Keeping kids of all ages happily busy while exploring Denver is easy. Take a look at the wide range of family-friendly activities and attractions, then consider our sampling of hotels that will have your kids or grandkids grinning from ear to ear and counting sheep while they sleep.
DOWNTOWN
Downtown is ideal for easy access to a terrific mix of amusements like the Downtown Aquarium, Elitch Gardens Theme & Water Park, Denver Art Museum, Coors Field, Pepsi Center and History Colorado Center. Pre-teens and teens will especially love staying at The Crawford Hotel above the buzz of Denver Union Station or on one of the 13 uniquely themed floors at The Curtis – a DoubleTree by Hilton.
The beautifully restored Union Station is a hub for travelers arriving by Amtrak, bus, airport train or light rail. It also provides a great dining and shopping option or simply a place to get a cup of joe or a pint of local brew. Guests staying on-site at The Crawford Hotel not only have spectacular city views, they can order breakfast in bed from Snooze, one of Denver’s spots for a.m. delights, or wrap up an afternoon or evening with a cone or cup from Milkbox Ice Creamery, which is included in the stay. Teens are sure to be impressed riding to a nearby downtown location in the hotel’s Tesla courtesy car and can challenge mom or dad to a game of shuffleboard in Union Station’s Great Hall. All ages can dash through the outdoor fountain out front, made just for that purpose.
Greeting the morning is more fun when wake-up calls are from celebrity impersonators at The Curtis, a DoubleTree Hotel. It won’t take long to rally the troops when walking out your guest room door means checking out photographs of fetching hairdos and posters of the musical “Hair” on the Big Hair Floor (9th floor) and scary stuff on the Dun Dun Dunnnnn! Floor (13th floor), where Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in “The Shining” and a vintage vacancy notice from the Bates Motel keep things on the creepy side.
Any of the guest rooms are fun to spend a night or two in or splurge on a hyper-themed room like The “Knock, Knock… Who’s There?” option inspired by favorite knock-knock jokes and filled with odds and ends from rabbit art and a moose head to Charlie Chaplin hats. Or consider the “Star Trek,” “Ghostbusters,” disco, big hair or video game rooms, where you might have a green slime floor, beauty salon chair or Donkey Kong arcade game as part of the decor. The fun starts immediately when you walk in the lobby and find all sorts of retro candy to purchase and board games to play there or up in your room.
