You may have seen that we traveled to Denver in January. What a fantastic weekend we had (this post is so overdue)! Anyways, before we travel, I like to do a ton of research and asking around for recommendations as I start making an itinerary. I always map it out based on locations, so I can make sure to get the most of a weekend trip. It is worth it to me to figure out the logistics to maximize the efficiency of a quick weekend trip. You can see some tips here on how I make the most of weekend trips. I am excited to FINALLY share our 48-hour weekend in Denver itinerary.

Nicknamed “The Mile High City,” Denver is the perfect weekend destination. The beautiful mountains and the foodie/brewery scene provide endless things to do. We basically ate and drank ourselves through Denver.

Weather: I think we got lucky, but we had the most beautiful weather in January. During the day, all we needed was a light jacket and at night we just needed a coat, but nothing too bulky.

Where to stay in Denver: We stayed at The Crawford Hotel in Denver Union Station. I highly recommend it because, not only are there endless things to do in Union Station, but you can also walk to a lot of areas in downtown from the hotel. You can read my full hotel review here.

Transportation: We Ubered everywhere.  The only far place outside of the city itself we went was Golden, Colorado, where the Coors brewery is located. Our hotel also had a complimentary courtesy Tesla car that we took advantage of for close places. It would have probably been more cost effective to rent a car, but neither one of us had any desire to be a designated driver instead of enjoying the incredible local breweries.

48-Hours in Denver:

Friday Night:

I got in late and headed straight to our hotel. Jake was already there for a residency interview and he took advantage of the free beer coupon the The Crawford offers to each guest while waiting for me. Our hotel was about 30 minutes from the airport.  We knew we wanted to maximize Saturday, so we just relaxed in the hotel and got a good night’s rest.

Saturday:

Stop 1: Brunch: Denver Biscuit Company If you’re visiting Denver, this an absolute MUST. It was recommended over and over, so we knew it must be amazing. We had “The Franklin” and added an over-easy egg (buttermilk fried chicken, bacon + cheddar cheese smothered in house-made sausage gravy) and “The Winona” (buttermilk fried chicken + homemade Tillamo0k cheddar pimento cheese). I highly recommend these two items. We split them both, so we could each try 2 biscuits. Jake and I usually do this at local restaurants, that way we each get to try 2 different things instead of just our own meal. We went to the location on Tennyson St., since it was on the way to our next stop. The Tennyson St. area has some cute local shopping and a lot of local restaurants. If you have extra time, it’s worth checking out.

Stop 2: Coors Brewery Tour: After breakfast, we Ubered to Golden, Colorado to do a tour of the Coors brewery facility. This was about 30 minutes away from our breakfast stop. Riding to Golden allowed us to experience a beautiful mountain view. That alone made it worth it. We both love Coors Light, so we enjoyed getting to learn about the step-by-step brewing process and touring the facility. When you arrive to Coors, you are shuttled by a bus from the parking lot into the facility. The tour took maybe 45 minutes total. We enjoyed see the whole facility from start to packaging. The best part is at the end, when you get to have 3 full-size free samples of the freshly made beers (I only got through one sample, too early for me). We like Coors Light and Blue Moon, and those beers have never tasted better to us than they did fresh from the brewery!

Stop 3: Explore LoDo- We walked by the gorgeous Oxford Hotel. LoDo was not really that special (typical downtown area), but I am glad we saw it.

Stop 4: Larimer Square Shopping: After Coors, we headed to the hotel and changed into our date night clothes. You can read about our date night here. We were shuttled via The Crawford Hotel’s complimentary Tesla car. What an experience! We explored the gorgeous Larimer Square where these pictures in the blush fur coat were taken (these were taken on Sunday though). We enjoyed the gorgeous high-end shopping center, and the best part is the Christmas lights strung up that stay up all year. We did not buy anything, as the stores are way out of our budget, but enjoyed walking around.

Stop 5:  The Millennium Bridge– We caught a view of Denver on The Millennium Bridge (it is walkable from Larimer, but they’re not right next to each other). This is totally skippable if you’re on a time crunch, but being a blogger, I of course wanted pictures on it.

Stop 6:  Try a local brewery –

We skipped lunch, since our brunch was so heavy. We were starving at like 4 p.m., so we had an appetizer to tide us over and tried some local craft beer at Wynkoop Brewing Company. We had the pretzels with beer cheese (yum!) for an appetizer, along with beer flights. I highly recommend them. Jake and I are not big craft beer lovers, but these were pretty good. Another brewery that came highly recommended was Denver Beer Co., but after 2 breweries in one day, we had our fill of checking out breweries.

Stop 7: Pre-Dinner Drink At Linger  I enjoyed my tasty cocktail, and the food is supposed to be amazing, too. The place used to be a mortuary though, so I decided I would rather not eat there, which Jake found amusing.

Stop 8: Dinner at Root Down.

Pictured Above: Devils on Horseback Small Plate

This was delicious and is a must-visit place in Denver. We did small plates, since we discovered we love them after visiting a local Nashville, Tn. restaurant. We split Colombian Arepas, Parsnip Gnocchi, and Devils on Horseback. Each dish was fantastic!

Stop 9: Dessert at Little Man Ice Cream

(try the chocolate salted Oreo ice cream, you’ll thank me later). This is a must. If you don’t get to stop at Little Man, but are at Denver Union Station, the ice cream shop there carries the same ice cream.

Stop 10: Drive by Larimer Square at night– We enjoyed seeing it lit up at night.

Stop 11: Have a glass of wine or a cocktail at The Terminal Bar inside Denver Union Station. This was our last stop of the night.

Sunday:

Stop 1: Breakfast at Snooze.

 We had such a full day Saturday, so we decided to sleep in a little and then try Snooze. There are multiple locations, but we chose the one in Denver Union Station where we were staying. If you’re staying at The Crawford, make sure to tell the front desk the night before so you’ll get on the priority list. We had an hour wait since we did not realize you had to tell them the night before, so we grabbed a snack and coffee in Union Station before our brunch at Snooze.  We started off with an Orange Snoozius (pictured left-MEll Vodka, Orange Liqueur, Fresh Oj & Whipped Cream) and then I enjoyed trying the Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes (middle) and Nana’s Hot Cocoa Pancakes (on the right). The breakfast was delicious!

Stop 2: While waiting for our reservations we walked to the beautiful  Larimer Square again. These photos in the pink jacket were taken on Sunday.

Stop 3: We stopped by 16th Street Mall and didn’t really see any places we wanted to go, but it was recommended to us.

Stop 4: Explore Denver Union Station– We saved fully exploring Denver Union Station for last, since it was connected to our hotel. There is a beautiful flower shop called Bloom, tons of eateries and bars, and a mini version of the famous “Tattered Cover Bookstore.”

Stop  5: After breakfast we walked around LoDo (Lower Downtown). We saw Coors Stadium, where the Rockies play baseball.

Stop 6: Shop at Cherry Creek Shopping  Center: This was a beautiful mall that had outside shopping too. It featured everything from everyday stores to high-end places like Neiman Marcus.

Stop 7: Grab a farewell drink. We did this at the gorgeous Cooper Lounge in The Crawford Hotel before leaving for the airport. I enjoyed a tasty Moscow Mule, and they provide some really tasty free bar snacks with your drink.

Wow, we packed so much into a short 48 hours! I highly recommend Denver as your next travel destination. If you want more Denver suggestions, make sure to check this article out.

Shop My Saturday Outfit:

Shop My Sunday Outfit: 

Follow: