72 Hours in Denver on a Car Free Vacation
If you’re thinking about visiting Denver and would like to have a car free vacation, it is absolutely doable. In fact, not only is a car free vacation possible, there are also events that are car free as well. If you’re looking to design a unique to Denver vacation experience continue I’ve got you covered.
By the way, I don’t own a car so I’m always looking for ways to avoid driving in town or on my vacations out of state. It’s not as hard you may think and here are some helpful tips to get you started. If you’re looking to spend 72 Hours on a car free vacation in Denver here’s some tips.
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Best Time to Book a Car Free Trip to Denver
Are you in the process of booking your flight to Denver? You’d like to go car free and aren’t sure when is the best time of year for this type of trip? Fortunately, Denver is a great place to travel all year long without a car. But, there are a few things to consider before you finalize your trip details.
- What types of activities do you plan on participating in?
- How light do you like to travel?
- The preferred “vibes” for the trip that you’re planning-Do you like a high level of energy during the summer tourist season or a more laidback time of year?
- What type of weather you enjoy recreating in?
I think that Denver is great to enjoy throughout the year, but you do have to consider some of the questions I brought up before finalizing your trip.
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Best Hotels for a Car Free Vacation in Denver
Fortunately, if you’re opting to forego renting a car while in Denver, it will be easy to find accommodation that is centrally located.
- Populus Hotel (Not open yet! Keep an eye on this one)
Going to the Mountains Without a Car
A visit to Denver is incomplete without spending some time in the mountains. Denverites enjoy the mountains the same way that folks who live near a beach enjoys time relaxing at the beach whenever they can. Happily, there are a couple of different ways you can head into the mountains for a car free trip.
- Book a tour-And let someone else deal with driving to the specific place you would like to see. Mountain driving is stressful especially during the summer tourist high season.
- Here are some tour suggestions below:
- Take the Bustang-I love using the Bustang transit service. Bustangs are comfortable coach buses with ok wifi and very clean restrooms. There is service throughout the state and I’ve taken Bustang to Breckenridge, Vail and Estes Park to name a few locations.
Denver Has a Light Rail System
When you arrive at Denver International Airport, you can take the train to downtown. In fact, the train is the only way I will go to the airport. It’s very easy to find and if you get turned around there are helpful volunteers in the Main Hall who can direct you to the escalator that leads down to the train. It costs $10.50 and your ticket will be valid for 24 hours. You can use that ticket to transfer to other buses or trains during that period of time. Most people will disembark at the last stop which is Union Station.
While you’re in town you will have access to the following transit options:
- Walking
- Bus
- Lyft or Uber-Lyft seems to have a larger in presence in town likely because of the corporate office located here.
- Light rail-The main hub for the light rail is Union Station and 16th and Stout.
- Scooters-You’re supposed to use these in the street not on the sidewalks. Yes, this freaks me out.
- Pedicabs
- TukTuks (summer)
- Bikes
We used to have horse drawn carriages but for a variety of reasons, I haven’t seen one since 2020.
Denver Car Free Events to Enjoy
We have a surprising amount of car free events that people can enjoy and participate in. Here are few that I would suggest.
- Hangout with a Meetup Group-I love Meetups so much. The Denver Meetup Group scene is very active and I’ve carpooled on a number of occasions for events that I wanted to attend but didn’t have a car or didn’t feel like driving when I did. I’ve even joined Meetup activities when I was traveling overseas.
- ¡Viva Streets Denver¡
- Hands down, my favorite new event in Denver. Held one Sunday each month during the summer, 3.5 miles of Broadway are shut down to cars and opened up to people to enjoy. I LOVE THIS EVENT!
- First Fridays on Santa Fe (August)
- Why August? Because the street is shut down to traffic and people can enjoy art, music, wine and more without dodging all of the traffic on the street. I really wish this event would be car free all summer long as I think there’s a very real risk of getting hit by a car because it gets so busy there. City of Denver-allocate the funds please!
- Hang Out at a Farmers Market
- There are so many amazing farmers markets in town. The top three (in my opinion) are the City Park Farmers Market, South Pearl Street Farmers Market and the Mo’ Betta Green Market-a tiny but mighty market that is run by a fabulous Black woman creating a fun, inclusive and delicious market experience.
- Take a Bus to Boulder
- Boulder is an easy 40 (ish) minutes away and you can take the FF bus from the bus station located at Union Station. You’ll disembark at the final stop which is the Boulder Transit Center on 14th. It’s a block away from Boulder’s beautiful Pearl Street Mall and you can take a free shuttle to Chautauqua Park or Eldorado Canyon State Park for some hiking.
- Take a Bus to the Mountains
- One of my favorite developments in the Colorado regional transit space is the Bustang service that transports people to cities and towns across the state. Before Bustang it was virtually impossible to get to these places without a car. It’s not perfect but I love this service and use it often. If I’m heading to Breckenridge, Vail or Steamboat Springs-I will check to see what service looks like before deciding if I should drive to that location. Bustang is also the reason why I’ve almost completely stopped driving during winter conditions in the mountains. Nope. Not going to do that anymore.
- Free Music
- It’s incredible to think about all of the free music that Denverites can enjoy in town-especially during the summer. I’ve listed a few of those events below.
- Riverfront Park Summer Sessions
- City Park Jazz
- Levitt Pavillion
- It’s incredible to think about all of the free music that Denverites can enjoy in town-especially during the summer. I’ve listed a few of those events below.
- Love the Theater? Watch a performance at the Denver Center for Performing Arts-I appreciate so much the theater produced in the space. While the national Broadway tours are phenomenal-the Theater Company Productions are outstanding. This year I saw “The Color Purple” and it’s the first performance that I’ve ever attended where there was a standing ovation during the middle of the performance. The Whale also debuted at the DCPA.
Visiting Denver Without a Car
If you would like to leave the driving to someone else, Denver is a great city to go car free. If you’re accommodation is in the downtown area, you’ll find getting around Denver to be pretty straightforward.