jd01036

The last week of July my girlfriend and I are taking a well needed vacation to Denver and I am doing my best to plan what I hope is a great time. I'd love to get to the Rocky Mountain and Estes (sp?) Parks, and Pikes Peak if possible do some walking/hiking/sight seeing/touristy stuff but since we'll be staying downtown that means renting a car and we're on a limited budget. The question is, how do I get the best bang for my buck? Should I try to see the best sites, walk/hike a little in a couple of days or or just pick one or two and make the most of it, and by your opinion where's the best place to go? Now I should preface by saying that this is my first trip west of the Mississippi so I'm sure I'll be wowed by just about anything but I obviously want to make the most of our time.
Secondly, does anyone know of a good whitewater rafting day-trip (company)to go on, something of a moderate variety because I was considering that for an idea? Is it worth it?
Finally, does anyone have any first hand knowledge of the Radission Hotel Slapleton Plaza and/or the Four Points Sheraton Cherry Creek?
Any suggestions and or help would be greatly appreciated, and if anyone gets a minute please feel free to email me. Thank you much.

MaureenB

Neither of those hotels would be great for your first visit to Denver. They are both out of the downtown area and not really walking distance to sites you'll want to visit. They are more for business travelers.

yale

Is there a reason you're limited to staying in Denver? If not, is there any way you could swing a hotel in or near Estes Park? That would be my recommendation. You could spend an entire week in/near Estes, walking, hiking, shopping, exploring.

Birdie

Try the Comfort Inn downtown next to the Brown Palace. Close to everything. If the baseball team is playing, go to a game. Its a nice stadium and close to downtown. Look at the train schedules from Denver. Maybe you could take one to Vail and spend the day hiking or Mt. biking there.

flbronc

Take a look at denver.org website. They usually have deals on hotels downtown - sometimes they will incl parking. Embassy Suites sometimes have $109-129 rates that incl parking, breakfast and drinks at night. If you got a room with 2 beds you could all stay in one room and save $. Perhaps take a shuttle or taxi downtown and stay a few nights then rent a car downtown and go to Estes Park and spend a few nights. You can do many day trips out of there and chances are the car rental will be cheaper than at the airport and you will save on parking (which can be pricey downtown). I enjoy staying at Idlewilde cabins - all have screened porches, kitchens,etc. (http://home.earthlink.net/~idlewildebytheriver/). Be sure to make the drive through the park across Trail Ridge Road. It's gorgeous ! I took my sister for her first trip west of the Miss last summer and she was amazed ! We saw lots of wildlife in the Park.We spent a few days downtown and 3 days in Estes Park but wish we could have spent more time in Estes and in RMNP. If you have time a drive west of Denver on I-70 is a ncie drive too. She enjoyed driving through the ski resorts and seeing the beautiful mountains. Loveland Pass is a nice drive also (in the summer !!). Here are more web sites for you. RMNP: http://www.nps.gov/romo/pphtml/activities.html
Order a free guide from http://www.colorado.com/ You can find info on whitewater rafting in their guide.

placeu2

First trip West of the Mighty Miss. is a great idea! Spending a week in the city of Denver is not.

What I mean is that this will give you almost no feel for the Rocky Mountains. You need to get at least to Boulder or West to the ski resort areas as previous posters have mentioned.

Please consider the advice of the person that recommended staying in Estes Park (a small town) which is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.

If it was me...and I did this years ago, I would do a circle tour and stay at inexpensive motels along the way. Fly to Denver, rent the car, drive to Estes Park for a couple of nights. Circle down to South toward Aspen or Vail and then further South to Colorado Springs (Pikes Peak). When I did it, I also added a night or 2 in Steamboat Springs

This can be done on a limited budget if you don't stay in fancy hotels and maybe make your own lunches. Get yourself a cheap styrofoam cooler.

