$29 Find Cheap Flights from Denver to California - Compare and Save

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Cheap Flights from Denver to California

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 5 days
Los Angeles
Los Angelesnonstop$87
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$171
San Diego
San Diegononstop$101
San Jose
San Jose1 stop$257
Palm Springs
Palm Springsnonstop$237
Fresno
Fresno1 stop$220
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo1 stop$299
Bakersfield
Bakersfieldnonstop$289
Arcata
Arcata1 stop$229
Redding
Reddingnonstop$309
Bishop
Bishop1 stop$341
Merced
Merced1 stop$216
Reno
Reno1 stop$268
Los Angeles
Los Angelesnonstop$87
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$171
San Diego
San Diegononstop$101
San Jose
San Jose1 stop$257
Palm Springs
Palm Springsnonstop$237
Fresno
Fresno1 stop$220
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo1 stop$299
Bakersfield
Bakersfieldnonstop$289
Arcata
Arcata1 stop$229
Redding
Reddingnonstop$309
Bishop
Bishop1 stop$341
Merced
Merced1 stop$216
Reno
Reno1 stop$268
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for Denver to California flights

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from Denver to California to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

How much is a round-trip flight from Denver to California?

Flight prices are below average for this route right now.

Flights to California from Denver usually cost between $137 and $278 in October.
The lowest price found in the past 5 days was $87 on Frontier (Oct 14-Oct 15).

What is the cheapest Denver to California flight route?

The cheapest ticket to California from Denver found in the last 5 days was to Ontario, at $55 round-trip. The most popular route is from Denver (DEN) to Los Angeles (LAX), and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $86.

What is the cheapest time of day to fly to California?

The cheapest time of day to fly to California is generally in the morning, when round-trip flights cost $329 on average. Morning departures are around 48% cheaper than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to California is generally in the evening, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $632.

Can I save money by flying with a layover from Denver to California?

No, with an average price for the route of $375, prices are generally cheapest when you fly direct.

What is the cheapest month to fly from Denver to California?

The cheapest month for flights from Denver to California is January, when tickets cost $221 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are July and June, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $320 and $314 respectively.

What’s the cheapest day of the week to fly from Denver to California?

If you are looking for a flight deal from Denver to California, look for departures on Thursdays and avoid leaving on a Monday, as it's usually the priciest day. When flying back from California, Wednesday is the cheapest day to fly and Sunday is the most expensive.

How far in advance should I book a flight from Denver to California?

To get a below average price on the flight from Denver to California, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 41% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 11 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low season

January

Cheapest flight

$29
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 11% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 13% increase in price.
Flight from Denver to Ontario

Flights from Denver to California: the best tips from KAYAK users

Insights shared by verified travelers who flew the route from Denver to California 
FredFlew with United Airlines-Aug 2026
Mid day flight eat before entering the aircraft, always have water and be prepared for weather delays coming out of DEN!
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska Airlines-Mar 2026
Airport is very efficient with security, very impressive so. you don't need to worry too much as even a long line moves extremely fast.
Verified travelerFlew with Qantas Airways-Sep 2024
You don’t have to arrive two hours early since it is a domestic flight
RalphFlew with Southwest-Feb 2024
If you really want a better seat make sure you upgrade.

FAQs - booking California flights

  • Which is the arrival destination for flights from DEN to California?

    This depends on the city closest to you. If you wish to arrive in the East coast area, consider arriving at Los Angeles International Terminal (LAX). When visiting San Francisco, consider arriving at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). If you are visiting Orange County, consider arriving at John Wayne International Airport (SNA), You can also opt for Ontario International Airport (ONT) when visiting Southern California.

  • Does Ontario International Airport (ONT) feature a Lounge?

    Yes. ONT provides two Aspire Lounges in Terminal 2 and Terminal 4. It provides air conditioning, beverages, flight information monitors, and internet access. It also provides televisions, magazines, and newspapers. Economy class travelers can pay at the door to access it. Active military members can find the USO lounge, a comfortable TV lounge, a movie and TV show library, and a game room.

  • Is Los Angeles International Terminal (LAX) wheelchair accessible?

    Yes. LAX provides restrooms that are ADA-friendly for easy access. It also features tactile floors, adult changing rooms, and step-free entrances. The entrances are wider and feature low-resistance doors. In addition, all LAX-it shuttles are A#DA accessible with low floors and feature wheelchair ramps for those who need them.

  • How do I get from John Wayne International Airport (SNA)?

