Denver at Christmas | Clarence & Pinafor

The guide

Denver

Christmas trip · Denver, USA

Christmas lights glowing on the 16th Street Mall.

Getting there

Denver is a proper college-break adventure — a road trip across the plains, or a domestic flight into Denver International Airport. The A Line train runs from the airport to Denver Union Station in under 40 minutes. The Christkindl Market is held on the Tivoli Quad of the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver — a short tram or light-rail hop from Union Station.

Famous for

Denver's Christkindl Market, run with the German American Chamber of Commerce of Colorado, brings a proper German Christmas to the Rockies: wooden stalls, Glühwein, bratwurst and live oompah music on the historic Tivoli Quad of the Auraria Campus (the market moved here from Civic Center Park). Entry is free, and it runs from the Friday before Thanksgiving to 23 December. Don't miss the Mile High Tree — a towering digital Christmas tree of lights — plus the Festival Hall and Kinder Wunderland for little ones.

The Tivoli building on the Auraria Campus — home of the Christkindl Market.

Where to eat

Bratwurst, currywurst, schnitzel, potato pancakes, roasted nuts and Glühwein at the market stalls. Denver's craft-beer scene is famous across America — the Tivoli building itself was once a brewery — and the city's steakhouses do a fine winter dinner after a cold day at the market.

What to do

Ride the free shuttle down the 16th Street Mall under its Christmas lights, visit Union Station — beautifully restored and glowing at Christmas — and look up at the gold-domed Colorado State Capitol. The Denver Art Museum and the shops of Larimer Square are close by, and the Rockies sit on the horizon all the way.

Denver Union Station, lit in Christmas colours.

The Tivoli brewery tower at dusk.

Jess's favourite

Denver Zoo: Zoo Lights

Jess's favourite: the Denver Zoo — founded in 1896 — sparkles each December with Zoo Lights, millions of lights across the grounds. The elephants don't mind the cold, and the light tunnels are pure magic.

Good to know: entry to the Christkindl Market is free. Denver sits exactly one mile above sea level — the ‘Mile High City’ — so drink plenty of water and take it easy on your first day. December days are often sunny and crisp rather than bitterly cold.

Jess always checked the market dates on the official website before travelling — opening days can shift from year to year. And remember Denver's altitude on your first day.

Read Jess's diary of the day ↓

Jess's Christmas Adventures · Diary No. 10

Denver: A Mile High, a Market, and Zoo Lights

Christmas, five years ago

Denver sits exactly one mile above the sea, and you feel it the moment you step off the train — the air is thin and bright and smells faintly of pine. The Rockies sit on the horizon like a painted backdrop. I have never started a Christmas market trip with a mountain view before.

The Christkindl Market fills the Tivoli Quad on the Auraria Campus, in the shadow of the old Tivoli brewery building — all red brick and a tall tower that looks like it belongs in Bavaria. Wooden stalls, oompah music, the smell of bratwurst. It could be Munich, except the sky is enormous and impossibly blue.

I drank Glühwein from a proper little mug, ate a bratwurst with everything on it, and watched children queueing for Kinder Wunderland — the market's children's area. Then I stood under the Mile High Tree, a towering tree made entirely of lights, changing colours in the dark. Denver doesn't do things small.

Union Station was glowing red and green when I passed in the evening — the old station beautifully restored, all arched windows and warm light. And the 16th Street Mall was strung with lights as far as I could see.

The day ended at the Denver Zoo, where Zoo Lights turns the whole place into millions of twinkling lights. I walked the light tunnels with snow crunching under my boots (well — frost; Denver does crisp rather than deep snow) and thought: five Christmas markets, four states, one very happy Jess. What a December this had been.

Barnaby's text“Five markets, four states, and you never once lost your wonder, Jess. That — more than any star or light — is what Christmas is for.”

— Jess

↑ Back to the Denver guide