Denver Things To Do

Set out on grand avenues styled after classic European green-spaces, move through Tuscan gardens of bronze, purple and lavender, and sit under the shade of 500-year-old trees in the Japanese garden. In summer evenings, attend jazz, folk, and pop concerts at the amphitheater.

See Denver in the context of its roaring past through displays that tell of buffalo hunts, mining in the Rockies, and the nascent days of Denver. Paintings and photographs depict the city’s western heritage and changing exhibits highlight events that shaped the city.

This museum gives African-American ranchers, homesteaders, and rodeo performers their due. See vintage photos of Bill Pickett taming longhorn steers by biting their lips, and examine tools and equipment used by black settlers in the late 1800s to build homes.

See Titanic survivor Molly Brown’s piano, Victrola, and an invoice to her insurance company for jewels, gowns, and an Egyptian good luck charm that went down with the famous ship. Tea is set in the salon where Ms. Unsinkable courted Denver society.

Striking buildings designed by Gio Ponti and Daniel Libeskind house an impressively diverse collection of Picassos, pre-Colombian art, European landscape paintings, and more. Kids will love interactive activities like the Costume Closet, where they can try on the clothes they see in paintings.

Snorkel in a tank with more than 50 species of fish, dodge a flash flood, and explore a misty rain forest at Denver’s top family attraction. After learning how stingrays, Pacific groupers, and desert rattlesnakes survive in their habitats, head to the restaurant and survive on a crab salad sandwich, fish and chips, or a shrimp Caesar wrap.

Operas, ballets, symphonies, plays, and nationally touring musicals appear in ten performance spaces. Take a backstage tour if you don’t have time for a show. Pre-event dinners are served onsite at Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House.