    John Wayne Airport is connected with Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) bus routes 76 and Irvine Shuttle Route A. iShuttle operates between the airport and Tustin MetroLink Station. Several companies offer on-demand or scheduled shuttle service with SNA airport. You can find these shuttles on the Arrivals (Lower) Level of the airport in the Ground Transportation Center. You can also take taxis from the Ground Transportation Center on the Arrival level between Terminals A and B.  

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Denver to California?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from Denver to California.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from Denver to California?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from Denver to California is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from Denver to California?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly from Denver to California with an airline and back with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from Denver to California?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying from Denver to California up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to California

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found tickets from Denver to the following destinations at these prices or less: Las Vegas $135 one-way - $183 round-trip; Los Angeles $136 one-way - $194 round-trip; San Francisco $167 one-way - $280 round-trip
  • Denver International Airport (DEN) features one main terminal and several concourses - A, B and C - each stacked on each other. The main terminal is called the Jeppesen Terminal and has six floors. The Automatic Guideway Transit System (AGTS) is a complimentary underground train operating between Jeppesen Terminal and Concourse C, with stops at Concourses A and B. You can also reach Concourse A by walking from the Jeppesen Terminal via a pedestrian walkway.
  • If you have early morning lights, you can spend the night at DEN's onsite hotel. Westin Hotel at Denver International Airport is connected to the airport and provides accommodation.
  • You can find baby care facilities at DEN when traveling with an infant. It provides nursing rooms with comfortable seating, sinks, and lockable doors for privacy alongside diaper-changing tables. You can find them at the center of the Jeppesen Terminal.
  • Before your flight, you can relax to massage services at DEN. It features A Massage that provides table or chair massages. The spa lies in the A gates of the Center Core and B gates on the Mezzanine Level.
  • If you are traveling with your four-legged companion, you can find a pet hotel at DEN. It features the Paradise 4 Paws Pets Resort, which provides pet boarding, grooming, and daycare services. The airport also provides several pet relief areas throughout the airport.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from Denver to California

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Denver to California? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
8.0
SouthwestOverall score based on 4201 reviews
7.5Entertainment
8.0Comfort
7.0Food
8.1Boarding
8.6Crew
Airline reviews

Southwest has inacted unfriendly customer policies like other airlines. Watch the fine print very carefully if you are having to alter flight arrangements. Rules are now complicated and very stilted to travelers sacrificing travel funds (unlike before where the simple, straight forward flight change policy was worth the extra premium for ticket price.) On the positive side, SW Flight crews are still wonderfully helpful.

8.0 ExcellentTamara, Aug 2026
Read more Southwest reviews

Southwest has inacted unfriendly customer policies like other airlines. Watch the fine print very carefully if you are having to alter flight arrangements. Rules are now complicated and very stilted to travelers sacrificing travel funds (unlike before where the simple, straight forward flight change policy was worth the extra premium for ticket price.) On the positive side, SW Flight crews are still wonderfully helpful.

Poor customer service, no accommodation for passengers when the flight was delayed over 5 hours.

The flight was late. The crew was rude. There was no food. Cramped and uncomfortable. Nothing about this flight was good.

It was great. The gate staff were very helpful in Portland when my son forgot his rolling bag and had to go back to get it just in time to make it on the plane. We really appreciate that. Great job!

This leg was much better, but we did have to have a 3 hour lay o er after coming from a very exhausting hiccup with our flight from BNA to Den

Connecting flight is on time and boarding was a breeze!

Southwest has a serious issue with keeping their passengers in the dark about delays. They also appear to lack the necessary crews to deal with any sort of hiccup in their operations. The way they run their day-to-day operations is a joke. You are telling me that a hail storm in Denver, where hail storms are incredibly common, results in hours of delays due to every plane needing to be inspected for hail damage? Understandable, but there seems to be a skeleton crew of maintenance workers undergoing this daunting task. There was no particular order of inspecting planes, leading to some planes only having an hour delay or less in others having four or more just because of the luck of the draw of what plane got inspected with no consideration to how long the respective delay was. The entire time the passengers were told nothing except the fact that there was lightning in the area and the ground crews could not load the bags. This always happens that Southwest will incrementally delay a flight with no information given, leaving many frustrated passengers fuming once they find out that their flight is canceled. Don't make people wait around for hours at the airport giving them no information, just to keep them on the hook and prevent any action from being taken by the passengers in terms of finding alternate routes of transportation or accommodations for the night. How many hours of people's times do you think you waste by operating like this? How about having a fully staffed crew in one of your busiest hubs that is famous for severe weather that can effectively deal with a situation like this, or how about having planes on standby to quickly replace in case something like this happens, like all the other major airlines do. This is just like the Christmas fiasco but on a Denver scale, but again this is literally just from a single thunderstorm going over Denver in the spring. I'm glad I've stopped using Southwest as my primary airline and have switched to United. Every single time I fly Southwest, something has to come up. It's ridiculous and I seriously can't wait to finish using my miles so I don't have to deal with your garbage anymore. You used to be so good and I don't know why you thought you could just scrap your quality and expect people to deal with it. Oh, and I walked by someone getting CPR for over 5 minutes in the concourse. I hope he was ok. Southwest needs something similar.

