10 Best Free Things to Do in Denver

Did you know that you can enjoy free entry to various museums in Denver on certain days of the week or year? It’s possible, thanks to Denver’s Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, which distributes funds to support cultural facilities in Colorado’s 7 counties.

Great spots you can visit include the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, which offers free days on different dates. If you’re an art lover, the Denver Art Museum offers free days every month as well. Contact the museums for further info.

Colorado is home to a good variety of beer breweries and wine distilleries, most of which offer free brewery tours and tastings. Coors Brewery is one of the most popular spots, which happens to be among the largest beer breweries in North America.

Coors Brewery is located within a half-hour drive west from Denver, in Golden, which is one of the former gold rush towns at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The place has produced some of the country’s most popular beers since 1873.

Make your way to Denver’s Capitol Hill and take the opportunity to admire one of the city’s most stunning landmarks, the Colorado State Capitol. The building features Corinthian-style architecture, with a copper-and-gold dome that dominates the city’s skyline.

You can visit the statehouse for free, where you can learn about the history of the building and how the city’s General Assembly goes about. Note that tour dates are unavailable on national holidays and the dome is usually off-limits for self-guided tours.

If you’re a fan of jazz and you’re visiting Denver in the summer, you can spend your Sunday afternoons by enjoying various free City Park Jazz concerts near Ferril Lake. The free gigs allow you to pack a picnic, lay out a blanket on the spacious lawn and soak up the grooves as the sun dips below Denver’s city skyline.

The City Park Jazz events are great for families. The park itself offers a cool getaway from the hubbubs of the city.

Head 15 miles (24 km) west from Denver to Jefferson County along Highway 6, and you’ll reach Red Rocks Park, one of Colorado’s most interesting geological formations. It’s renowned for its striking red stone cliffs, the majority of which are accessible for hiking. The park spans over 700 acres (283 hectares) between the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, with paleontological fields as well as pine forests and prairies in between.

Red Rocks Park is also famous for its amphitheatre, which regularly draws concert-goers to world-class gigs.

Skaters of all ages and skillsets bring their own skates, rollerblades, bikes and skateboards daily for fun times at the Denver Skate Park. Located on the bank of Denver’s South Platte River, this big outdoor facility is open to the public and features plenty of bowls, ramps and flat and rideable concrete surfaces throughout the 60,000-sq ft grounds.

Bring your own gear as there are no rentals available on site. By day, the park offers skyline views, and it’s also well-lit for late-night skating fun.

Art walk through the Santa Fe Arts District is a lovely way to get to know the Santa Fe Drive, known for its hundreds of art galleries and studios. The Santa Fe Drive spans over 1.5 miles (2.4 km), north to south, in downtown Denver.

The Santa Fe Arts District offers its signature art walks every first Friday of the month. From 5.30 pm to 9.30 pm, the district becomes a vibrant place where you can view a huge variety of art on display. A free shuttle service makes exploring a breeze.

Hop on the Free MallRide to explore Downtown Denver’s shopping paradise that boasts an abundance of retail experiences. Visiting all its malls in a duration of your single visit would be a great feat. One of the hubs to hit is along 16th Street, with its namesake mall at the end of Larimer Square.

To help you save more for dining and shopping, the Free MallRide bus services the route, which you can hop on and off at your leisure.

For families visiting Denver, the 11-acre (4.45-hectare) Centennial Center Park is worth the half-hour drive south from Denver. This main public space of the city of Centennial is considered among the best city parks in Colorado.

The park features well-landscaped playgrounds for kids, including fun splash pads. There’s also a rope jungle gym, a massive multi-story fort and rock-climbing walls that even the most active of kids can enjoy. You can pack a picnic and enjoy plenty of shade where you can relax while watching the kids play.

What better way is there to spend a summer evening than watching outdoor movies in a park? Denver has a great collection of public parks and green spaces where outdoor entertainment highlights are scheduled throughout the year.

Infinity Park regularly hosts outdoor summer movie events. It’s in Glendale, around 15 minutes’ drive southeast of downtown Denver. Movies usually screen from 7 pm. Founders Green Park on 29th Ave & Roslyn St also shows the latest blockbusters in its Movie on the Green series, which usually kick off in June.