When to visit Denver

The Best Time to Visit Denver

If you’ve dreamed of visiting the Mile High City, you will want to come for a visit in the summer when there are more attractions open, and you can walk comfortably about. Still, winter has its appeal with glittering lights and seasonal sports to catch indoors.

Mindy Sink

May 30, 2023

Picture this: you’re in downtown Denver watching a baseball game as the sun sets behind the Rocky Mountains. It’s summer in Denver! You can comfortably walk from a craft brewery to a historic hotel to a museum to a well-reviewed restaurant and more. There are expanded hours and amenities at many of Denver’s biggest attractions in the summer months. Winters in Denver can be mild with sunny days despite snowfall, and seasonal events such as the National Western Stock Show and indoor sports draw big crowds. The holiday lights make the city sparkle for months! Airfare and hotel rates tend to be lower in winter so this can be a season for bargains too.

The Best Time to Venture Into the Mountains

Summer is the best time to visit Denver because of the expanded attractions you can go to in the city, but also because you can more easily get up to the mountains too. Many people who come to Denver really expect to have a little time in the mountains, even if that is in foothills.

Stay hydrated!

High altitude—both in Denver and in the mountains—can cause altitude sickness in some people. Drinking plenty of water can help minimize the onset of symptoms such as headache, dizziness, and nausea.

For one thing, the drive into the Rocky Mountains will be easier on dry roads in the summer. If it’s a hot day, temperatures can be a little cooler in the mountains and that is also appealing to many locals and visitors alike. There are many family-friendly activities to do with just one day in the mountains – hiking, riding an alpine coaster, go horseback riding, or get wet whitewater river rafting.

If you visit in a cooler season, you will find ski slopes in some resorts, and autumn hiking to see waterfalls or lakes is a family-friendly activity for all experience levels.

The Best Time for Avoiding the Crowds

Fall is the least crowded time to visit Denver, as some attractions close after Labor Day in early September and others shrink their hours. There is still a lot on offer that will make your autumn visit to Denver fun though.

Great American Beer Festival

Welcoming fall, each October beer lovers congregate in Denver for the annual Great American Beer Festival at the Colorado Convention Center. It’s a full expanded weekend of beer tastings and serious competition for craft brewers.

Theater season jumpstarts after a brief summer hiatus each fall, so this is a good time to catch a show at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Baseball season is winding down in the fall, but the Denver Broncos football games are starting up at this time of year. Wear orange and blue if you want to fit in at a game and cheer on the home team!

Early fall is the perfect time to see the aspen tree leaves change from green to a golden yellow so rent a car and take a scenic drive in the mountains just west of the city.

The Best Time for Families

The biggest variety of activities for families in Denver will be on offer in summer since this is when the weather is dependably dry and hot so pools and water parks are open, and other water fun is available. Families can spend the day at Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park near downtown, or wander the Denver Botanic Gardens.

The best trip to Denver will include a little time in the Rocky Mountains and time soaking up the best of what the city has to offer.

A day trip to the mountains is relatively easy for families in the summer when roads are dry and skier traffic is nonexistent. Mountain towns are no longer satisfied with being winter playgrounds and have increased their summer offerings with horseback rides, alpine slides and coasters, gondola rides, and whitewater river rafting. It’s possible to make Denver your family’s base camp, then plan for short drives to Fort Collins for river rafting or Estes Park for a waterfall hike in the mountains.[Α1]

The best time for families to visit Denver is when there are more fun activities to do together in the city, which is usually in the summer. Families can spend the day at Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park near downtown, wander the Denver Botanic Gardens, or go to the Denver Zoo. This is also a good time for a bike tour or to rent bikes and ride on trails that lace through and around the city. The whole family spend a weekend at some of the festivals that take place here in the summer such as the Dragon Boat Festival or the Cherry Creek Arts Festival.

For families that are visiting Denver in the winter, the city can be a wonderful basecamp. The Winter Park Express (which locals call the Ski Train) departs from Union Station in LoDo and takes you directly to the ski and snowboard slopes for a day of snowy adventures. Popular winter activities in the city include the National Western Stock Show in January or watching the Colorado Avalanche play a hockey game at the Ball Arena.

Thanksgiving, or Christmas in Denver? The Best Time for Celebration

There’s just something about lighting up the dark nights of winter that make Denver feel more celebratory and magical at this time of year.

It’s a Denver tradition to keep the holiday lights on—both public such as on the Denver City and County Building and private on individual homes—until the end of the National Western Stock show in late January. It keeps the holiday spirit going in the middle of winter.

The day after Thanksgiving the downtown lights on buildings and trees are turned on for the official start of the holiday season. In early December there is a weekend of holiday light parades with floats featuring local celebrities all decked out in more lights. New Year’s Eve in Denver includes a firework display from the D & F Tower downtown. The Denver Botanic Gardens has Blossoms of Light at their city location, and Trail of Lights at their Chatfield location, and Denver Zoo hosts Zoo Lights throughout the holidays.

The Brown Palace Hotel & Spa hosts their annual Champagne Cascade in the lobby, and the Great Hall in Union Station, which is the lobby for the Crawford Hotel, is completely decked out with an ornate and enormous tree where Santa Claus sits nearby to greet children on weekends in December.

About the author

Mindy SinkGuidebook author and travel writer Mindy has lived in Denver most of her life and is the author of a few guidebooks about the city and other places in Colorado. She loves to travel with her husband and their daughter in places where they can explore on foot, including hiking. Mindy writes frequently for The Denver Post about finding adventures in your own backyard.