Downtown Denver rises above Six Flags Elitch Gardens, a 50-acre theme park. Photograph by Chas Swift/Corbis

48 Hours Denver: The Best of a City in Two Days
By Stephen Beaumonts

Colorado's Nugget

After a '90s building boom, Denver boasts new sports and arts venues and a lively warehouse district.

"Denver will be a really nice place," publisher Tom Dalldorf commented to me during a 1990 stay in the city, "when they finally get finished with it." His observation then was as pointed as it was true.

Let it now be said: They're finished with it. All the construction of the past two decades has paid great dividends, including an international airport the size of two Manhattan Islands; three state-of-the-art pro sports facilities; the Michael Graves-designed public library, with its vast Western photography collection; 16th Street's mile-long pedestrian mall; and a theater, symphony, opera, and ballet complex second in size only to New York's Lincoln Center. Yet beneath this new flashy exterior still beats the friendly heart of a frontier town, notes Denver Post columnist Dick Kreck. "Denver is a big, modern city," says Kreck, "but unlike a lot of big cities, there's no pretense here."

FAST FACTS

Denver isn't in the mountains—it's near them. Very near. Just a two-hour drive away are the legendary ski resorts of Breckenridge, Vail, and Aspen, boasting peaks as high as 12,000 feet, and recreation areas like Eldorado Canyon State Park, as popular with kayakers and rock climbers as with the hikers who watch them.

DON'T MISS

As home to teams from the NHL, NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball, Denver's reputation as a sports town is well deserved. But city residents are just as enthusiastic about the arts, claims Denise Montgomery, executive director of the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, and visits to cultural events rival that of attendance at pro sports events.

One source of cultural pride is the Denver Art Museum's collection of Native American art, whose 20,000 objects range from Northwest Coast woodcarving to Pueblo pottery. Another American story is explored through photos, artifacts, and compelling oral histories at the Black American West Museum & Heritage Center.

Although Denver's fall weather can be unpredictable, on pleasant days crowds flood the gardens at Civic Center Park, or commune with the animals at the Denver Zoo. A snowfall will set the zoo crowd migrating east across City Park to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, one of the country's largest natural history museums, perhaps to study animals of another age at the Prehistoric Journey exhibit.

Denver's oldest district is the now-funky lower downtown, nicknamed LoDo. While its heart beats strongest at night, this area is well worth a daytime stroll for its rehabilitated 19th-century architecture and treasures like the Robischon Gallery's contemporary paintings and the Sloane Gallery's modern Russian art. Time your walk right and you can end it in the company of the Rockies at Coors Field, cheering hockey's Avalanche or basketball's Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, or tailgating at the Broncos' new home, Invesco Field at Mile High.

WHERE THE LOCALS EAT

As might be expected of a western frontier town, vegetarian is not exactly Denver's principal cuisine. "As in many cities, large chunks of meat are very popular," says Patricia Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword, Denver's alternative weekly. "The difference is that here the meat might be buffalo or elk."

Calhoun's choice for grilled elk, which she describes as "more flavorful and exotic than beef," is the Fort, housed in a full-scale replica of a fur-trading post. But it was the roast bison marrow bones that caught Julia Child's attention when she visited in 1995. Carnivores also congregate at the Buckhorn Exchange, where diners share the "Big Steak," which weighs two to four pounds and gets carved at the table beneath a herd of trophy animals hanging from the walls and ceiling.

Inventive preparations like lobster and crab ravioli highlight the constantly changing menu at the eponymous restaurant of Denver's leading star chef, Kevin Taylor. Its classic decor stands in contrast to the industrial modernism of the Vesta Dipping Grill, where guests ensconced in enormous curved banquettes dip their choice of grilled meat, seafood, or vegetables into sauces like black pepper aioli, red jerk mayo, or one of more than 30 others. For what Calhoun says is a "very Zen, very transporting" experience, locals turn to the serenity of Domo, which serves traditional Japanese cuisine like nabemono, the quick-cooked, cast-iron pot stews of the Japanese countryside, in a setting reminiscent of a Japanese country home.

SHOPPING

You'd expect a city with one of the highest per capita counts of high school and college graduates in the U.S. to have a bit of a preoccupation with books, and Denver residents indulge theirs at the Tattered Cover Book Store. In two sizable locations, Tattered Cover combines the title volume of a chain store with the personal attention of a local shop.

