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 200+ cities. Friday mornings, no filler.
Looking beyond Denver? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.