my what to see Denver Colorado day. I want to share my favorite places with you as well!

approximately top 5: what to see Denver Colorado day

1) lunch at portside

Get lunch at a cafe called Port Side. (I gave you a clever clue to the name in the photo of my iced tea above.) No what to see Denver Colorado day is complete without lunch! And we need to give our brain food, so it’s ready to absorb all that art!

Portside is one of those places where all the ingredients are locally sourced, healthy, and delicious. Eating at a cafe like this makes me feel like such an underachiever.

I always feel pleased with myself when I manage to get something more together for dinner than a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Even the mustard in that photo looks gorgeous! I bet someone artisanally selected each perfectly round grain of mustard seed.

The name Portside is an homage to the building. Many of the buildings and stores on this street are located in former shipping containers. Using shipping containers to house buildings is convenient, sustainable, and often affordable. Denver is a very green city (in more ways than one), so it makes sense this trend would take off here.

3) if you want a beer, pal, you’re gonna pay for it…

If you played some bizarre word-association game with any American and asked them to say the first thing that came into their mind when they heard Denver, it’s likely they would say beer. So we couldn’t have a Denver walking tour without a cold one! But I was lucky because we stopped at First Draft Denver.

I bought a card with enough money on it for me to get a beer. But instead of limiting myself to one flavor, I could use this card to get a small pour of one of the more than 30 beers they had on tap. I could go from a sour to an IPA to a stout and no one would stop me!

Aside from the beer, my favorite thing about First Draft was the memorabilia they had from a certain fine film from the 1980s that decorated all of the walls. Can you look at this poster above and name that film? No cheating!

4) drugs not included

During your what to see Denver Colorado day, there will be certain things about the city you can’t help but notice. Of course, there’s the beautiful sunshine, the healthy young people, and a certain…smell of skunk. Yes, recreational marijuana is legal in Denver, and the population isn’t shy about enjoying it in public.

So though I don’t smoke pot, I was curious to see the inside of a dispensary, and I was glad the opportunity presented itself many times in Denver.

I don’t want to get your hopes up, Internet Stranger. Some dispensaries can be expensive, and I didn’t buy anything anyway. And there are certain rules you need to follow to enter any dispensary. First, you need a photo ID proving you are over 21.

I always have my passport with me anyway because I don’t know how to drive, and if The Man ever tries to steal my identity like they did with Sandra Bullock in The Net, I want to be able to prove I am me.

Second, no photo taking is allowed in the dispensary. What is allowed is listening to the gentleman in charge of the dispensary wax eloquent about the different strains of marijuana and all the different ways you can prepare them in edibles. He was like the weed version of a sommelier. (A ganja-mmelier? A Mary Jane-ophile? I’ll keep working on this.)

I didn’t get anything because all marijuana does for me is make me so hungry I’ll be willing to eat an old piece of pizza off the floor. (Not that this actually happened to me once. AHEM.) But I was happy for the chance to meet some of Denver’s assorted weirdos during my what to see Denver Colorado day

5) street art of rino

Speaking of weirdos, I think this mouse is having some issues here. But he brings me to the final stop of our what to see Denver Colorado day afternoon tour: the street art! No hipster neighborhood is complete without a bevy of beauties painted on its public walls. And RiNo has become well known for its murals.

I am justly famous for my musings on street art, so allow me to explain all of these works to you.

This is a giant alien life form that is planning to take over the planet, starting with Denver, Colorado. It saw the movie Independence Day, so it wanted to begin its conquest far from Washington DC because it’s scared of Bill Pullman and it heard that Bill Pullman never goes to Denver. The windows represent the alien’s eyes, from which it will shoot laser beams at you if you get too close.

This is Mario from Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers game. I assume the rest of the characters are failed attempts to create a sibling for Mario before they finally settled on Luigi. I’m glad they stuck with Luigi because he’s probably a lot better at fighting Bowser than a chicken wearing bunting flags would be.

This mural is completely different depending on where you are standing. It looks like a girl from one angle and a boy from another. It expresses how we are all gender fluid to a certain extent.

Or the artist was just trying to mess with any high people who might walk down this street. I feel like that happens a lot in Denver.

If you really like a piece of art, look for the @ symbol. The artist often has their Instagram tag visible so you can follow them on social media. This is done by @artbyhex

That’s all I have to say about the street art because I was eaten by this giant face. Farewell cruel world!!!

what to see Denver Colorado day

Evening: Small Group Cocktail Tour

Now that we’ve enjoyed some trippy Denver street art, why not keep the fun going with a delicious Denver cocktail tour? You’ll have plenty enough time after your time exploring RiNo for the cocktail tour to begin. How convenient for us all!

I booked an adult beverage tour with this tour company when I was in Denver, and I had a magical and delicious time. As always, I can’t guarantee you’ll have the exact same drinks that I did. But I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll have as much fun as I did.

You can book this tour for yourself by clicking here.

Then get ready for..

three fun facts: drinks of denver

1) what is a distillery?

