Denver
You're flying out of Denver Airport, you have 90 minutes to kill, and you'd like to do better than a Pret. Good news: airport drinking has improved more in the last five years than the previous fifty. Pre-flight drinks at Denver Airport range from chain reliability to surprisingly polished hotel-style bars in the airport hotels. This is barsforKings's editor-curated guide to drinking better at Denver's airports.
City centre · $$$
Acreage sits in the heart of RiNo, Denver's most creatively charged neighbourhood, and it matches its surroundings exactly: industrial bones, raw concrete, recl
City centre · $$
Avanti is the LoHi food-hall-and-rooftop with a covered upper deck, a wraparound view of Downtown Denver and the Rockies, and a casual all-comers cocktail progr
LoHi · $$$
Bar Dough draws a steady local crowd in LoHi. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening.
RiNo · $$$
Bar Helix draws a steady local crowd in RiNo. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening.
Want a real drink before flying? The fastest play is to get to airport hotels next door — most run polished bars that beat anything post-security. We list them at the bottom. If you've got 60 spare minutes pre-airport, see our shortlist of bars in Denver proper at the end.
Plays for Denver Airport: post-security, pre-security, lounges, and the airport-hotel cheat code.
Pre-flight drinks, hotel-bar reviews, and the openings we're watching across 176 cities. Friday mornings, no filler.
Looking beyond Denver? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.