Newcomers guide to Denver
Welcome to the Mile High City! Situated on Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe land, Denver is a bustling city with gorgeous natural landscapes and a flourishing economy. This is clearly in part why so many people decide to move here every year. I was once a newcomer myself, and I want to share a little bit about what makes Denver living so unique and offer some tips for thriving here.
The first thing you’ll undoubtedly notice is the sunshine. With over 300 days of sunshine, it’s truly remarkable how livable Denver is year round. Seriously, I think winter in Denver is our best kept secret. Given that it’s a semi-arid, high-desert climate, it’s sunny and dry most of the time which means that the snow is light and fluffy and the roads are drivable in the winter (oh but it also snows in May, so there’s that…) and at 40 degrees fahrenheit you’ll actually find yourself comfortable in a t-shirt. Wild but true! Just make sure to wear daily sunscreen year round, especially on your face.
About that dryness though…it’s no joke. You’re going to want to invest in some quality body lotion, hand cream, chapstick, oils, literally anything to moisturize. My hairdresser advises putting oil on the ends of your hair every night before bed, and my nail person also advises using oil on your cuticles and hands! She recommends jojoba as it absorbs quickly. And drink a lot, a lot of water.
The second thing you’ll probably notice is the elevation. It seriously takes some getting used to! Do not attempt a 14’er before you’ve acclimated properly. The best thing you can do is hydrate; we legit lived off of hydration tablets for the first six months of moving here. See above regarding drinking a lot of water.
Speaking of hydration, Denver is serious about beer. Currently there are 410 breweries in Colorado and there are new ones cropping up all the time. What’s especially cool is that we have several women-owned, BIPOC-owned, and queer-owned breweries within the Centennial State. The cocktail and coffee scene is pretty great too; you’ll not experience any shortage of delicious adult bevvies here. But what’s also cool is that we have a lot of locally-made, non-alcoholic options too! (Fun fact: Denver played a major role in the introduction of champagne in the U.S. thanks to someone known as Champagne Charlie)
My absolute favorite part of Denver is all of the parks. According to the City and County of Denver, Denver's park system includes more than 250 urban parks along with off-street trails, historic parkways, natural areas and more. It’s truly amazing to see so many green spaces in such a big city, and to have a bike path trail system that covers so much of the metro area and into the foothills (called Denver Orbital Trail, it circles the entire city). There are so many hidden gems of natural space scattered all over, you just have to look for them. Another of my favorite Denver things are the prairie dogs that live throughout the city in empty patches of land. You’ll start to see them everywhere, even on the sides of highways, and they are always an adorable treat to peep!
While we don’t have a lot of natural disasters, we do have a few things to watch out for. Rattlesnakes in the foothills. Hail the size of baseballs. On rare occasions tornados on the eastern side of town. But more common are lightning strikes - Colorado has the third-most lightning related deaths in the country! Usually worst in the afternoons during late spring and early summer, most victims are tragically ranchers and farmers working out in fields, however hiking, camping, and outdoor activities can also leave you vulnerable. When hiking during this season, be sure to start early in the day and be off the mountain peak by afternoon.
Speaking about the airport, yes, DIA is kind of the worst. It’s basically in Kansas and always under construction and pretty confusing to navigate, with long TSA lines, and the exterior looks vaguely like something from dessert week in GBBO. It also abounds in conspiracy theories and the mascot is particularly freaky, given that it did kill its creator. Two pro-tips about DIA: 1) it’s best to schedule flights in and out of Denver in the morning, due to the afternoon storms that often delay flights and 2) consider booking a free TSA reservation with DEN Reservation to skip those long lines!
Another safety tip to offer is regarding road safety… and honestly, all I can say is ‘watch out’. For real. After we moved here, my partner and I kept Googling ‘why is driving in Denver so bad?’ Everyone agrees that it’s terrible and there are many working theories, but all I know is that you truly need to engage your defensive driving skills and actually look both ways before going when your light turns green. Daily, I witness people egregiously running red lights and it’s truly horrifying (my partner was t-boned by one such occurrence here!). Maybe living this close to the sun is giving Denverites Icarian vibes.
While out driving, you may be curious about what street demarks north from south and that would be a random little street called Ellsworth Avenue. Broadway, a major thoroughfare, divides the city into east and west. While the city layout can sometimes be confusing based on the fact that there were historically two separate grid designs, one rule of thumb is to look up and locate the mountains in the West and use that as your guide.
Ngl I’m still sussing out the food scene here. There’s a lot of hype in general, and a lot of talk of the green chiles but I’m not convinced yet. I will say that we do have a pretty decent pizza and pastry scene. The coffee is pretty great too. Word to the wise, get on the Casa Bonita waitlist now! You might get a spot on the list within the year. We’ve been waiting ever since it opened.
Denver has a lot of cool museums, theatres, and a flourishing local art scene. The RiNo Arts District is a great place to walk around and check out murals. And First Fridays on Sante Fe are not to be missed. We also have a lot of great local movie theaters too!
Lastly, Denver is very dog friendly! Dogs everywhere, I’ve never seen so many Golden Retrievers in my life. There are many spaces that welcome your fur buddies, just remember for safety reasons to keep them on a leash, unless it’s a designated off-leash space. Even though I don ‘t have a dog, I absolutely love visiting the Cherry Creek State Park dog park - it’s the perfect serotonin boost to witness all the happy dogs in a beautiful landscape!
These are just some of the things that Denver is known for and makes the Mile High City so unique. There is so much more to explore here and I post new favorite spots on my Instagram page if you want to find out more!