Flight had over 6 people in wheel chairs and there was only 1 gate agent. Very impressed though in how Maddie handled having to efficiency move that many people by herself. We still nursed in a timely manner.

I loved that the flight was not as full, so we were able to have seats available between us. I just wish wipes are available as we board so that we can clean our areas, as the window area was quite dirty in my case, on both legs of this trip, and it was hard getting the flight attendant's attention for this. She also seemed a bit stingy with the free drinks. I asked for two cups of drinks; she brought one and then waited until I fell asleep and brought the other. Not sure why...

Easy boarding, but no power at the seats and no television wasn’t a good experience.

I had called before the flight for vegetarian food. But they did not have it for me.

Flight delayed by over an hour…not their fault exactly, but it wasn’t convenient either. Other than that a great flight and STUCK the landing!

It was efficient and great. DIA took a while to let us leave but other than that it was great.

The flight crew home was so, so friendly and HILARIOUS. I’ll keep flying Alaska like I have for the last 30+ years!

Perpetually delayed, flight out was delayed almost 2 hours, flight home was delayed an hour and a half. On the way back no refreshments as an option, yet they gave it out to 1st class. No apology or notice of the delay going out both ways. Seats are nice feature wise, but the adjustable headrests don't stay up anymore. Feels more like a budget airline

My mother suffers from Lupus and has challenges walking. I specifically called Alaska airlines, stated her condition and made sure my mother’s had wheel char assistance towards gate and into the gate hall so she just had to get into the plane and walk a couple of steps. It was assured by Alaska team that the service was granted in both airports , DEN and SAN . In Denver , the wheelchair assistance never arrived. I had to personally grab another airline wheelchair sit my mom.Then I had to go to Alaska Airlines front desk twice to let them know my mother was waiting at the wheelchair service station. Upon arrival to SD Airport , there was no wheelchair service waiting for her in the hall before deplaning. She had to walk her way out in pain. Absolutely inconsiderate and unacceptable by the airline! Never again flying with Alaska Airlines.

Waiting 2 hours after landing to arrive at a gate was ridiculous.

The pretzels have no taste. How about a choice of snacks? The flight itself was fine.

Flight attendant missed us first pass with beverage. We had to ask for water on second pass as we were going to be missed again.

This was not an Alaska Airlines flight, it was American Airlines flight operated by SkyWest. The aircraft was narrow body ERJ175. But it is a modern regional jet and relatively comfortable.

First flight was delayed which resulted in missing our connecting. As a result class was downgraded to economy on a later flight.

Unprepared to rebook a flight of people. Uncommunicative. When I received updates in the app it was well after the announcement in the hold room. Offered a single $12 meal voucher, not enough for a sandwich at DEN, for a 17 hour delay. No one was able to explain their meal or hotel reimbursement policy for this cancellation, just handed a card to call the Help desk. My previous flight went through several delays and was finally cancelled, without explanation. The customer help desk closed while there was a long line. I then waited in line for a gate agent almost an hour while simultaneously on hold and trying to text with a remote Delta agent. Communicating with the text agent was almost impossible; they could not find any flights that got me back to my original city before the following evening. Kept offering itineraries that did not get me back to my origin airport or involved additional layovers. In 50 minutes on hold, never got through to an agent by phone. Finally spoke to one of the gate agents who was able to rebook on a red eye that had only one stop and got me back in the afternoon the next day, rather than late evening. Later by email, Delta offered 10,000 loyalty points for the inconvenience of the cancellation. The crew on the red eye flight were delightful. I don’t remember any food or entertainment on that flight.

I have Precheck. Flew HPN to DEN and return this past weekend. Delta didn't attach my Precheck number to this trip. So it was waiting in general line especially in Denver. Unavailable.

worst flight ever from Delta, it got delayed and kept on delaying..