A distillery is a place where they make spirits, as opposed to wine or beer. You know, the hard stuff. On The Liquid Tour, I got to visit the inside of newish Block Distillery and see where all the magic happens. And by magic, I mean how grains are left to ferment in giant vats until they “go off” and will get you intoxicated if you drink them.

The Block is a family owned business run by two brothers and a wife. (She’s married to one of the brothers; I hope not both, but I don’t judge.)

One of the brothers showed me around the distillery, but I don’t remember which one, so I’m just going to call him Block Brother. He explained that they make their own gin and their own vodka. They haven’t begun to make their own whiskey yet because that takes time and they aren’t ready yet.

Check rates and availability of this distillery experience by going here!

Of course the highlight of the visit was getting to taste one of their gins in a cocktail. I was stoked to try their Ramos Gin Fizz, which is a classic cocktail in my mom’s hometown, New Orleans. It is said to be the perfect hangover cure.

The drink was delicious, but I was especially entertained by the giant hipster mustaches on the can of orange blossom water. (Orange blossom water is one of the ingredients of the cocktail.) I hadn’t realized that hipsters existed back in the 1900s!

2) what about food?

What’s that you say? You never asked any such question?! Well, if we’re going to be doing all this drinking, we will need to fill our bellies so we don’t topple over and blight the beautiful streets of the Mile High City.

That’s why I’m glad that snacks were available on the tour as well as cocktails. I know my well being and health was improved by stuffing my stomach full of their squash and burrata salad. Plus, there was no hangover the next day! That’s why you need to eat when you drink, kids.

I even liked their fresh potato chips, and potato chips and whipped cream are usually the only two foods I don’t like. (If you’re going to spend the calories, just eat french fries and vanilla ice cream! Why go for the lesser option.)

The husband in the couple, Obe, is a musician, so there are many portraits of musicians decorating the walls, My companion and I tried to guess who they all were. I was especially pleased with myself because I managed to identify the lead singer of Thin Lizzy. My fellow diner wasn’t aware that we were playing a trivia game with these pictures, but I was, and I decided I won. That now makes me Queen of Denver.

3) what is a cidery?

Despite what my spellcheck tells me, unlike preservery, cidery is a real word. And it’s pretty obvious what it means! A cidery is a place where they brew cider. Now, no self-respecting adult would spend an evening in a place where they prepared apple juice. This is the boozy cider we’re talking about here.

Of course I had consumed alcoholic cider before. After all, this is America. But until I went to Stem Ciders, I had never tried so many different kinds. Did you know that there’s rose cider, which is a combination of cider and red wine? Did you know you can infuse cider with anything from tea to cucumber? How about that you can make cider from crab apples? There’s apparently nothing these cider wizards can’t do.

Stem Ciders also has several games on hand, so my guide and I played one of those icebreaker games where you tell funny stories about yourself to pass the time. I just made everything up because I don’t think anyone has the right to know anything about me. That’s why there’s a man somewhere in Denver who thinks I used to be a werewolf.

Check rates and availability of this werewolf cider experience by going here!

24 Hour Tip

Those are all the secrets of the cocktail tour that I can share with you for now.

Go ahead and book the tour by going here to find out the rest!

what to see Denver Colorado day

What to Pack?

• An excellent small cell charger so you can keep taking pictures all during your what to see Denver Colorado day
• The best guidebook to Colorado, including Denver of course.
• These great TSA approved clear toiletries bags, so I can always keep spare toothpaste and travel sized toiletries in any carry-on
• The most reliable travel umbrella that is small enough to fit in my purse, but strong enough to stand up to powerful winds
• My book Get Lost, that I wrote myself with all my best travel tips. This book will show you how travel can take you on a journey of self-discovery.

what to see Denver Colorado day

How to Get There

By Car: This is really only feasible if you’re going to your what to see Denver Colorado day from somewhere else in Colorado or from a fairly nearby state. I live in New York City and don’t know how to drive, so this would be impossible for me.

By Plane: Fortunately it is very easy to fly into Denver because it has an airport. Yay! No muss, no fuss. I was coming to Denver from Salt Lake City, and the flight was quick and easy. I think for most people, flying into Denver is the best choice.

I recommend using a search engine like Expedia to search for the best prices on flights.

By Train or Bus: Greyhound does go to Denver, so if flying is really outside your budget for your what to see Denver Colorado day, this might be your best option. Check out their website to see if Greyhound will work for you. As you know if you’ve taken the Hound before, it’s not always super reliable, but I use it from time to time because something nothing else will do.

Amtrak also sends trains to Denver, at least if you’re coming from the Chicago direction, so feel free to check that out as well.

That’s a Perfect what to see Denver Colorado day

What would you do with a what to see Denver Colorado day? Should we all be living our lives like Mrs. Margaret Brown, yes or yes? And when will the alien invasion of Denver begin? Please email me at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com and let me know!

Note: If you want to know how I put my travel itineraries together, just click here. Keep in mind that while each article is about how to spend 24 hours in a place, that doesn’t mean you should ONLY spend 24 hours in Denver. If you have time for another 24 hours in Denver, try this itinerary.