Denver, Colorado for 3 Days With Kids

We went to Denver Colorado for 3 days with kids in August, 2019; my twins had just turned 9 years old. Here’s a review of our trip:

What To Do

Red rocks amphitheater

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We really wanted to experience a show at The Red Rocks Amphitheater and we were lucky enough to to get tickets for a Beatles tribute band. The band reenacted The Beatles 1964 concert. They were okay, but the setting was SPECTACULAR! I highly recommend seeing a live show at this venue!

Notes:

• Get to the venue early to get a good parking spot. If you don’t there will be TONS of stairs to climb. If I had known, I would’ve brought Nina’s inhaler; the trek was difficult for her.
• The tickets are general admission and seating is backless benches.
• Don’t forget a jacket or a blanket; it definitely gets chilly at night
• Bring snacks with you because there isn’t a lot of variety of food to purchase.
• If you want to buy Red Rocks merchandise, do it early. The kiosk closes long before the concert ends.

Hammonds Candy Factory tour

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Hammond’s Candy is the largest company to hand-make hard candy. They cook in huge copper kettles and use very few machines the machines they do use are all originals; some are more than a century old!). After watching a short film about Hammond’s history, you get to enter the candy making area. There, you observe how the malleable, taffy like substances are molded, rolled, measured and cut into lollipops and candy canes. At the end of the tour, everyone is gifted a sweet treat and released into the candy store. I loved this tour!

Wings over the Rockies

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Wings over the Rockies is a beautiful museum housed in an airplane hanger. There, you can see and read about tons of planes, engage in virtual reality sky diving, watch some short films, and experience a simulator if you care to (you must pay extra for the simulator). Wings is clean, spacious, interactive and fun place to be. I recommend to plan for about 2-3 hours to visit here.

Museum of Money

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The Museum of Money is a small and somewhat interactive room housed on the ground floor of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City office building. My money obsessed kids were not impressed. Although we saw and did a few interesting things, they felt it was pretty boring.

16th Street Mall

For me, the rift on the 16th Street Mall free bus was disappointing. It stops on every block and is super slow. We saw nothing unique or interesting; it was mostly chain restaurants (like Chilis) and basic shops (like TJ Maxx and Loft). It was such a boring block that I didn’t even take a single photo.

Botanic garden

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The Denver Botanic Garden is (relatively) small and manageable. The regular garden was serene and lovely with winding paths leading to a variety of different areas. The children’s garden was more rustic with dirt paths, sand and a small stream; I know if my kids were younger they would have loved to play there (seems like its best for ages 3-6). We were able to see both gardens in about an hour.

Denver Zoo

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The Denver Zoo has beautiful landscaping and nice environments for the animals. You know how in some zoos you can’t find any animals? This is not the case in this one! It was awesome; it reminded me a little of the San Diego Zoo, which is my fave.

Denver Zoo tips:

• You should reserve at least half of a day to visit this zoo. We were there for about two hours and saw only about three quarters of the zoo (and we were moving fast).
• We were told the train ride would take us to various parts of the zoo. Don’t be fooled! It is not a means of transportation; its just a train ride.
• I thought the 4D movie was super cool. My children did not. They were actually kind of kinda scared, especially when it felt like there were snakes slithering around our ankles.

Denver Museum of Art

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The Denver Museum of Art is a great place to visit with kids. It has excellent exhibits, many interactive areas, and several opportunities to create your own art.  We were there for about 90 minutes and could’ve stayed the whole day!

Where To Eat

Snooze

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Many articles claim that Snooze is the best breakfast restaurant in Denver. I had to see for myself. We got there at around 10:30 and there was a crowd outside. (Apparently it is always like this. To improve your wait time, put your name on the website list, check in with the host and enjoy free coffee and lawn games outside. Anyway, it was well worth the wait..the food was yum! Our highlights were mascarpone stuffed French Toast with vanilla sauce and toasted coconut, chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter sauce and Huevos Rancheros.

Casa Bonita

We decided to go to Casa Bonita at a very off hour. We made the right decision; I saw lots of roping indicating that long lines are likely quite common here.

Here’s how it works:

1. First you have to order and pay.
2. You must wait at an unstaffed cafeteria counter
3. Your meal (on a tray) will slide out of a doggy-door to the counter where you are waiting
4. You will carry your tray to the host and s/he will seat you
5. Excitedly, you dig into your nachos.
6. The cheese is all congealed and gross and you become sad.
7. You declare to your family this food is at best the equivalent of TacoBell. Nasty.
8. Remind yourself that if you have a good attitude, you will have fun. You are there for the experience, not the food. You can always have real food elsewhere.

