The things to do in Denver that we could check are Red Rocks Park, the Denver Art Museum, the free Colorado State Capitol tours, Union Station, the Botanic Gardens, the Museum of Nature and Science and Meow Wolf. The A Line train gets you from the airport to Union Station in about 37 minutes. We read each official page on 15 October 2026.
The sights, with address, hours and price
Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre
Address: 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, CO 80465 (Red Rocks, Getting Here page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Park and trails open one hour before sunrise and close one hour after sunset. On non-event days the amphitheatre follows the same hours. The visitor center is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from March through October and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from November through February (same page)
Price: Free. The page says "Admission and parking are free to visit Red Rocks Park, Amphitheatre, Visitor Center and Trading Post." Show tickets cost extra. We read no ticket prices (same page)
On show days the lots open two hours before door time, and the page says to arrive early because some spots need a hike. The venue is owned and run by the City and County of Denver.
Denver Art Museum
Address: 100 W 14th Ave. Pkwy., Denver, CO 80204 (Denver Art Museum, Plan Your Visit page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Sunday and Monday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday closed, Thursday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day (same page)
Price: Adults $22 or $25 for Colorado residents, $27 or $30 for non-residents. Seniors 65 and over, students, teachers, military and veterans with ID $19 or $22 for residents, $24 or $27 for non-residents. Youth 18 and under free. The page does not say which of the two prices applies when. It says Fridays, weekends and holidays have peak pricing (same page)
General admission is free for everyone on the museum's free days. The 2026 dates left after 15 October are 7 November and 8 December (Plan Your Visit page, read 15 Oct 2026). Free days do not cover ticketed shows.
Colorado State Capitol
Address: 200 E Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO 80203 (Colorado General Assembly, Tour Information page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Free guided tours Monday to Friday, on the hour from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The building is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday and is closed on weekends and most federal holidays (same page)
Price: Free (same page)
The page says the dome walk is a 99 step climb to the observation area, and self-guided trips to the dome are not allowed. In June and July only, tours run on the hour and the half hour.
Note: Denver's official elevation is measured on the west steps. The 15th step is engraved "One Mile Above Sea Level." Colorado State University students set a second marker in the 18th step in 1969. A 2003 survey found the 13th step to be one mile high, and a third marker was installed there (Colorado State Capitol, History of the Capitol page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Denver Union Station
Address: 1701 Wynkoop, Denver, CO 80202 (Denver Union Station website, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: The site lists no regular hours. Each shop sets its own (same site)
Price: The site does not say whether entry is free. It lists no fee (same site)
The site calls it a multi-modal transit hub for train, bus, light rail and shuttle. The Crawford Hotel is on the upper floors, and the ground floor has independent shops. The A Line from the airport ends here.
16th Street
16th Street is served by the 16th Street FreeRide, the RTD bus that runs between Union Station and Wade Blank Civic Center Station. RTD says it runs seven days a week, early morning to late at night, every 4 to 12 minutes, with no fare and no ticket. The service used to be called the Free MallRide. We did not read any 16th Street hours or shop details.
Larimer Square
The Larimer Square site says the square sits in the heart of downtown Denver. The page we read gives no address range, hours or parking, so we give none. Each shop and restaurant sets its own hours.
Denver Botanic Gardens
Address: 1007 York Street, Denver, CO 80206. Phone 720-865-3500 (Denver Botanic Gardens, York Street page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: The seasonal hours page lists Winter Hours from 1 October to 18 November, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The York Street page showed different hours for the day we read it, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with an early closing, so check before you go. The page also says to check the early closures list (same pages)
Price: Adults $16.25, seniors 65 and over and military with ID $12.50, ages 3 to 15 and students with ID $12, ages 2 and under free (York Street page)
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Address: 2001 Colorado Blvd., Denver, CO 80205 (Denver Museum of Nature & Science, visit page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. most Fridays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Closed 25 December and 26 August (same page)
Price: General museum admission: adult $27.95, youth 3 to 18 $20.95, senior 65 and over $23.95. Members free. The pricing page has no date, and other copies of it show lower numbers, so check the ticket page (Pricing and Discounts page)
Coors Field tours
Address: Tours start at Gate D, 20th and Blake Street. The tour page gives no full street address (Colorado Rockies, tours page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Tours run Monday to Saturday. Offseason at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. On non-game days at 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. On evening game days at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. No tours on afternoon game days or on playoff game days. Arrive 15 minutes early (same page)
Price: Adults $36, seniors 55 and over $21, children under 17 $11, ages 2 and under free. Prices include fees (same page)
The page does not give the dates of the offseason.
Meow Wolf Convergence Station
Address: 1338 1st St, Denver, CO 80204 (Meow Wolf, locations page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Not confirmed. The visit page says days and times vary. General Admission is for a set date and entry time (Meow Wolf, visit and ticket pages, read 15 Oct 2026)
Price: General Admission from $37, kids from $30. Anytime Admission from $51, kids from $44. Prices vary by date (Meow Wolf, ticket page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway
Mount Blue Sky was called Mount Evans before it was renamed. The road is Colorado Highway 5. A Recreation.gov alert posted on 5 October 2026, which we read on 15 October, says the road is "closed to vehicle access through 2026." Hikers and bicyclists who enter from below the welcome station pay nothing. The Forest Service byway page, last updated 8 September 2026, still says "The road is open to Summit Lake. The upper portion of the road is closed for the season" (read 15 October 2026). The Recreation.gov alert is the newer official text, so we use it. A May 2026 Denver Gazette report said the road would reopen on Memorial Day weekend after nearly two years closed. We found no official date for 2027.
