Adventure Awaits this Winter in The Mile High City

Denver's urban excitement and easy access to Rocky Mountain adventures make it the perfect place to start a winter vacation. 

DENVER, Jan. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Denver is the perfect destination to begin a Colorado winter vacation. With 300 days of sunshine, world-class, Michelin-rated dining, a thriving cultural scene and professional sports. The Mile High City offers the perfect jumping-off point for winter enthusiasts. This season boasts a wide variety of events, new restaurants and cultural attractions to check out, along with a bevy of new and renovated hotels. Head to the VISIT DENVER website for trip planning resources and hotel deals.

Seasonal Highlights 

The National Western Stock Show & Rodeo, a cherished Colorado tradition since 1906, is returning to the National Western Complex Jan. 11-26, 2025. The show celebrates Denver's rich Western roots and is the nation's premier livestock, rodeo and horse show, serving agricultural producers and consumers throughout the world. Enjoy rodeos featuring top-notch bull riders, horse shows, livestock competitions and auctions. The show also offers acres of shopping at Colorado's largest Western trade show. Learn more and get tickets on the VISIT DENVER website. 

A winter trip to Colorado isn't complete without mountain adventures! Denver is the perfect place to start or end a ski trip with urban exploration before a cozy mountain escape. Denver is also home to the only ski train in Colorado, making it the perfect option for those who want to skip a car rental and hit the slopes or enjoy all a mountain town has to explore. The Winter Park Express Train runs Thursday through Monday starting Jan. 9, 2025. It departs Denver Union Station at 7 a.m. and arrives at Winter Park Ski Resort at 9 a.m. It then departs at 4:30 p.m. and arrives back in Denver by 7 p.m. The Ski train is perfect for families with tickets starting at $19 and $9.50 for kids. Learn more and reserve seats on the VISIT DENVER website.

The Denver Center of Performing Arts (DCPA) has an impressive lineup of musicals, theater productions and interactive events this season. Don't miss Monopoly Lifesized: Travel Edition through Feb. 9, 2025, at DCPA Off-Center at Broadway Park. It's a game show style version of the world's favorite board game. Rally friends, family or colleagues, for heart-pounding competition this season. After its success on Broadway, Gutenberg! The Musical! is playing at the Garner Galleria Theatre through May 4, 2025. In this two-person musical spoof, a pair of aspiring playwrights perform a backers' audition for their new, ill-advised project – a big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg. Denver's own Jake Brasch left audiences buzzing at the 2023 Colorado New Play Summit with The Reservoir at the Singleton Theater through March 9, 2025. The lineup continues with Back to the Future: The Musical, Mean Girls, The Wiz and more. Check out a complete calendar of performing arts on the VISIT DENVER website.

Denver is also home to world-class music venues that attract top talent year-round. Don't miss Billy Strings Jan. 24-26, 2025, Tyler, the Creator Feb. 11, 2025 and Mary J. Blige Feb. 25, 2025, all at Ball Arena. Hippo Campus headlines at Mission Ballroom on Feb. 16, 2025 and Red Rocks Amphitheatre will host Icelantic Winter on the Rocks ft. Gramatik on March 8, 2025, so bundle up!

New in Denver this Season

Restaurants
MICHELIN recognized 27 Denver restaurants in the most recent guide. The famously anonymous MICHELIN Guide inspectors selected a diverse range of restaurants across the city that exude culinary excellence. New restaurants added to this year's guide include Alma Fonda Fina awarded One MICHELIN Star, MAKFam with a new Bib Gourmand, and Brasserie Brixton and Kawa Ni are new Recommended Restaurants. More information about these restaurants and the MICHELIN Guide program are available on the VISIT DENVER website.

With international recognition, Denver's restaurant scene continues to grow with new places opening every month. Most recently, Denver welcomed Le Colonial, an upscale French Vietnamese restaurant in Cherry Creek North; Stellar Jay, a lively rooftop dining experience, featuring shared plates and live-fired cuisine; Ajax Downtown from Aspen One and the only urban restaurant in its portfolio; Magna Kainan, the new RiNo project from Portland chef Carlo Lamagna and Denver's Culinary Creative Group and many more.

Hotels
Last year the MICHELIN Guide revealed its inaugural list of One, Two, and Three Key hotels in the United States; a distinction only award in cities that also offer MICHELIN dining. Three Denver hotels received this distinction: Clayton Hotel and Members Club, Four Seasons Denver and The Crawford Hotel. 

The Crawford Hotel was recently renovated with rooms inspired by the golden era of train travel and is in Denver Union Station, a thriving hub for shops, restaurants and easy access to Denver International Airport. Populus Hotel, a new downtown hotel inspired by nature opened in Oct. 2024. The 265-room, 13-story hotel features an event space, multiple food and beverage venues and a rooftop deck and bar.

Arts and Culture
The Mile High City is home to countless blockbuster exhibits this season. Check out The Life and Art of Tokio Ueyama at Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, featuring more than 40 paintings loaned to the museum by the Japanese American National Museum and Ueyama's family; Shadow and Light: Patrick Marold at Denver Botanic Gardens, a site-specific installation highlighting the ever-changing qualities of light and shadow; Flow: On the River with John Fielder, an exhibition focusing on the many uses and importance of the Colorado River; Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak, at the Denver Art Museum with more than 400 of Sendak's creations; the Butterfly Pavilion's New Destination: Conservation – Virtual Exhibit is a global adventure using VR headsets to explore Butterfly Pavilion's groundbreaking conservation projects. For a complete list, check out the VISIT DENVER website.

Additional Winter Favorites

Denver has a wide array of kid-friendly activities. Head to the Denver Zoo to see more than 3,000 animals including elephants, orangutans and lions. Visit the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to explore fossils and dinosaurs, ponder the mysteries of space at Gates Planetarium and watch larger-than-life films at the Phipps IMAX 3D Theater. The Downtown Aquarium is a perfect spot for kids to awe at astounding marine life, feed the stingrays, pan for gold or become a marine biologist for a day. Learn more about family-friendly activities on the VISIT DENVER website.

Feel the energy at Ball Area this season with the 2023 NBA Finals Champions, the Denver Nuggets, the 2022 Stanley Cup winners, the Colorado Avalanche or the Colorado Mammoth lacrosse team.

The Mile High City's proximity to the beautiful Rocky Mountains make it the perfect destination for adventure lovers. Nearby Rocky Mountain National Park is the perfect place for snowshoeing with magical views or try out cross-country skiing in nearby Idaho Springs, Estes Park or Golden. After a full day of outdoor adventures, return to the city to grab a craft beer along the Denver Beer Trail, go shopping in Cherry Creek or explore the city's vibrant neighborhoods. 

Browse adventure day trip ideas, check out Denver's detailed event calendar and plan your perfect winter vacation on the VISIT DENVER website.

About VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau 
Celebrating 116 years of promoting The Mile High City, VISIT DENVER is a nonprofit trade association that contracts with the City of Denver to market Denver as a convention and leisure destination, increasing economic development in the city, creating jobs and generating taxes. Denver welcomed more than 37.4 million visitors in 2023, generating $10.3 billion in spending, while supporting tens of thousands of jobs and making Tourism one of the city's largest industries. Learn more about Denver at VISIT DENVER or Tourism Pays Denver. Follow Denver's social media channels for up-to-the-minute updates on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. 

With press or photo inquiries, please contact:
Taylor Shields, Director of PR & Communications
Caroline Campbell, PR & Communications Manager
Natalie St. Hilaire, PR & Communications Coordinator
[email protected]

SOURCE VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau