Golden (Colorado)

Golden is a tourist town in summer and a college town the rest of the year.

Golden is not between Boulder and Denver. It is west of Denver and south of Boulder. There are other cities between Golden and Denver, e.g. Lakewood and Wheat Ridge.

See this Colorado travel map. Colorado is on Mountain Standard Time (UTC-07) in the winter and on Mountain Daylight Time (UTC-06) in the summer.

• 🌍 Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave, 987 Lookout Mountain Road, ☏ +1 303 526-0744. 
• 🌍 Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois Street. Each building on the compact Mines campus was considered modern architectural design when built, giving the campus as a whole a wide range of styles tied together by the use of the same sandy-colored stone for most façades. 
• 🌍 Golden History Museum, 923 10th Street, ☏ +1 303 278-3557. W-Sa 10AM–4PM. 4 permanet galleries and changing exhibitions on local history. free. 
• 🌍 Golden History Park, 1020 11th Street, ☏ +1 303 278-3557. 1800s mountain ranch recreated by relocating buildings about 15 miles from Golden Gate Canyon. Wander arond the buildings any day, or visit on one of days when the buildings are open. free. 
• 🌍 Mines Museum of Earth Science, 1310 Maple Street. 
• 🌍 Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, 200 Violet Street, ☏ +1 303 277-0377. 

Activities in Golden are usually split between visiting its historical sites including the Coors Brewery, and doing outdoors activities such as rock climbing, mountain biking, and hiking.

• 🌍 Coors Brewery, 13th & Ford Streets, ☏ +1 303 277-BEER (2337). Tours operate M-Sa 10AM-4PM. guests over 21 years old offered limited free samples, guests under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. The main tourist draw for the city, the Coors Brewery in Golden is also the largest beer brewing plant in the world on a single site. It is easily recognized for its sheer size and space consumption, and in particular, its plain grey walls and large, red "Coors" sign mural. If you visit Golden, you will undoubtedly notice the distinct fragrance of grains, hops, and alcohol wafting through the air at any point in town, any time of the year. The brewery is a popular attraction mainly because of the guided tours it offers. These tours last about 45 minutes, and guests over the age of 21 are treated to a free sample of the brewery's confectionery. $20. (updated Feb 2022)

• 🌍 Colorado Railroad Museum, 17155 W. 44th Ave, ☏ +1 303-279-4591. Open every day, excluding holidays, 9AM-5PM. Created in 1959 to preserve the history of Colorado's rollicking railroad era, this museum is now a haven for aficionados of heritage railways, antique cabooses, and steam locomotives. Railfans will want to check out the museum's periodic train ride days, where you could have a wine & cheese tasting on a train, or let the kids meet "Thomas the Tank Engine". Also, the museum is a non-profit establishment that publishes its own books about railroad history. It also has indoor and outdoor model train layouts. 
• Clear Creek Whitewater Park. Along 10th St in Clear Creek. Considered to be the heart of the Colorado kayaking social scene, the mile long course in Clear Creek provides a playspot for both playboaters and slalom kayakers, as well as a plethora of tubers and boogie boarders. Even if you don't want to get in the water, head down to the park to watch kayakers ripping it up in the holes some of the best kayakers in the state practice here on a regular basis. If you want to try kayaking, local kayak school RA Guides provides lessons here regularly during the summer months, or, if you having boating experience, kayaks can be rented from either of the two river stores in town, Golden River Sports or Alpenglow. The park is beginner friendly and folks are more than happy to help out newcomers, as long as you have some common sense and basic courtesy. Look but don't touch others' boats, wait your turn and be safe. 

• 🌍 Golden Gate Canyon State Park, 3873 Highway 36, ☏ +1 303 582-3707. 

• 🌍 Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, 16170 W 120th Ave, ☏ +1 303-289-0930, rockyflats@fws.gov. Sunrise-sunset. (updated Aug 2020)

• Gold-N-Detectors, 802 Washington Ave, ☏ +1 303 278-6622, toll-free: +1-888-822-1557. Metal detectors and gold prospecting gear. 

