Downtown Denver runs in a straight line from the ballpark and the railway station in the north-west to the gold-domed Capitol in the south-east, and almost everything worth seeing lies close to that line. This guide covers twelve places along it, in walking order: sport, trains and shopping first, then theatres, museums, the civic centre and two grand Victorian-era landmarks on Capitol Hill. Nine of them are stops on our Denver scavenger hunt.
Coors Field
Home of the Colorado Rockies since 1995, Coors Field was built in brick and steel to look like an old-fashioned ballpark, and it helped bring the surrounding LoDo district back to life. Look for the row of purple seats in the upper deck: they mark the point exactly one mile above sea level, Denver's famous 5,280 feet. Coors Field is the first stop of the scavenger hunt.
Union Station
Denver's railway station dates from the 1880s, and its central hall was rebuilt in 1914 in the Beaux-Arts style. After decades of decline it reopened in 2014 after a major restoration, with the Great Hall turned into a lobby, bars and shops and the Crawford Hotel upstairs. Do not miss the neon sign on the roof that says Travel by Train. Union Station is a scavenger hunt stop.
16th Street Mall
The 16th Street Mall, opened in 1982, is a long pedestrian street designed by the firm of I. M. Pei, with granite paving laid in a pattern that recalls the skin of a diamondback rattlesnake when seen from above. Free shuttle buses run along its length. The street has recently been rebuilt, and it remains Denver's main shopping and people-watching strip. It is a stop on the scavenger hunt.
Denver Performing Arts Complex
Covering several city blocks, the Denver Performing Arts Complex is one of the largest arts centres in the United States, with theatres, a concert hall and an opera house under a great glass arch. Out front, Jonathan Borofsky's giant sculpture The Dancers shows two white figures dancing high above the plaza. The complex is one of the scavenger hunt stops.
Mountain States Telephone Building
A block from the arts complex, at 931 14th Street, rises the 15-storey Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Building, completed in 1929 and designed by William N. Bowman in a style the company called Modern American Perpendicular Gothic. Its buff terracotta rises from a pink granite base, and inside are 13 murals on the history of telecommunications by Allen Tupper True. It was built to bring dial telephones to Denver for the first time. It is not a scavenger hunt stop.
American Museum of Western Art
Opposite the Brown Palace Hotel, the American Museum of Western Art shows the Anschutz Collection of paintings of the American West, from 19th-century explorers' views of the Rockies to modern works. It occupies the Navarre Building of 1880, which began as a school and later became a hotel and restaurant. A popular story claims a tunnel once linked it to the Brown Palace across the street; treat it as a legend. The museum is not on the scavenger hunt route.
Civic Center Park
Civic Center Park is Denver's ceremonial heart, a formal Beaux-Arts park laid out in the early 20th century between the Capitol and the City and County Building. It has a Greek amphitheatre, the Voorhies Memorial and two well-known bronze sculptures by Alexander Phimister Proctor, the Bronco Buster and On the War Trail. Festivals and protests gather here. It is a scavenger hunt stop.
Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum is two very different buildings. The North Building by the Italian architect Gio Ponti, opened in 1971, looks like a castle clad in glass tiles; the Hamilton Building by Daniel Libeskind, opened in 2006, is a jagged structure of titanium that juts over the street. The museum is especially strong in art of the American West and Indigenous art. It is a scavenger hunt stop.
History Colorado Center
Across Broadway from the art museum, the History Colorado Center opened in 2012 and tells the story of the state through interactive exhibitions, from mining towns and ski resorts to the communities that shaped Colorado. It is a good stop with children. It is not a scavenger hunt stop, but it is only a few minutes from Civic Center Park.
Colorado State Capitol
The Capitol was completed in the 1890s, and its dome was covered with real Colorado gold leaf in 1908 to celebrate the state's mining history. On the west steps, the 13th step is marked as one mile above sea level; later surveys placed the true mile a little higher, and extra markers were added on steps further up. Inside, look for the rare rose onyx stone used in the walls. The Capitol is a scavenger hunt stop.
Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
This French Gothic cathedral on Colfax Avenue was completed in 1912, with twin spires and dozens of stained-glass windows made in Munich. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass here during World Youth Day in 1993. It is the last stop of the scavenger hunt.
Molly Brown House Museum
A few blocks away on Pennsylvania Street stands the Victorian home of Margaret Brown, survivor of the Titanic in 1912. The house was built in 1889 and the Browns bought it in 1894; it opened as a museum in 1970 after local campaigners saved it from demolition. She was never called Molly in her lifetime; the nickname, like the word Unsinkable, came later with a Broadway musical and a film. It is a scavenger hunt stop.
How to see them in one walk
Start at Coors Field and walk to Union Station, then follow the 16th Street Mall south-east, with detours to the Performing Arts Complex, the Mountain States Telephone Building and the American Museum of Western Art. At the end of the mall, cross into Civic Center Park, visit the Denver Art Museum and the History Colorado Center, and climb the Capitol steps. Finish on Capitol Hill at the cathedral and the Molly Brown House.
See Denver with World City Trail
Our Denver scavenger hunt turns downtown into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from Coors Field to the Cathedral Basilica. Nine places in this guide are stops: Coors Field, Union Station, the 16th Street Mall, the Performing Arts Complex, Civic Center Park, the Denver Art Museum, the State Capitol, the Molly Brown House and the cathedral, along with Larimer Square.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Denver.
Play the Denver scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Denver →
Play the outdoor escape game in Denver →
Facts checked in October 2026.