Things to Do in Denver When You're Broke

Cheap things to do in Denver

Denver is a beautiful, exciting area, with a never-ending list of things to do and visit.  When we moved out here 3 years ago, we got quite a few visitors who needed to be entertained and shown the sights.  We found that we were spending quite a bit of money trying to show our guests a good time, so we developed a list of tourist attractions that are either free or very inexpensive, and haven’t had any complaints yet!

Denver:

16th StreetMall—this is an outdoor shopping mall that all tourists should experience.  It’s located in the heart of Denver, and the mall is actually the street itself.  Several blocks of 16th Street are blocked off, and the only traffic is the free bus system that runs the length of the mall.  There are all kinds of interesting souvenir shops, as well as your standard shopping-mall type shops, several excellent restaurants, including the ESPN Zone, and a movie theatre.  There are street performers and horse-drawn carriages for extra entertainment.  Watch out for those buses, though—they go pretty fast and don’t like to stop for jaywalkers!  

Casa Bonita (www.casabonitadenver.com)—Although this is not free, the prices are reasonable for the entertainment that you get.  There’s a huge waterfall in the middle, with cliff divers that do stunts, and there are flame jugglers and all kinds of crazy skits that take place during your dinner.  The meals are all you can eat, and they’re not too bad.

Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre (www.redrocksonline.com)—About 15 miles west of Denver, Red Rocks is a beautiful park with lots of walking trails along huge red rocks that are easy and fun for kids to climb on.  There’s an amphitheatre built right into one of the rocks, which is supposed to provide excellent acoustics, but I’ve never been to a concert there.  A schedule of performers can be found on the Red Rocks website.