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Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau DENVER –
The Mile High City
Despite the new growth, Denver has preserved a large amount of its historic past. The lively downtown area (the tenth largest downtown in America) is a walkable and trendy district filled with a mixture of historic buildings, skyscrapers, parks and pedestrian areas. LoDo, short for Lower Downtown, is a 25 square block historic district that has the nation’s largest concentration of Victorian and turn-of-the-century buildings. Today, the red brick warehouses of LoDo house more than 90 restaurants, brew pubs, jazz clubs and sports bars and over 30 art galleries. Horse-drawn carriages clatter down the back streets and there are more than 30 historic markers telling the story of Denver’s wild Old West days. Here also is Coors Field, the popular 50,000-seat home of Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies. A short walk away is the 16th Street Mall, a mile-long pedestrian promenade that is the heart of downtown Denver. The Mall is lined with outdoor cafes, 200 trees and more than 50,000 flowers in colorful planters. Free shuttle buses leave either end as often as every 90 seconds, covering the complete length of the Mall in about six minutes. At the northern end of the Mall it is possible to catch a light rail train to the attractions in the South Platte River Valley, including Six Flags Elitch Gardens, America’s only downtown amusement park with 48 thrill rides and a water theme park. Also in the Platte Valley is Colorado’s Ocean Journey, a $93 million aquarium with tanks holding a million gallons of sea water as well sea otters, sharks and even tigers. There are also two new stadiums in this area: the 76,000-seat INVESCO Field at Mile High, home to the Denver Broncos; and the 20,000-seat Pepsi Center, home to the NHL Colorado Avalanche and the NBA Denver Nuggets. Just off the 16th Street Mall is the Denver Performing Arts Complex, the largest in the world under one roof with nine theatres seating 10,000 people. The center offers Tony-award winning regional theatre as well as being home to the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Opera Colorado and the Colorado Ballet. At the southern end of the Mall is Civic Center Park, an inner city oasis of gardens and fountains surrounded by public buildings. Here is the Denver Art Museum, which has one of the world’s great collections of Native American art works as well as 30,000 other art treasures. The Colorado State Capitol overlooks the park and offers wonderful mountain views, while the Colorado History Museum tells the story of the cowboys, soldiers, Native Americans and railroaders who made up the state’s colorful history. Just two miles from downtown is City Park, Denver’s largest green space. The most beautiful view of the city can be had from the west side of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, which is the fourth largest museum of its kind with a magnificent dinosaur collection. Next door is the Denver Zoo, the fourth most popular zoo in America based on paid admissions with more than 3,000 animals. Cherry Creek Shopping District, only 3 miles from downtown, is the city’s largest shopping area with 500 department stores, galleries, shops and boutiques mixed on quiet tree-lined streets or in the ultra upscale Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Downtown’s Denver Pavilions, Larimer Square and the Shops at Tabor Center are other shopping choices. The area is near the lovely Denver Botanic Gardens, which offers a variety of formal flower beds, a Japanese garden and a famed high alpine rock garden. With 300 days of annual sunshine, Denver is a sportsman’s paradise. There are 70 golf courses, 450 miles of bike paths and five professional sports teams in Denver. Within an hour and a half drive, there are eight international ski areas, Rocky Mountain National Park, the world’s highest cog railroad, legalized gambling in old gold mining towns, thrilling rides on narrow gauge steam locomotives, whitewater rafting down Clear Creek Canyon and four national forests offering horseback riding, fly fishing, hiking, camping, mountain biking and more. For more information call 303-892-1112, email visitorinfo@dmcvb.org or visit our website at www.denver.org When in town stop by our visitor information center located on the corner of 16th and California Streets.
Denver Metro
Convention & Visitors Bureau
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Denver, Colorado
Information