MaureenB

I agree that a week in Denver, especially without a car, isn't the best way to sightsee here. You need to spend time in the Rockies, especially in July when the weather will be wonderful and Denver might be hot.
If you book a car on-line now, you'll get the best possible rate. Around July 4, of course, car rents get expensive in Denver, so do it now. You won't be locked in, as you can always cancel.
Without a car, you can take a train from downtown Denver, but it doesn't go to Vail or Summit County as someone suggested. It goes to Winter Park, and possibly Glenwood Springs, which gets you to some very pretty country. But the fare roundtrip for two will probably equal a small car rental, but without the freedom. Check Amtrak for details.
Don't know your age, but if you don't mind cheap housing, I also suggest you do the semi-road trip idea. Although hitting Estes, Aspen and Steamboat wouldn't work in just one week IMHO. Do you mind staying in a different place every night or so?
You could stay your first night in downtown Denver. Embassy Suites is a great deal, because it also includes free cocktail hour with enough hors d'oeuvres and drinks to make a meal, plus a great full breakfast buffet. Saves you on two meals. Walk into LoDo to catch some nightlife. Try Wynkoop Brewery for good beer, or The Chophouse for a fun crowd and good food.
Head to Boulder in the a.m. for a look-see at the beautiful C.U. campus, go to the downtown Pearl Street 'mall', lunch at the lovely Teahouse, hike the Flatirons at Chatauqua Park, tour Celestial Seasonings...
On to Estes to spend the night there and hike, etc. Drive Trail Ridge Road-- it's awesome-- into Grand County and spend the night there, in Grand Lake.
Visit the Grand Lake Lodge for a beautiful meal if you can splurge a bit on dinner or lunch, sit on their amazing veranda overlooking the alpine lake. Lots of stuff to do there-- hike anywhere in the area, splurge on a boat rental and scoot around the lake for a couple of hours, visit the little town and get good Mexican food at Pancho & Lefty's...
Drive from there into Winter Park; or north to Steamboat Springs; or over to Summit County; or all the way to Aspen.
So many options, so little time.
Bottom line, I live in Denver and love it, but don't spend a week here if you've never been west of the Mississippi. Hit the hills, girls!
Keep asking specific questions and you'll get great tips here. Have fun!

MaureenB

P.S. Forgot to say-- a whitewater trip is a blast! Figure out where you'll be and you can find good outfitters there. We did a great one near Aspen once, a few times also in Winter Park area. I think the outfitters in WP are Red Tail, in Fraser. They're very good.

babs001

Unless you have a reason for staying in downtown Denver that was not mentioned, I'd suggest staying cheap (Comfort Inn, Holiday Express, etc), stay a little farther out, and use the extra $$ to rent a car. I agree with earlier post about going to Boulder. It's close and usually has alot going on. Also a drive to Golden might interest you if you like Coors beer. Hiking and biking are pretty easy spots to find, but you will really need a car, even if for just part of your trip. Whatever you do, don't stay close to the airport - it's miles from what you want to see and do. Have fun!

Gretchen

The Comfort Inn is very adequate but the rooms are small. But there are only 2 of you so that is OK. Rent a car on PriceLine and save up to 50%. In fact, you could bid on a 4* downtown hotel and probably save a lot. Denver is not a difficult town to drive in--parking can be expensive so I would stay a couple of days and then rent a car and head for the mountains. The train to Winter Park is not inexpensive. Someone in Colorado may be able to say better but whitewater rafting may be tame in mid-summer. But could still be fun. For your hiking you might consider Aspen--a 4 hour drive from Denver and along one part of the drive, the most spectacular road I have ever seen--Glenwood Canyon.

yale

I agree with Maureen that the best trip would be a mini road trip. If you can't afford a car for that long though, plant yourself in a good location like Estes Park. You can also save some money if you like to camp!

This is my personal belief, so no offense to the previos poster, but Aspen is just ok. Don't drive 4 hours to see it. There are so many other great places you could visit. I'd rather hear that you drove 3 hours to Glenwood Springs and enjoyed their hot springs.

I'm not sure what other recommendations to make at this point. More info from you would be great when you have a chance.

MaureenB

Another (albiet much less glamorous) transport option is Greyhound bus to Summit County. They leave from downtown Denver fairly regularly going to Frisco, and are pretty cheap compared to the train. Go to their website for times and fares. Problem is, you'd still have to pay for a shuttle or cab from the airport to downtown, and you'd need to find shuttle service or something once you get to Frisco.
Oh, heck, just rent a car.
(Sorry I said "girls" earlier-- don't know why I assumed one way or the other.)

