Category Archives: City Travel

Active City Travel’s best tips for where to go, where to stay, what to do, where to eat on your next active city vacation.

Denver’s Top Luxury Hotels

Denver’s top luxury hotels showcase three different approaches in three different neighborhoods.

Four Seasons Hotel, Denver

Flagship luxury brand The Four Seasons has a great downtown address – The Colorado Convention Center, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and the Ellie Caulkins Opera House are all within easy walking distance.

Four Seasons Hotel Denver-Lobby
Four Seasons Hotel Denver-Lobby photo credit: John Cameron

The  modern interior design subtly reflects the natural beauty of Colorado, and oversized windows offer both downtown and Rocky Mountain vistas.  At the EDGE Bar in the Four Seasons lobby, a tapas-style menu pairs well with local microbrews and over 50 wines by the glass.

Four Seasons Hotel Denver-fireplace
Four Seasons Hotel Denver-Fireplace photo credit: John Cameron

Four Seasons Hotel Denver offers 239 ultra-spacious guest rooms and suites within a modern 45-storey building. Suites feature a lounge chair and ottoman in a separate living area. Generous bathrooms include a deep soaking tub and a shower in a separate glass-enclosed stall.

The fitness center on the third floor has views of the rooftop pool terrace. Guests can choose from cardio machines equipped with televisions, free weights and a yoga studio.  The spa ushers in new treatments each season, such as an Evergreen Massage for winter. All guests can use the spa facilities – a perfect ending to a session in the rooftop pool.

The Four Seasons is only one block away from trendy Larimer Square with some of Denver’s best dining options. Check out chef Troy Guard’s contemporary cuisine at TAG.

Hong Kong Sea Bass at TAG
Hong Kong Sea Bass at TAG photo credit: Sherel Purcell

The savvy waiters have excellent wine pairing suggestions and must tries include the taco sushi, Miso Black Cod and the Hong Kong steamed seabass in a ginger soy vinaigrette.

Kimpton Hotel Monaco Denver

Near the 16th Avenue Mall and the renovated historic Union Train station, pet-friendly boutique hotel brand Kimpton is renowned for its popular happy hour where guests mingle over drinks and snacks. Did I mention its free? No two Kimptons are the same, each property has its own personality.

Kimpton Hotel Monaco Denver Lobby
Kimpton Hotel Monaco Denver Lobby photo credit: Sherel Purcell

Walking into the Kimpton Hotel Monaco Denver, guests encounter a huge living room lobby complete with a grand ornate ceiling and an oversized fireplace – the perfect spot for the classy complimentary evening wine and beer tastings complete with hors d’oeuvres from the on-site Italian restaurant, Panzano. Tonight a free mini neck and shoulders massage and a singer/pianist complete the entertainment.

Kimpton Hotel Monaco Denver guest room
Kimpton Hotel Monaco Denver guest room photo credit: John Cameron

Interior designer Susan Caruso’s urban and western redesign of the guest rooms mixes animal hides, satiny drapes, quirky lamps, and oversized headboards in bold oranges and turquoises.

There are complimentary bicycles to use during your stay, an on-site 24-hour fitness center with cardio and resistance equipment, complimentary overnight shoeshine, complimentary morning Lavazza coffee and tea service, same-day laundry and dry cleaning service and luxury bath amenities. You can even request a goldfish companion for you (and your dog) for the duration of
your stay.

Halcyon Hotel Cherry Creek

Denver’s newest luxury hotel, the independent Halycon, is located in Cherry Creek , a mixture of urban development and tree lined residential streets, just south of downtown. Hermes and Tiffany are just some of the luxury retailers that inhabit the upscale suburb, Denver’s Rodeo Drive.

Halcyon replaces the traditional reception desk with a kitchen counter where friendly staff will fix your favorite coffee drink or pour you a glass of bubbly. Enjoy complimentary drinks including red and white wine, beer and mixed cocktails from 3 pm to 10 pm daily.

Just past the kitchen counter is an inviting living room complete with contemporary art pieces, two fireplaces, books, tv and board games set up amidst lounging chairs and sofas. From there you can proceed to the Rooftop Pool Deck where you may catch a session of sunset yoga led by yogis from neighboring Pura Vida Fitness & Spa.

Halcyon Hotel Cherry Creek Living room
Halcyon Hotel Cherry Creek Living room photo credit: John Cameron

Spread across 2 floors, the 1300 square foot Presidential Suite features an open concept living space on the main floor with a bedroom and ensuite bathroom upstairs. The outdoor terrace, designed by local Halcyon partner Restoration Hardware, offers views of the Denver skyline. Halcyon elevates the cool factor with retro-style turntables and vintage vinyl in every room.

Halcyon Hotel Cherry Creek Gear Garage
Halcyon Hotel Cherry Creek Gear Garage photo credit: John Cameron

Explore the Cherry Creek Trail bike path and surrounding city parks on complimentary Vespas, e-bikes, and Belgium cruisers.  The Gear Garage at Halcyon also offers a Hamboard which feels like surfing on wheels and made in Denver longboards. Outdoor adventure kits come in an Osprey Backpack that includes a Go Pro, binoculars, Swiss army knife, Bear Naked bars, and bottled water. Photographers will love the loaner Leica film cameras and Halcyon will even print and ship your prints home.

Frank Stella at The New Whitney

The Whitney is one of many museums included with the New York Pass. I never have enough time in NYC and hate spending it in a queue. The New York Pass fast tracks your sight-seeing by skipping the line.

Just 26 at the time of his second Castelli show in 1962, Frank Stella’s striped and shaped paintings were a revelation in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Minimalism. Eight years later, The Museum of Modern Art in New York presented a retrospective of Stella’s work, making him the youngest artist ever to receive this honor.

Now 79, Frank Stella’s current retrospective at The Whitney is the most comprehensive presentation of his career to date, showcasing his prolific output. From the irreverent Benjamin Moore series of the late fifties to the Protractor series, painted in the palette of the sixties, to recent sculpture from 2014,  this show lives up to the hype. Jointly curated by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Whitney, with input from Frank Stella, the show moves to Texas after its Whitney debut.

Harran ii Frank Stella 1967
Harran ii Frank Stella 1967

The exhibition fills the entire fifth floor, an 18,000-square-foot gallery that is the Whitney’s largest space for temporary exhibitions. The exhibition is not hung in a simple chronology.  Artwork created 20 years apart are shown in close proximity, creating juxtapositions of color, form and process, revealing Stella’s creative evolution as an artist.

Frank Stella on making art:

The one thing I learned is not to say anything about my own paintings. You just have to make your own art, and whatever categories it falls into will come later.

Black Star Frank Stella 2014
Black Star Frank Stella 2014

Designed by Renzo Piano, the impressive nine-storey Whitney at 99 Gansevoort Street in the Chelsea Meatpacking district, opened in May 2015. Walk the High Line towards Chelsea and exit at the southern tip.  The Whitney’s former New York home, the Marcel Breuer designed building on Madison, will be leased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  • Don’t miss Frank Stella: A Retrospective, on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, now in its final month until 7 February 2016