The main attraction

The dining room at Casa Bonita is an elaborate jungle themed set. Every 25 minutes, a short (about 5 minute) “show”, which includes a high diver and a small pool, is performed. (Note that some of the tables are in areas of the restaurant where you can’t view the show).

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There are many secrets that Casa Bonita holds that you should know:

• You can ask your server for a dessert of sopaipillas to be brought to your table
• There is a short and spooky cave maze near the stage. It is a lot of fun!
• There is a full arcade hidden in the back, and small riding machines for little ones near the exit as well.
• Many of the activities (like the caricature artist and dress-up photo booth) at Casa Bonita start at about 5:30.

Mercantile in Union Station

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Both the atmosphere and the menu were sophisticated and interesting at this restaurant that we just happened upon. Their dishes combined surprising flavors. For example, our Squash Blossom (above) was made with ricotta, peaches, tomatoes, and fried squash on toasted brioche.

Sol Mexican Cocina

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Sol was across the street from our hotel, so it was the perfect place to visit during the stormy evening we arrived in Denver. It turned out to have an unanticipated atmosphere with its dark interior and after work crowd. Our server was amazing and so nice to my kids, and the food was delicious (although on the spicy side; more like authentic Mexican than Tex Mex).

Sam’s No. 3

Sam’s No. 3, “Denver’s Best Diner”, was featured on the Food Network program Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives a few years ago. It was certainly the largest diner I have ever been in, and it was possibly the largest menu I have ever seen as well (and yeah, I’ve been to The Cheesecake Factory!). This was the least expensive meal we had during our time in Denver, but sadly, we rated the breakfast food just “meh”.

Denver Aquarium Restaurant

Eating at the restaurant at the Denver Aquarium is another entertaining event because the tables are all facing floor to ceiling fish tanks and they have MERMAID shows (they last only 5 minutes, but still…SO COOL!)! You must check the times for the show and then make a reservation (be sure to request a seat by the tanks). We went at 4:30 for a 5:00 mermaid show (the next one was at 7), and there were plenty of tables available. The food is ok and the menu is extensive enough to please everyone; it included items like Greek salad and tuna tataki. (Note that the french fries were sweet…EW!).

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After the meal, the kids had fun panning for gems and fossils. Geode cracking and a gift shop were also available.

Little Man Ice Cream

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Little Man Ice Cream is housed an adorable milk jug shaped building and has only outdoor seating. Its a fun atmosphere and they have interesting ice cream flavors. The scoopers are super nice; they are patient and happy and give tons of tastes, so the line can get really long.

Voodoo Doughnuts

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I am not generally a fan of this dessert (I much prefer brownies), but even I LOVED this place! Its a fun, PINK shop (too bad there’s no place to sit!) that has an amazing selection of vivid and tantalizing doughnuts with various themes. It was so hard to choose, but I finally decided on getting the store’s namesake: voodoo doughnut. It was shaped like a person and there was a pretzel stick in his heart. There is bright red jam in the middle (😂 HAHA! Hilarious AND delicious!)

Quality Italian

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Quality Italian was in our hotel (The Halcyon). We passed by this restaurant’s outdoor space on the way into our hotel several times. All of the food (especially the pizza!) looked so good that we had to give it a try. Well, what we thought was pizza was actually chicken parm (!) and it was amazing!

Where to stay in Denver CO with kids

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We stayed at The Halcyon Hotel in the upscale Cherry Creek neighborhood. For me, this hotel felt very millennial, as if I were too old to be there; I found the employees to be very young and unusually cheerful. Our suite had floor to ceiling windows; there was lovely sunlight during waking hours. Unfortunately, the black-out shades weren’t great. That kinda put a damper on our mornings.

The main area of our room had a comfortable king sized bed. The other sleeping space was a couch in the living area. When it was opened, the bed was wide enough but way too short! Alex, who is not very tall, could hardly stretch out completely. On the other hand, our space was clean and large. It included many interesting feature such as a fun doormats and a record player! I enjoyed providing my kids with a short tutorial of how this antiquated machine could make music. 😂

General Impressions

• Denver is a small, manageable, super clean city with wide sidewalks and roads. To me, it seemed very quiet and empty while we were there, so I asked a local if maybe everyone had vacated since it was the end of August? His response was “Where are you from?”. When I told him I was a native New Yorker, he said he was from Brooklyn. He said “Denver just isn’t New York…Its always like this”.
• There are bikes and scooters on the downtown streets that you can use an app to unlock and rent, but as a tourist, it seems a car is necessary
• In August the weather was mostly warm and dry, however, we were lucky enough to see Denver in rare form: on the day we drove in, there was a scary lightening and hail storm to welcome us.
• Some attractions may be closed for summer breaks, such as the Capitol Building and the Mint, so check the websites or call before you go!