Grasshopper

You can take a shuttle right from the airport to Frisco. Book online and it's $29. www.ridecme.com

MaureenB

grasshopper-- boy, do I feel stupid! A shuttle from the airport to Frisco, you are so right. Think the shuttle in Frisco would serve them once they're there?

jd01036

Thanks to all those who replied to my first message, it was great to see so many kind people who were willing to help out a stranger with almost no clue how to put together a great trip to a new place. First of all my girlfriend and I will have three real days (I realize that's not much) to see what we can, flying into Denver at about noon and leaving early on the fourth day. From what I read it sounds like our best bet is to rent a car and head for RMNP, so I'm looking for an affordable place to stay close by but not to far away from the city; we'd like to maybe head back to Denver the night before we leave, catch a Rockies game (they're playing that night) and stay in the city to be ready for the flight back. I guess that would probably all we could do in such a short time unless anyone else has any other suggestions that we'd have time for. After hearing everyone talking about all the fantastic places to go and the see I wish we could find someway to stay longer, but it sounds like we'll just have to come back another time to enjoy more. I'll be posting more as I can put together a clearer itinerary (sp?), so any additional help would be greatly appreciated. I'll try to be more specific. Thanks again.

Grasshopper

Summit County has free transportation via the Summit Stage. (www.summitstage.com) Also, if you do want to rent a car, it's not a bad idea to take the shuttle, and rent from Enterprise in Frisco. The rental office is at the hotel near the Frisco transfer station. Prices there are much better than at the airport.

Grasshopper

jd, A great tip someone gave awhile ago is to rent a car from anywhere other than the airport. It's cheaper to take a Supershuttle to town and rent there than pay the airport taxes. You can easily make a great trip of RMNP (stay in Estes) and then head down to Pike's Peak for a day. You might even be able to catch a Rockies game at the beginning or end of your trip. Have fun!

babs001

If your departure from airport is an early flight, I would suggest heading to a motel near the airport for your last night, especially if the baseball game is an evening game. How to do that without renting a car at the airport, I'm not sure. I think getting the car at the airport makes more sense, especially if you get a good rate.

I would suggest going to game, then drive on out of town and check into airport lodging and unload your luggage from the car (there are several motels - use Priceline or Expedia, etc, for cheap rate), return car to airport (you won't need it at this point), take a motel shuttle back to motel, spend the night, then take motel shuttle back to airport for early am flight. You'll already have your car turned in so you won't have to take the time to do that. This will be the smoothest way to handle leaving once your trip is over.

MaureenB

I have to say I don't see the wisdom in returning your car early, unless you need to save one night's rental. Of course, you might be paying for a full week anyway.
With your car on the morning of departure, you can drive to the airport and check your bags in curbside, then drive over and return the car. That way you have minimal hassle of toting your bags around.
Why take up time on your last night in Denver to deal with returning the car? Doesn't seem like a good use of your time IMHO.

Gretchen

The SuperShuttle into town in not inexpensive as well as the shuttles to the mountains. They also eat up time which these folks don't have a lot of. A car rental arranged through Priceline will be cheaper in the long run than the shuttles.
Although there are taxes added on at DIA, if you are arriving and leaving from there, other transportation needed to get there will negate any off premise savings.
When I am renting a car I look on Hotwire. You don't have to accept their "bid" but you do find out a sort of bottom price PLUS you find out the taxes added on for the location. Then I bid on Priceline. They add taxes after your bid.
As for Aspen, I was suggesting it as a hiking venue, but on this limited time period, it is not practical. A nice little jaunt would be up to Estes Park, through the park and back down to Silverthorne in the mountains. That can actually be done in a day, if wanted. You could head toward Pike's Peak then for a day around Manitou Springs and Garden of the Gods. Then to Denver for the game. For an early morning departure, I would go to a hotel at the airport the night before. Definitely do the Priceline for that. All the hotels at the airport are new with little to distinguish them.