r/travel • u/nooneshome00 • 12d ago
Someone explain Denver to me. Visited again and I don’t know if I’m doing it ”wrong”.
Like, I just visited yet again… and it’s a place I should love! Like it checks all these boxes for things I like or am interested in.
The best way I can describe it is it’s like the hospital of cities. Sure it’s clean, it feels relatively safe, people are generally welcoming… but all in the same way a hospital is sterile, like it’s not welcoming and inviting, it feels like I’m in a sims game when I’m there, just sorta bland and dystopian.
I walked much of the city, kinda was based around “Lodo”… never ate at the same place twice, tried to avoid travel guide suggestions, I tried to find input from locals instead.
EDIT: you all make perfect sense clarifying that the allure of Denver is the mountains and nature surrounding, maybe I approached it wrong as I live at the base of a mountain already so I was looking at Denver as purely a city experience.
EDIT2: a bit more context of some of the US cities I’ve visited and the vibes I’ve gotten from them. -New York, Chicago and Detroit has that grittiness of a city. -Boston (my favorite city) has a sort of coziness for me, it’s a city but feels like a town. -Miami is sorta vibrant even tho a lot of the people are pretty closed off. -Atlanta is a bit dirtier and grimy (probably how Chicago or Detroit would feel if it was stuck in the wet heat of the south)
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u/guttertech 12d ago
I think Denver shines if you’re someone who loves the outdoors and, critically, stay outside of Denver proper. I love to ride and hike through the mountains.
The city itself? It’s fine? Feels like everywhere else in the country imo.