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Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Saving with the Denver CityPASS

Last week, Eric and I were in Denver for a quick 3-day trip before he had to attend a work conference. We had a few things we planned to do, so when we were offered a pair of Denver CityPASSes to make the most of our short trip, we quickly accepted and made a pretty ambitious plan of activities.

Eric and I were in Denver for a quick 3-day trip and we used CityPASS to make the most of our time/money there.

If you don't know, CityPASS allows you to skip some ticket lines, because you already have tickets right on your phone. Most attractions will scan your code and give you a physical ticket or wristband. There is a list of attractions you can choose from, so you pick what you want to do and then you have 7 days to use it from your first day of use. 

We were using a 5-attraction CityPASS, which means we could choose up to 5 things from the list of participating attractions. I love this, because you can always pivot and change up what you're going to do on each day and depending on what everyone in your group is interested in. The Denver CityPASS has entrance to the following activities:

  • Denver Downtown Aquarium - $26.99/20.99
  • Denver Museum of Nature & Science - $25.95/20.95
  • Denver Botanic Gardens - $15.75/11.50
  • Children's Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus - $18.75/16.75
  • Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum - $19.95/12.95
  • Denver Art Museum - $22/under 18 are free
  • History Colorado Center  - $15/under 18 are free
None of these required advance reservations, but if they did, your app tells you. Once you've used your "ticket", it will show as used on your app as well. So, if you want to return to an attraction, you will have to pay regular admission fees if it's on a different day or your entrance doesn't include all-day admission.


We started our visit off strong by heading to the Downtown Aquarium (it's not downtown, that's just the name of this particular strings of aquariums). We walked along the riverfront to get there, which was pretty and had good sidewalks, but if you're driving, there is a huge parking lot across the street. The aquarium has a decent selection of things to please everyone. There are birds, amphibians, a shark tunnel, sea turtles, manta rays, and some hands-on exhibits, like bat rays and even jellyfish. 


While there are also fish I've never seen in real life before, like the arowana, you'll find the usual suspects, like clown fish. There are some animatronics, a recreation of a flash flood, tigers (for some reason), and a lot of great information about everything inside. If you can't get enough of the aquarium, you can book a shark dive, a scuba with fish, or make a reservation for their restaurant that has a whole aquarium wall. We spent almost two hours there, but if you have littles, you could easily spend more.


Next up was the Museum of Nature & Science. I had heard that they  had a special exhibit on poisons, so I was pretty intrigued and excited to check it out. This dealt with poisons in nature, manmade poisons, mythological poisons, as well as antidotes, stories, and a short demonstration on how an old murder case was solved. It was as interesting as I thought it would be.


If you've been to a museum of natural history, much of this museum was that. Animals of the world in exhibits, dinosaurs, other historical things like mummies, and gemstones. There is a whole exhibit on space and astronauts that we spent quite a bit of time in, but mostly we were there to see poisons and dinosaurs. We both saw some things we hadn't heard of before and got to see some actual fossils that were in the process of being uncovered by the museum scientists. 


The whole place is fascinating, and you can sit on their terrace, or just inside, and look over City Park to take a break. You could easily spend half the day here. There's a café for when you get hungry, then you can go back and see even more, since there are 3 floors packed full of things to check out, read about, and even touch. 


After the Museum, we decided it was too nice to be inside and the Denver Botanic Gardens were not too far away, so we hopped on a bus and headed over there to see some flowers. Now, if you've been following me for a while, you know I never miss a chance to visit a botanical garden. I just love to see local flora and get ideas for my eventual garden. Each botanical garden offers something completely different from others and this was no exception. I learned about Steppe gardens, there were these lovely spirit animals dotted around the grounds, and a science building. 


While not the biggest gardens we've ever visited, it was nicely broken up into sections and easy to navigate. There was a wedding happening on part of the grounds and it wasn't hard to understand why anyone would choose that space. I especially loved the section that featured bonsai trees, but I equally enjoyed seeing the different kinds of drought-resistant plants, and ways to display succulents in terrariums. We had lunch at the café here and the food was better than expected. Don't miss the sensory garden before you exit through the gift shop. You're encouraged to smell and touch the plants there, unlike on the rest of the grounds.



The next day, we got up early for breakfast and to get to the Denver Art Museum right as they opened. We learned that it has 7 floors, which is a lot of art and might be overwhelming if you aren't prepared with a plan of action. 



We knew we were interested in seeing the Arts of Africa exhibit, the Islands Beyond Blue exhibit, and Indigenous Arts of North America exhibit, so we spent the majority of our time there.


Having a large art museum at home in Portland, we knew that this visit could easily have taken up most of our day, but we made the decision to put our time into looking at art that was quite different than what we have at home. Sure, we could have looked at European artists, like Renoir and  Monet for quite a while, but we have also seen those artists everywhere else we've been, so we focused more on the amazing African artwork and textiles, Indigenous clothing, oceanic collection like that giant floral jellyfish and a tattoo art wooden leg that may or may not have been part of a set that went on a bed or other furniture.  If you love all types of art, this museum can be your whole day. It spans two buildings and there's even art outside to enjoy, and the main elevators and hallways are even works of art. 


Unfortunately, we ran out of time to get to our 5th place, which would have been History Colorado Center, but we had another thing we needed to get to and it took most of the day. Next year, Eric's work will probably have the same retreat, so we'll be renting a car and trying to finish this list with a new CityPASS, because I'd also like to return to the Denver Art Museum to see more of their permanent exhibits and what else has rotated in. I also noticed there's a Women's History Museum right next to it, and I'd love to visit that as well.

If we had paid a la carte for all 4 attractions, it would have cost us $90.69 per person (or $53.44 per child). The CityPASS for 4 attractions is $57/$46 and for 5 attractions is $64/$54, which means even not using that last attraction, we still saved almost $27 per person. You may not want to purchase a full pass for children in your group if you are planning to visit attractions where they are free. The CityPASS for Denver has a 3-, 4-, and 5-attraction option, so it can work for any length trip you have. 



I'll be doing more in-depth posts on these attractions, and you can also see more about them on my Instagram. CityPASS isn't just confined to Denver either. It's available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California, Tampa Bay, and Toronto. That means, there are a lot of places you can save a lot on with CityPASS.

Have you ever used a CityPASS or other attractions pass on your travels?

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Disclaimer: I was gifted Denver CityPASS for the purposes of this review, but all opinions are my own. I have used CityPASS in the past and loved it just as much as I did here and highly recommend using it when you travel to a participating city. This post also includes affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I will receive compensation, at no extra cost to you. This helps me to continue bringing you great ways to save on all your trips, so thanks in advance for supporting me and this blog. 

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