We'll be visiting CO for the first time over Thanksgiving week. Flying into Denver on Sat. and driving straight to Vail to share a condo with family. The condo's available all week, but we need to be in Denver at least by Thurs. night to catch an early flight on Fri.

Is it worth spending two nights (Wed & Thurs) in Denver or should we stay put in Vail?

We're travelling with our daughter (17). We don't ski, but she does. We like to hike/snowshoe. We also like exploring the unique side of different cities too.

I am sure your daughter will veto Wednesday night in Denver. TG is always one of the best days to ski. Obviously you could come in Wed evening and spend all Thursday playing tourist. There is more than enough thing to do to keep you busy for a day but it is Thanksgiving Day and somethings may be closed. I would be inclined to stay in Vail and do Denver another time.

I'd just stay in Vail. And how early is your flight out. One thing I have found about flying out of Denver--you OFTEN need every bit of the 2 hours INSIDE the terminal to get through security and to your gate. Don't cut it short!! The desks open at 5AM, in my experience.

i believe you'll be happier if you stay in vail as long as you can without missing the plane.

You didn't indicate how early your flight is but you will not need two hours at 5 AM.

Honest injun, we've left at 7AM and have not been sorry to be there at 5. And the day after T'giving may be crowded. I have continually been amazed.

Stay in Vail at the condo. Explore Denver some other trip. To be safe I'd shoot for being at the airport at least 1 1/2 hours early just in case there's trouble at the Eisenhower Tunnel or something like that. That's usually a really quick drive but if there's a storm or a wreck it quickly grinds to a standstill.

Our flight out of Denver is at 11:30 AM. Doesn't sound early, but my family is notoriously late. At the very least we will need to spend Thurs night in Denver.

Thanks for the reminder that many places will be closed on T-day.

I'm leaning toward booking 2 nights in Denver and playing it by ear. I can always cancel one night if we're loving Vail.

Any suggestions where in Denver to stay? How about a place to go for T-day dinner in Denver or Vail?

Thanks for your help!

For a flight that late I would definitely stay in Vail. Get up at 5--it is an easy 2 hour drive. Have done it many times to catch flights. Unless you stay at the airport it can take you an hour to get to the airport from a Denver hotel!! Well, not really, but a long time.

If you want Thanksgiving Dinner, I have a suggestion. Since you imply that you have slow moving family, I would check out of Vail when it was convenient in the early afternoon and drive to Keystone -- about an hour.
Keystone has an elegant mountain top restaurant that is only reachable via a gondola. I think it is called Aspen Glow -- but will check later. It is a multi course, fixed price meau and there will be a special meau for TG. You will need reservations. Go for an early dinner, maybe 5, so you can see the sunset. It is a treat for non-ski because it puts them on top of the mountain.

You will have a leisurely amd memorable dinner to cap your week. After dinner drive on to Denver and stay at one of the airport hotels -- another hour and a half. It could be crowded by 11:30 so plan accordingly.

I think fmpden is referring to AlpenGlow Stube. It is open for lunch also, I believe. Not that you'd likely want it for Thanksgiving, but there's an excellent fondue restaurant on the same mountain called Der Fondue Chessel.

Since you like the unique parts of cities, I'd recommend a hotel with some character in Denver like The Brown Palace. Historic and in the heart of the city. It'd be about a half hour from the airport.

Out of curiosity, sgrasso, how does your family manage to make it to work and school on time? When you said "early flight" I didn't think you meant lunch time!

Sundown, your are correct -- of course. I just went blank and all I could come up with was Aspen Glow. The Brown Palace would be nice but when she called 11:30 an early flight, I thought maybe they should be about a hundred yards from the terminal.

Personally,what I would do is drive down Thursday mid-day & have a late Thanksgiving dinner in Denver or drive down after skiing Thursday evening. I wouldn't like to get up at 5 a.m. on vacation & it doesn't take an hour to get to the airport from a Denver hotel. You would need to allow extra time to drop off car rental & I would allow at least an hour & 1/2 to get through security & to the gates. That way you wouldn't have to worry about bad weather, getting through the tunnel, etc. Just my opinion though.

Thank you all for your excellent suggestions. I checked out some reviews on the AlpenGlow Stube. It sounds very nice, but the latest feedback seems to be very negative.

The latest plan is to leave Vail on Thursday morning and head to Denver. We'll have Tday dinner in Denver and then spend the night at an airport hotel. That way we don't have to deal with dropping the car off on Friday.

Any suggestions for a special place to have our Thanksgiving dinner in Denver? Right now I have reservations at 1515.

Where did you see the negative feedback? I looked on Trip Advisor. People either like it or they don't. Not much inbetween. The pricing does set high expectations and probably it is easy to be disappointed.

I recommend getting reservations at Maggianos. We did this a few years ago and this was a wonderful experience and is one of our favorite restaurants.

They have a Thanksgiving menu that you choose from. Prices are $29.95 per adult and $14.95 per child. They are open from 11:00 am - 7:00 pm on Thanksgiving. I called to confirm the details as nothing is listed online yet.

http://www.maggianos.com

I've been to the Alpenglow Stube (twice) and I've been to the Ski Tip Lodge (a dozen times). I'll take the Ski Tip Lodge any day. The Stube is a fun experience but a little pretentious and for me misses the mark. The Ski Tip is intimate, comfortable and the food is always special. Plus you don't have to do that cold ride down the gondola when you're finished!