When the road is open, vehicles and motorcycles need a timed ticket from Recreation.gov. Tickets are not sold at the welcome station, and federal passes such as America the Beautiful are no longer accepted. You enter in a two hour window and can stay all day. 75 percent of tickets release 30 days ahead and 25 percent two days ahead, at 8:00 a.m. Mountain time. Vehicles can be up to 30 feet long. The Recreation.gov page we read lists no price. The Gazette report gave $20 for a vehicle and $15 for a motorcycle, plus a $2 fee, which we could not confirm on an official page. Cell service is poor once you leave Idaho Springs or Bergen Park, so download your ticket first.
Free things to do in Denver
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Red Rocks Park, the amphitheatre, the visitor center and the trading post, with free parking on days without a show.
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Colorado State Capitol tours and visit, on weekdays.
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The 16th Street FreeRide bus.
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The first floor of the Botanic Gardens' Freyer-Newman Center, with the library and a coffee shop. The York Street page says it needs no admission.
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Mount Blue Sky for hikers and bicyclists entering at the welcome station.
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The Art Museum is free for youth 18 and under, and free for everyone on its free days (7 November and 8 December in what is left of 2026).
Denver with kids
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Art Museum: youth 18 and under are free every day it is open.
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Museum of Nature & Science: youth 3 to 18 pay $20.95.
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Botanic Gardens: ages 2 and under are free, and ages 3 to 15 pay $12.
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Coors Field tours: children under 17 pay $11, and ages 2 and under are free.
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RTD: youth 19 and under ride free on all services.
Where to stay in Denver
We did not check any hotel's rate or room list, so we give no prices. This is our read of the sight addresses above.
| Area | What it is near |
|---|---|
| Union Station area | The A Line train, Larimer Square, Coors Field |
| Downtown and 16th Street | The free 16th Street FreeRide bus |
| Capitol and Art Museum | The Colorado State Capitol, the Denver Art Museum |
| East of downtown | The Museum of Nature & Science (2001 Colorado Blvd.) and the Botanic Gardens (1007 York Street). We did not check the distance or transit |
The Union Station area is the easiest if you land by train. Rates change a lot with events, so look up your own dates.
Getting around Denver
RTD, the regional transit agency, lists these fares, read 15 Oct 2026. A 3-Hour Pass is $2.75. A Day Pass is $5.50. A Monthly Pass is $88. Discount fares for seniors 65 and over, people with disabilities, Medicare holders and LiVE customers are $1.35, $2.70 and $27. Youth 19 and under ride free. Tap-n-Ride and MyRide accounts convert 3-Hour Passes to Day and Monthly Passes automatically.
Airport to downtown on the A Line
Any trip to or from Denver International Airport needs an airport fare. RTD lists an Airport Day Pass at $10. A 3-Hour Pass holder pays $7.25 more, and a Day Pass holder pays $4.50 more. Discount fares include the airport. RTD says the A Line takes about 37 minutes between Denver Union Station and the airport, over 23 miles. RTD's service change notice for 27 September 2026 lists a train every 15 minutes from 6:15 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and every 30 minutes from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. and from 7:30 p.m. to the end of service. Older RTD pages still say 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. We did not confirm the first and last train times.
Do I need a car in Denver?
Not for downtown. The A Line connects the airport to Union Station, and the FreeRide bus covers 16th Street. A car helps for Red Rocks in Morrison, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, and the Mount Blue Sky vehicle ticket needs a car or motorcycle when the road is open. We did not check a bus or shuttle to Red Rocks. Rocky Mountain National Park needed a timed entry reservation from 22 May to 12 October 2026, says the NPS. For mountain trips, see our pages on Rocky Mountain National Park and Colorado ski resorts, which cover the drive, the bus and the train.
Best time to visit Denver
These are NOAA 1991 to 2020 monthly normals for the Denver International Airport station, read from the NCEI data service on 15 October 2026. The airport is 23 miles from Union Station by train, so downtown can differ. Highs and lows are in degrees Fahrenheit.
| Month | Average high | Average low | Precipitation (inches) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44.6 | 18.7 | 0.38 |
| April | 61.7 | 33.9 | 1.68 |
| July | 89.9 | 60.2 | 2.14 |
| October | 65.3 | 37.0 | 0.99 |
July is the warmest month in the normals, with an average high near 90 degrees. Red Rocks follows the sun, with a longer visitor center day from March through October. The Botanic Gardens shortens its hours in winter. This is our reading of the numbers, not an official ranking.
What we checked and what can change
Read on 15 October 2026: Red Rocks' Getting Here page, the Denver Art Museum's Plan Your Visit page, the Colorado General Assembly's Tour Information page, the Denver Union Station website, RTD's fares page, 16th Street FreeRide page, A Line fact page and September 2026 service change notice, Larimer Square's home page, Denver Botanic Gardens' York Street and seasonal hours pages, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science's visit and pricing pages, the Colorado Rockies' tours page, Meow Wolf's visit and ticket pages, Recreation.gov's Mount Blue Sky ticket page and its alerts, the Forest Service's Mount Blue Sky Recreation Area and Scenic Byway page, the Colorado State Capitol's History of the Capitol page, the Denver Gazette report of 19 May 2026, and NOAA NCEI 1991 to 2020 monthly normals.
Not confirmed: Meow Wolf's opening hours, the A Line first and last trains, the Larimer Square address range and hours, Union Station hours and whether entry is free, the Mount Blue Sky price (only the Gazette gives one), when the byway will reopen to cars, any bus or shuttle to Red Rocks, Red Rocks show ticket prices, the Botanic Gardens' current day hours, the date of the Museum of Nature & Science prices, and any hotel rate. Prices and hours change, so check the operator's page for your date. We did not visit Denver for this page.