Despite being a college town, a surprising number of Golden's restaurants close early, or are only open for breakfast and lunch. The late night crowd moves to bars (or Denver proper) instead.

• Ali Baba Grill, 109 North Rubey Dr., F, ☏ +1 303-279-2228. Daily 11AM - 9PM. Friendly and elaborately-decorated Lebanese restaurant in the northern part of town. 

• Café 13, 1301 Arapaho St, ☏ +1 303-278-2225. M-F 6:30AM - 3PM, Sa 7:30AM - 3PM, Su 7:30AM - 1:30PM. Coffee, pastries, sandwiches, and other light fare. The locally-made muffins are excellent. 

• D'deli, 1207 Washington Ave, ☏ +1 303 279-5308. One of two adjacent sandwich shops. 

• Windy Saddle Cafe, 1110 Washington Ave, ☏ +1 303-279-1905. Su-W 7AM - 6PM, Th-Sa 7AM - 9PM. Comfortable spot to grab a sandwich for lunch and watch the activity on Washington outside. Kid-friendly. 

• Woody's Woodfired Pizza and Watering Hole, 1305 Washington Ave, ☏ +1 303 277-0443. Family owned restaurant located a block from the Coors Brewery 

• 🌍 Ace Hi Tavern, 1216 Washington Avenue, ☏ +1 303-279-9043. If one bar is the locals' watering hole, this is it. Music is from the jukebox and the place isn't the prettiest, but on any night of the week this place will be full of college students and old-timers alike. Great place to drop in and get to know the residents of the town. Located on Washington next to Foss Drug. 
• 🌍 The Buffalo Rose, 1119 Washington Avenue, ☏ +1 303-278-6800. A stereotypical biker bar on Washington Ave, with loud and often live music and plenty of Harleys parked out the front. It's big and hard to miss, with a large sign out the front. 
• 🌍 Golden City Brewery, 920 12th Street, ☏ +1 303-279-8092. 
• 🌍 New Terrain Brewing Company, 16401 Table Mountain Parkway, ☏ +1 720-697-7848. 

Several hotels, particularly the chain hotels, that claim to be in Golden are often well outside the city proper – no more than a few minutes' drive away on US-6, but not within walking distance. Addresses on 6th Ave., or any name including "Denver West", are both tip-offs.

• The Golden Hotel, Ascend Hotel Collection, 800 11th St, ☏ +1 303 279-0100. 

• Baymont by Wyndham Denver West/Federal Center, 11909 W. 6th Ave. 

• Hampton Inn Denver West/Golden, 17150 W. Colfax Ave (1 block west of the junction of US-40 and US-6), ☏ +1 303-278-6600, fax: +1 303-278-6660. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 11AM. Fairly generic, but in a good way: simple and well-maintained. 

• Comfort Suites Golden West On Evergreen Parkway, 29300 U.S. Highway 40, ☏ +1 303-526-2000. All-suites hotel, free breakfast, free Internet, a swimming pool, wedding event facilities. 

• Residence Inn Denver Golden Red Rocks, 14600 W. 6th Ave, ☏ +1 303-271-0909. Check-in: 4PM, check-out: noon. Equipped kitchen with a refrigerator & microwave. Complimentary high-speed wireless internet access and in room cable TV, HBO, and pay-per-view movies. $120. 

• Table Mountain Inn, 1310 Washington Ave, toll-free: +1-800-762-9898. Southwestern-style hotel in downtown Golden, right next to the Colorado School of Mines campus. 

• 🌍 Golden Library, 1019 10th Street, ☏ +1 303-235-5275. M Tu noon-8PM, W Th 10AM-6PM, F Sa 10AM-5PM, Su noon-5PM. 

• Take US-6 west to the historic mining towns and casinos of Blackhawk and Central City.
• Take C-93 north to Boulder, Estes Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park.
• Take C-470 south to Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak.
• Take any highway east into Metropolitan Denver.
• Take any highway west to Idaho Springs, Mount Blue Sky, the heart of the Rockies and Ski Country USA.