In June, we are arriving in Denver and staying the night prior to our flight (the next day). We would be happy staying within an hour or so of the airport but on the north or west side of the city. There are 4 adults. We have until about 9 PM that following day/night until we leave.
Can I get recommendations on where to stay overnight and any following day activities that we might consider while hanging around for an 11 PM flight out to Philly? Thanks

DIA is in the middle of nowhere. If you want something nice/different I'd recommend trying the Brown Palace in downtown Denver. The Brown Palace is the grande dame of old Denver hotels. You can have high tea in the afternoon - be sure to dress appropriately. Brown Palace is in the Lo-Do area of Denver,which is a several block area that has lots of shops, restaurants, bars etc.. along with a free trolly that runs down the middle.

I highly recommend the Ship Tavern.

I don't think humin32 lives in Denver. First the airport is not in the middle of nowhere. There are a large number of hotels just outside the airport property which would put you within 10 minuts of the terminal. But you do not need that.

The Brown Palace is a good recommendation but it is not in LoDo. Lower Downtown is the north end of the 16th street mall and begins with Market street. Brown Palace is at the south end of the 16th Street Hall on 17th street. The Ship Travern is OK but there are many places that are better, From the BP you could walk to the Capitol Building, the library, Art museum, The free shuttle bus on the mall takes you the full length to Union Station, Coors Field, and LoDo. The LoDo area is the restaurant area. The BP is expensive and there are lesser expensive choices along the 16th Mall from Marroit to Sheraton,

The downtown area is about 30 minutes to the airport,

DIA is only about 1/2 hour from downtown. I stayed last weekend at the Red Lion on Quebec street tat was only about 15 minutes from the airport. There were several other hotels in the area.

The Red Loin is where the old airport used to be but has been redeveloped into a very nice area. It would be a good compromise but you would have to drive anywhere you wanted to go. The old Lowery Airforce base is just south of there aad has a very good aircraft museum == Wings over th Rockies.

If you're considering a boutique hotel like the Brown Palace, consider Hotel Teatro. I've stayed in both and liked Teatro better.

To me, it seems to take an eternity to get to the airport from town. There is chain dining and chain hotels around and near the airport. But, I think calling it the middle of nowhere is fairly accurate. Sort of like San Francisco or Dallas- you don't want to take a cab any of these places.

I think it's in the middle of nowhere too. There are airport hotels but other than that it's a trek to other options.

We have done both - once we stayed in a hotel close to the airport which was, in fact, in the middle of nowhere.

The next time we took a taxi into downtown. Driving time was 35 minutes. We stayed right in downtown, in the Hyatt ($79). There are several hotels in the area - practically all Denver attractions are in walking distance and, yes, the free shuttle is very convenient.

For dinner, we walked the few steps to the Brown Palace and enjoyed dinner in the Ship Tavern - really cozy atmosphere and decent food.