For Denver esoterica, Suzanne Brown, fashion editor at the Denver Post, suggests Cry Baby Ranch on Larimer Square for its assortment of "fun Western things," from cowboy boots to Roy Rogers lunchboxes. Also on Larimer, Brown points to EVE and Mariel for the latest women's fashions. In nearby LoDo, she singles out Rockmount Ranch Wear, the originator of the snap-front Western shirt.

NIGHTLIFE

A night out might begin with a play by the Tony Award-winning Denver Center Theatre Company at the "Plex," the city's massive, eight-theater Denver Performing Arts Complex, but will inevitably end in LoDo. For cocktails and live music, locals turn to the Cruise Room, a crimson-hued art deco temple to the martini, styled after a 1930s cruise ship lounge. But beer is king in this brewing city, and its castle is LoDo's Wynkoop Brewing Company, Colorado's oldest brewpub. Jazz lovers flock to LoDo's El Chapultepec, among the best jazz dives in the country, where even appearances by stars like Wynton Marsalis don't rate a cover charge. For more eclectic entertainment, Westword music editor Laura Bond suggests the Mercury Café. "It has a used bookstore feel and four rooms that can feature anything from experimental theater to swing music." For acoustic music, Bond recommends the Soiled Dove, which showcases local artists like Wendy Woo and Nina Storey.

LODGINGS OF NOTE

While Denver has experienced a hotel boom in recent years, the city's time-honored classics endure. The grandiose seven-story atrium lobby of the Brown Palace Hotel, where each floor is bedecked with wrought iron grillwork, is the city's 110-year-old grande dame. Of the same era is the Oxford Hotel, a downtown institution offering rooms with LoDo views. Tops among the modern hotels is the theatrically themed Hotel Teatro, located across the street from the Denver Center for Performing Arts, where the expansive glass-enclosed showers alone are worth the price of the room.

TRAVELWISE

Sightseeing, Culture, Sports & Shops

Black American West Museum & Heritage Center: 3091 California St.; +1 303 292 2566.
Coors Field: 2001 Blake St.; +1 303 762 5437.
Cry Baby Ranch: 1422 Larimer Sq.; +1 303 623 3979.
Denver Art Museum: 13th Ave. and Acoma St.; +1 720 865 5000; www.denverartmuseum.org.
Denver Center Theatre Company: 14th & Curtis Sts.; +1 303 893 4100; www.denvercenter.org.
Denver Museum of Nature and Science: 2001 Colorado Blvd.; +1 303 322 7009.
Denver Performing Arts Complex: 14th and Curtis Sts.; +1 303 893 4100.
Denver Zoo: 2300 Steele St.; +1 303 376 4800.
Eldorado Canyon State Park: Kneale Rd., Eldorado Springs; +1 303 494 3943.
EVE: 1415 Larimer Sq.; +1 720 932 9382.
Invesco Field at Mile High: 1701 Bryant St.; +1 720 258 3333.
Mariel: 1420 Larimer St.; +1 303 623 1151.
Pepsi Center: 1000 Chopper Circle; +1 303 405 1100.
Robischon Gallery: 1740 Wazee St.; +1 303 298 7788.
Rockmount Ranch Wear: 1626 Wazee St.; +1 303 629 7777.
Sloane Gallery: 1612 17th St.; +1 303 595 4230.
Tattered Cover Book Store: 2955 E. First Ave.; +1 303 322 7727; and 1628 16th St.; +1 303 436 1070.

Restaurants & Bars

Cruise Room: 1659 Wazee St.; +1 303 825 1107.
Domo: 1365 Osage St.; +1 303 595 3666.
El Chapultepec: 1962 Market St.; +1 303 295 9126.
Mercury Café: 2199 California St.; +1 303 294 9281.
Restaurant Kevin Taylor: 1100 14th St.; +1 303 820 2600.
Soiled Dove: 1949 Market St.; +1 303 299 0100.
The Buckhorn Exchange: 1000 Osage St.; +1 303 534 9505.
The Fort Restaurant: 19192 Highway 8, Morrison; +1 303 697 4771.
Vesta Dipping Grill: 1822 Blake St.; +1 303 296 1970.
Wynkoop Brewing Company: 1634 18th St.; +1 303 297 2700.

Lodgings

Brown Palace Hotel: 321 17th St.; +1 303 297 3111; www.brownpalace.com. $139-355.
Hotel Teatro: 1100 14th St.; +1 303 228 1100; www.hotelteatro.com. $185-295.
The Oxford Hotel: 1600 17th St.; +1 303 628 5400; www.theoxfordhotel.com. $159-259.

The information in this story was accurate at the time it was published, but we suggest you confirm all details before making travel plans.