Mile High City

It sits at the base of the Rockies. It is a mile high — in both altitude and attitude. It is the the place where natives smile at the 300 days of sunshine a year and the buzz they catch from sucking in oxygenthin air. Denver is more than a place to set up camp while you plan mountain adventures. Denver is one of the few American cities that successfully balances cosmopolitan bustle with small town spirit. But because the city sprawls, hotspots are scattered and you'll need to focus in order to make the most of your time here. Fortunately, Denver has a good public transportation system to help you get around. The following neighborhood guides should help you find whatever Rocky Mountain High you're looking for. Downtown: To fully explore the downtown Denver scene you should start at the east end of the Sixteenth Street Mall, an outdoor pedestrian shopping center that runs right through the business district. Walk west, toward the mountains, and stop for some afternoon coffee at the pseudobohemian Market at Larimer Square. As the sun starts to set behind the mountains you should wander a few blocks west to the red brick "LoDo" (Lower Downtown) area. This neighborhood has blossomed in recent years, mostly due to the construction of Coors Field, where the Colorado Rockies play. A slew of sports bars, microbreweries, and coffee houses were developed along with the new stadium to accommodate rowdy baseball fans. All year long this area is a popular place to quaff a frothy beverage at sunset. Students particularly favor Wazoo's, The Sports Column and The Cruise Room. (The latter is a martini bar in the Oxford Hotel.) LoDo's nightlife reflects Denver's generally laidback feel: There's rarely a dress code, happy hours abound, and the people aren't beautiful, but they're just pretty enough. Cherry Creek: The creek itself isn't much of a waterway, but the bikepath next to it and the neighborhood (bounded by First and Sixth Streets, and University and Colorado Boulevards) that surrounds it are both worth a visit. Get an early start from downtown or south Denver and ride right up to the Cherry Creek Mall, one of Denver's big tourist traps. If you've been in the midwest for too long a stop here will cure you of your yearnings for upscale chain shopping. After being sated at Saks head across the street to The Tattered Cover, once hailed by The New York Times as "the best bookstore in America." You could easily spend a few days scanning these shelves, but tear yourself away in time to duck into one of Cherry Creek's eclectic art galleries. City Park: Denver has more parks per capita than any other city in the country, but the mustvisit is City Park. A stroll through City Park will provide some mindblowing mountain views and the chance to stop at The Denver Zoo. After you've learned all you can about mountain wildlife, head over to the immense Museum of Natural History which houses a collection of huge beetles and dinosaur bones, plus an Imax movie theater and a planetarium. In the evenings, droves of psychedeliaseekers come out for laser shows in which trippy spiral patterns are splayed on the planetarium ceiling to the cranked tunes of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and other classic rockers. Colfax: In years past, Colfax Avenue was Denver's seediest street, spanning the city from east to west with dingy cowboy bars and porn parlors. Today, while some of the city's underbelly lingers there, the street is home to the Denver party crowd's favorite haunts. The Capitol Hill area, just east of the golddomed state capitol building, has a number of excellent used CD, record, and poster shops. The theaters farther east frequently host hot alternative acts like Morphine and Kula Shaker. And Pete's Kitchen, a few blocks west of York, stays open into the wee hours to accommodate waves of munchiesaddled sybarites. Casa Bonita: At the west end of Colfax Avenue looms the pink tower of Casa Bonita, Denver's most, um, unique restaurant. Ignore the buffet style overprocessed Mexican food and focus instead on the holistic experience. Cliff divers plummet 30 feet to plop beneath gushing waterfalls while roving mariachi bands belt out Acapulcan standards and children scream in the menacing "Black Bart's Cave." In pretty much every possible way TexMex Americana flourishes at its cheesiest here. Few native Denverites appreciate Casa Bonita's unique surrealism, but that's all the more reason for visitors to check it out.