Will be headed through with the family later this summer (west to east). Looking for ideas of areas we can stay the night in that are 1) safe, 2) around decent restaurants etc., and 3) maybe not within Denver proper so I don’t have to worry about their screwy CC laws. Obviously east side gets us that much closer to our destination the next day.

Appreciate anyones thoughts.

If you are coming through on I-70, I would recommend the Golden/Denver West area. Hotels are a tad pricey, as is true throughout the area. If you are willing to do either north or south of the city, your choices open up.

I stayed a couple of nights at the Best Western Denver Tech Greenwood Village in the spring. Decent and reasonable.

https://www.bestwestern.com/en...pertyCode.06184.html

Look around the City of Lone Tree. It’s at the intersection of I-25 and 470 on the south side of Denver. Don’t know the hotels in the area but it’s a nicer location.

Plenty of decent restaurants around Park Meadows Mall. There is also a Cabela’s nearby in case you want to look at a bunch of taxidermy.

quote:

Originally posted by scratchy:
If you are coming through on I-70, I would recommend the Golden/Denver West area. Hotels are a tad pricey, as is true throughout the area.

There's a Marriott in Denver West. I would look into restaurants in downtown Golden, a short distance away. Downtown Golden is nice. There are also some restaurants that are closer to the Marriott in Denver West.

There's a Best Western in Evergreen, right next to a place called El Rancho. However, El Rancho has been having some financial difficulties and I don't think it's currently open. The Chart House restaurant is close to the Best Western and is good (Genesee exit). You have a few restaurant options in Evergreen as well (downtown as well as greater Evergreen area). Downtown Evergreen is also nice. Evergreen is West of the Denver metro area.

Stay away from Aurora and Lakewood..

Ditto on Golden or Lakewood areas (western edge of the Denver metro area). Still part of the urban sprawl, but not nearly the concentration of big city problems that will be found in central Denver area. East Denver and Aurora range from spotty to rough, out to Denver International Airport area which is typical of big city airport neighborhoods.

US 285 to the southwest of Lakewood leads to Bailey, a pleasant mountain community on the South Platte River (excellent trout fishing).

25 minutes south of central Denver on I25 will take you to Castle Rock. Several choices for accommodations and restaurants, just far enough outside the metro area to provide a more peaceful and secure setting.

For what it might be worth, I have been using AirBnB and VRBO rentals for several years. Usually a completely furnished house with fully-equipped kitchen, cable, and internet access for about the price of a chain motel room. Family can kick back and relax, cook what you like to eat, order take-out, take the time to enjoy instead of driving everywhere, standing in line, always feeling rushed. My experiences with these short-term rentals have all been good.

My absolute worst hotel experience ever was off of I225 in Aurora.

quote:

Originally posted by ugeesta:
Look around the City of Lone Tree. It’s at the intersection of I-25 and 470 on the south side of Denver. Don’t know the hotels in the area but it’s a nicer location.

Plenty of decent restaurants around Park Meadows Mall. There is also a Cabela’s nearby in case you want to look at a bunch of taxidermy.

I live in that general area and I would second this. There are toll lanes on 470 that are optional. Until you cross I25 heading East. Then it's a toll road called E470. Not exactly inexpensive to drive on but fast way to I70 East of Aurora.

Oh yeah. I never go into Denver unless it's an absolute necessity.

Great golf in between Denver and Colorado Springs to the west… Castle Pines Golf Club

Places to stay and things to do

Jack Nicklaus course

Go to the border of CO/New Mexico and go to whittington center run by the NRA

From I25, take Highway 24 drive West to the collegiate range… Hot Springs to the south and Leadville to the north.

Independence pass on to Aspen is one of the prettiest drives you’ll ever see

Denver isn’t really Colorado

not sure what you mean by decent restaurant but if I was traveling east, I'd stay east. I don't know what traffic is like in Denver these days, but pre pandemic crossing through Denver can be time consuming and frustrating at any time of the day. There are a number of small restaurant/hotel clusters that are out near the Denver airport.

You might stay in a different location if you're a foodie and 'decent' restaurant means upscale or regionally recognized for outstanding food/service.

My work had an meeting/Christmas event at the Gaylord hotel. It was very nice.

HK Ag