As Norwegian launches new direct flights from London to Denver, Jonathan Thompson offers a guide to the US city's highlights.

The first permanent building in Denver wasn’t a church, a home or a bank; it was a saloon. Now, more than 150 years after gold prospectors first began to arrive, Denverites still clearly love their beer.

A photo posted by Paige Wiese (@pawiese) on Sep 3, 2016 at 4:46pm PDT

More beer is brewed in the Coloradan capital than any other city in the USA. From the world’s largest single brewing site – Coors Brewery in nearby Golden – to tiny taprooms with a few chairs, there are more than 40 brewpubs and microbreweries in downtown Denver alone and about 100 in the greater metro area. More than 200 beers are brewed every day, from sours to stouts, pilsners to pale ales. Many may covet the title, but The Mile High City is the bona fide beer capital of the USA.

Simply strolling or cycling around the city (Denverites love bikes as much as they love beer) gives you an idea of the remarkable amount of choice here for hop-heads. There’s a German brewery (Prost Brewing Company), an English brewery (Hogshead), a hippy brewery (Vine Street Pub & Brewery), and even a heavy metal brewery (TRVE Brewing Company). For the truly thirsty, you can seamlessly link many of the best establishments together, on foot or bike, via the popular Denver Beer Trail, with free downloadable maps. The Denver Beer Fest, a nine-day gala of local brews held in the autumn, is an enjoyable way to tap into the scene, and the Great American Beer Festival, following swiftly behind, showcases more than 3,000 beers from across the USA at Denver’s Colorado Convention Center.

A photo posted by Clyfford Still Museum (@still_museum) on May 18, 2016 at 7:37pm PDT

But it’s not all about pints and pitchers: Denver as a whole is very much on the up. The second fastest growing city in the country after Austin, it’s also chasing down the Texan capital in the cool stakes too. A magnet for young professionals, the active and outdoorsy, it’s one of the youngest cities in the US too, with a median population age of just 34.

With a number of world-class art museums, including the Clyfford Still, which last year loaned a sizeable chunk of its artwork to London’s Royal Academy for a major show, Denver can rub shoulders with the very best from a creative perspective as well as a craft brewery one. But at street level, The Mile High City is on the rise too.

Union Station Credit: Copyright Arina Habich 2014/Arina Habich

At the heart of its renaissance is 135-year-old Union Station, which was given an ambitious facelift in the summer of 2014. At a cost of £40million, the rickety old train terminus was transformed into a teeming hub for the city, and the focal point of its resurgent LoDo (Lower Downtown) neighbourhood. Once a rundown warehouse district, it has now been transformed into a thriving retail and entertainment centre.

A photo posted by The Crawford Hotel (@thecrawfordhotel) on Oct 20, 2014 at 5:46pm PDT

The station itself is focused on a gleaming main atrium (otherwise known as “Denver’s living room”), a 12,000sq ft lobby ringed by boutiques, bars and restaurants including popular breakfast joint Snooze (famed for its peach-pie pancakes). The old ticket windows have been turned into the Terminal Bar, so you can order cocktails through them, as generations past would have paid for their train fares. The station is also now home to the stylish Crawford Hotel, a boutique property with rail-themed accommodation, including the outstanding Pullman rooms on the second floor, modelled after the luxury sleeping cars of old.

An old train station might be at the heart of Denver’s recent resurgence but for locals, transport is still all about the bikes. There are an incredible 85 miles of cycling trails crisscrossing the city, and an excellent bike-sharing scheme, B-cycle, that has 700 bikes at more than 80 stations. Two wheels is one of the best ways to explore Denver’s funkier neighbourhoods too, particularly RiNo (River North), a former warehouse district which is now a creative hot spot, brimming with galleries, boutiques and restaurants.

A photo posted by Linger (@lingerdenver) on Aug 11, 2016 at 5:19pm PDT

Another must-see neighbourhood (from the saddle or otherwise) is LoHi (Lower Highlands), Denver’s hipster hangout and a popular spot for brunch or lunch. In particular, Linger – an unconventional eatery in a former mortuary – has attracted rave reviews. Serving international street food, its quirky interior is made up of cleverly repurposed items, including formaldehyde bottles for water and daily specials printed on toe tags. Other stand-out restaurants (Denver has more than 2,000) include nearby Duo – famed for its chocolate French toast and Colorado brisket crock – and Acorn in the RiNo neighbourhood, which serves “eclectic American” cuisine and was named one of the best restaurants in America by Bon Appétit Magazine.

As with its beer scene, Denver also hosts a number of major festivals showcasing its food, notably Denver Restaurant Week every spring, where the town’s top restaurants offer multi-course meals for just $30 a head. There are two more huge foodie festivals held each September: A Taste of Colorado and the Denver Food & Wine Festival.

Entertainment-wise, Denver is also able to hold its own against anything the rest of the USA can offer, with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the second-largest complex in the country after New York City, attracting big name musicals, Tony-winning theatre and longrunning cabaret shows, not to mention hosting the premiere of Frozen the musical in 2017. There’s also the iconic Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, a remarkable rock structure 16 miles west of the city, where major concerts are held in the amphitheatre, not to mention the popular Denver Film Festival in November, showcasing more than 250 films ranging from blockbusters and documentaries to shorts and indies.

Equally, Denver’s boutique hotel scene is booming. As well as the Crawford, there’s the ART hotel, where common-area walls are covered with pieces by both known and up-and-coming artists from across the country. The Curtis is dominated by pop art, and The Oxford Hotel dates back to 1891 and is home to the iconic, ultra-cool Cruise Room, the first Denver bar to open after Prohibition, which remains largely unchanged since 1933.

It was the railroads that transformed Denver from a dusty gold-mining town with one saloon bar into the largest and most opulent city between Chicago and San Francisco. Now a combination of its grand old train station and much-vaunted beers are fuelling its rise again. A friendly, warm and easily walkable city, full of laid-back charm and both urban and natural splendours, it’s come a long way since that gold mining camp by the South Platte River just over 150 years ago, and its progress is gathering speed. Once again, The Mile High City is on the up. 

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For more information, go to visitdenver.com and VisitTheUSA.co.uk/Denver, cliffordstyllmuseum.org, greatamericanbeerfestival.com, mountainsunpub.com, royalacademy.org.uk, thecrawfordhotel.com, trvebrewing.com