Carefreetrip.com Travel Blog

Denver Zoo

Whether you’re young or old, a trip to the zoo is always an exciting thing. At the Denver Zoo, kids and grown-ups alike can marvel at over 4,000 animals, from lions and tigers to kangaroos and giraffes to grizzly bears and arctic wolves. Visitors can explore recreated rainforests, wander down pathways flanked by tundra wildflowers, study Asian elephants in their natural habitats and have a picnic without ever leaving the park. The Denver Zoo is one of the most exciting family-friendly Attractions in Denver.

Black Hawk

The City of Black Hawk is a town of heavy-set men in snake skin roach killers, cocktail waitresses in short, black mini-skirts, and a hope—a hope that you might win it big. Despite Black Hawk’s 22 casinos (which is more than Atlantic City), the town lacks the neon glow that characterizes its bigger-than-life counterparts, Reno, Las Vegas of the boats in Kansas City. Instead, it has something very Colorado: cowboys.

U.S. Mint

Originally opened in the mid-1800s to change gold and silver found by miners and prospectors in the surrounding hills into coins and ingots, the Denver facility was bought by the US Treasury in 1863 and transformed into a US Mint. However, it wasn’t until 1906 that the Denver facility began actually minting coins after being an Assay Office for the interim years. Today, free twenty-minute tours at the Denver based US Mint show visitors how blank ore become treasury coins.

Denver Botanical Gardens

There are several reasons that Denver’s fine botanic paradise in the city was just named one of the top ten such public gardens in the nation by Country Living Gardener magazine, but here’s one of the most touching: This garden takes advantage of all the senses, providing touchable, smellable, tasty, colorful and aural outdoor experiences all rolled into one. The therapeutic garden also serves as a landscape-design model for the facilities that cater to patrons with disabilities or special needs, featuring wheelchair-accessible paths, raised beds, container plantings and other amenities.

Cherry Creek

Just a few minutes down Speer Boulevard from Downtown Denver, visitors & locals alike will find some of Denver’s best restaurants, such as local-favorite Ocean Restaurant, boutique Shopping, and Luxury hotels in Cherry Creek. Cherry Creek is populated by some of Denver’s most well-to-do citizens, and the upscale neighborhood provides one of the best escapes from Downtown for a $5 cab ride.

Red Rocks

The 868-acre Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, nestled in the Rocky Mountain Foothills just 15 miles outside of Denver near Morrison, was once listed among the Seven Wonders of the World—and with good reason. Ship Rock and Creation Rock, the largest of the monoliths, tower 300 feet above the Red Rocks Amphitheater. These massive brick-colored sandstone monoliths are taller than Niagara Falls.

Colorado State Capital

Denver is well known as “the mile-high city,” but visitors will be surprised to find that it is also one of the flattest major U.S. cities– it’s actually located on a wide Rocky Mountain platte. For confirmation that you really are a mile high, climb the front stairs of the State Capitol Building until you reach the 15th step (marked for your convenience), an official 5,280 feet above sea level. In addition to being able to check off another box on your list of Denver tourism stops, take a tour of the Corinthian-style Colorado granite Capitol with its gold leaf covered dome.