Terrible. Four hour delay because Delta could not find crew to man the aircraft. Terrible communication. Terrible insight into the delays. One of the worst flight experiences I’ve had.

Mechanic delay in addition to a 2 hour change in takeoff time was frustrating.

Boarding was organised and relaxed. Crew were fantastic! Seats were lacking padding causing butt pain and stiffness.

Flights on time. .Ride was as comfortable as can be expected in steerage. Luggage arrived at destination. Attendants were fairly friendly.

First, the flight was schedule to leave at 12:08. Delayed to 12:38. It is 12:58 and I am sitting at the gate. The staff are not communicating with us (just tell me it’s gonna be five hours if that’s the case, quit hufflepuffing around like you’re trying to board us when the plane isn’t even here and you don’t know where your crew are. I’m still waiting for any communication about the further delay. This is a rebooked flight from a cancelled flight yesterday, when the airline failed to fulfill its fiduciary responsibility to hotel and cover transport for overnight cancelations. Asking about the food on the flight? What food?!? Delta doesn’t serve meals unless you pay for them and you really want me to give delta a high rating for passing out processed snacks (fun size!)? Can we be for real. Delta is cementing itself in history as one of the cheap, stingy, outdated, glory days are over airlines, and it shows. I took this flight knowing delta was going to provide below level service but this is beyond burgers!! I can’t believe a multi billion or dollar company looked straight in my eyes yesterday and I told me this wasn’t their fault and there for the extra cost in hotel and hundreds of dollars in Ubers are MY RESPONSIBILITY. The only thing I am at fault for is believing delta is reputable company worthy of my dollars. I’m not even sure I want to be compensated unless it is cash because I would rather die never traveling again than to put money in their pockets.

Boarding was great. The flight landed early. It took the crew over an hour and a half to bring out drinks. I paid to upgrade my seat to Comfort+ only to be near a crying/screaming baby who was seldom quiet. Noise-cancelling earbuds didn’t even help. Waste of money to upgrade.

The flight was excellent. Their was no service as we boarded, the flight attendants spent about 30 minutes just taking and not really caring that the cabin was about 80 degrees and did not offered any beverage to first class passengers or any passenger. The flight from DEN to ONT is not long but not under an hour, we received one drink and bag of chips if you were lucky. I was in first class…. I did leave my hat on the plane and it only took less than five minutes for a United rep to locate and bring it to me.

Destroyed my suitcase. Tired of talking about it. Cancelling my unite mileage plus account.

New plane was lovely. Crew customer service is always lax but expected. Kraft on time and arrived safely.

Wonderful in-seat entertainment with seatback screens and huge selection of quality movies. The ability to bluetooth connect headphones was amazing.

Flight was late - I was downgraded from first class to coach

Great experience…left a bit behind schedule but made up fir that in the air and landed 10 minutes early 😁

See my previous comments. I was probably booked in business but was moved to economy

Generally good but there wasn’t any staff available when my luggage didn’t appear at baggage claim in Fresno. It took about half an hour to locate a staff member to open up the locked room where it was being kept.

Too many fees (but that seems to apply to all airlines nowadays)

United requires seat selection in order for those booking together to stay together.

I paid for the upgraded bundle. Was worth it! Great experience round trip!

It was awful everything about it terrible I will never ever ever ride it again

Crew was kind of grumpy and there was no beverage service at all. Sodas were $4. Disappointing.

12 hour delay required getting on and off plane 3 times - would have at least liked to have been offered a snack or drink

There's no seats that lean back with little leg space i wad uncomfortable the entire flight. Your charges for extra baggage is despicable and costly!!

There was no food and no entertainment, so I'm not sure why these are even in the survey, as my understanding is frontier does not ever offer food without a few, not even a snack, and there are no screens so unless the flight safety talk is our entertainment why ask how we liked it?. One of the flight attendants say in the back of the plane as people filed in to their seats, yelling orders about where to put baggage and telling people to hurry up. It was the least professional experience I've ever had on a flight.

Very bad! No good service delayed my second connection flight

Everything went as planned. Crew was great. Seats were still not that comfortable.

Lost baggage on my connecting flight. 24 hours later, still no update on my bags.

Frontier is a no-frills airlines were the focus is low cost. You get basic service so don't set your expectations high. Watch out thought because this airline, like a few others, will try to nickel and dime you.

More options for your flight from Denver to California

Complete your trip to California with a hotel stay or car rental