The Ultimate Weekend in Denver, Colorado for a Sports Fan

Before you go

Two sporty days in Denver, Colorado

Day 1

Morning

• Go big at breakfast: Start your day at The Denver Biscuit Company. Everything is homemade, right down to the pickles and the honey butter. They’ve got 11 unique biscuit sandwiches including my personal favorite the cordon bleu with fried chicken, ham, swiss, and honey butter. You also can’t go wrong with the original—biscuits smothered with a sausage gravy.
• Walk and roll: Seeing your favorite band play at Red Rocks Amphitheater should be on everyone’s bucket list. One of America’s truly great music venues, it’s located about 10 miles southwest of Denver in Morrison, CO. Two major stone monoliths flank the nearly 10,000-seat venue to form a beautiful natural amphitheater. What’s lesser known is that Red Rocks also serves as a popular exercise park when a show isn’t on. There are a couple of trails that take off around the parking lot—try The Trading Post hike, which is about 1.5 miles of the best views you can get of the natural rock formations. If you go at the right times (schedule here), you can use the stairs in the venue for your workout.

Mid day

• Grab lunch and a pint: If you’re looking for an English pub experience and brewery, look no further than the Bull and Bush Brewery in the Glendale neighborhood near Cherry Creek. They have great food—if you’re into bizarro starters, the Colorado-style mashed potatoes have pork green chili mixed in.
• See a history of movement: The Forney Transportation Museum updates every couple of years and features old rail cars, a 1920s-era vehicle owned by Amelia Earhart, and motorcycles from every era of Denver’s history.

Afternoon

• Get a taste of the West: Stop by Stranahan’s, one of Denver’s most iconic and awarded distilleries. It’s known for its Colorado Whiskey—a single malt whiskey with 100 percent malted barley from Colorado farmers. It’s got a rich, smoky caramel flavor that comes from being aged in charred oak barrels.
• Have a blast at pro wrestling: Do yourself a favor and visit Lucha Libre in Denver, Mexico’s second-biggest pro sports (behind soccer of course). There is also Lucha Libre and Laughs, which combines pro wrestling and stand-up comedy.

Evening

• Watch champions compete: In season, catching a Colorado Avalanche or Denver Nuggets game at Ball Arena should be on every sports nut’s itinerary. Ball Arena opened in 1999 but it's undergone a number of renovations. If you’re seeing the Avs, show up 30 minutes early to acclimate to the environment—hockey games are loud, cold and intense, even during warmups. Sports mogul Stan Kroenke and his son Josh still own the Pepsi Center, the Nuggets, Avalanche and are rumored to have a penthouse in the arena. The family also owns Arsenal of the English Premier League and the Los Angeles Rams. My favorite seats for hockey are on the upper deck in the first five to 10 rows and in the middle sections (341 or 343). It might sound crazy to want to sit upstairs, but these are the best seats to catch all of the action. If you’re going to a Nuggets game, be sure to grab a seat in the lower bowl in sections 124 or 126.
• Get in the game: Denver’s informal game night meetup began in 2012 when a bunch of strangers wanted to play games and build community. They’ve met every Wednesday night since and play every board game under the sun.

Day 2

Morning

• Hit the snooze: If I had one breakfast meal to eat in Denver, it’d be at Snooze A.M. Eatery, a local chain that continues to grow. The breakfast and brunch menus have some off-the-wall items that are worth taking a flier on; my go-to is the habanero pork belly breakfast fried rice.
• Enjoy what municipal golf should be: Want to tee it up in the Mile High City on a budget? May I direct you toward CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora. Tom Doak (one of the best modern day golf designers) and his team completely renovated the course to emulate the more expensive, elite golf you’d expect to see professionals playing. It offers world-class golf at a relatively affordable rate, and there’s also a Par 3 course for kids.

Mid day

• Eat a historic burger: There are (uncertain, but fun) claims that the cheeseburger was invented in Denver in the 1930s. Cherry Cricket maintains that legacy; this classic American burger spot has been consistently voted in Denver’s top sports bars, so expect to make friends if one of Denver’s many teams is playing.
• Enjoy a closer version of the outdoors: Denver’s views of the nearby Rocky Mountains are spectacular pretty much everywhere you go but if you want to avoid any journey to get there, the Cherry Creek trail stretches nearly 40 miles from the Cherry Creek Reservoir to downtown Denver where it connects with South Platte River Trail. It’s a beautiful, uncommon urban trail that brings nature to city life.

Afternoon

• Visit a hidden gem: The Smithsonian recognized the National Ballpark Museum private collection of baseball memorabilia as one of the top 20 private collections in the world. Founder and president Bruce “B” Hellerstein turned his boyhood hobby of collecting cards into a full-blown ballpark museum as his legacy. Ballparks with one-of-a-kind items in the collection include Crosley Field (Cincinnati), Ebbets Field (Brooklyn), the Polo Grounds (New York), Griffith Stadium (Washington DC), and more.

Evening

• Eat a Denver delicacy: Proximity to the sea isn’t the only reason you may not have heard of Rocky Mountain Oysters. These calf testicles are typically deep fried and sliced for easy dipping in a spicy horseradish. I recommend getting a heap of them to share at Denver’s oldest restaurant, the Buckhorn Exchange. They’re an acquired taste but if you happen to acquire said taste and want a real adventure, Bruce’s Bar in Severance, CO (an hour north) specializes in them and even hosts eating contests for the world’s strongest men.
• Walk through history: I recommend checking out the Great Hall at Denver’s Union Station. Its Beaux-Arts building is beloved by architecture buffs for its Columbine flowers carved into the walls, 12,000-pound chandeliers, and the original bench made of rare Tiger Oak wood. You can grab a bar seat at Terminal Bar, popular with tourists and locals alike, who are proud of the recently-renovated building. Try the pozole verde!

If you have three days:

All the above, but add…

• Visiting Pikes Peak is a must if you have time. I tend to avoid doing the most touristy thing in a city but this adventure is worth it. Pike Peak is more than 14,000 feet above sea level and you can either drive the 19 miles or hike one of many trails nearby.
• Famously even in its odds, the coin flip at the beginning of every sporting event in crucial. For a little history, visit the The Denver Mint, one of four mints in the country that produce coins. If you ever want to know whether a coin was minted in Denver, look for a small ‘D’ on the imprint. And if you want a little history on where the very popular Super Bowl tradition of betting on the coin toss comes from, read this.
• Boulder, the home of the University of Colorado or CU for short, is only 25 miles away from Denver. It’s a fun college town and university that has grown significantly in stature thanks to Coach Deion Sanders aka Coach Prime, who recently took over the football program. Boulder sits at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains so access to outdoor sports is easy—a gorgeous hike that starts just outside of town is the Green Mountain Rocky Ridge Trail, less than a two-hour loop.