Denver/Colorado questions

[RoxMonster]

This summer we plan to visit RMNP but fly into Denver and spend one night/day in Denver first. We have never been to CO. We love hiking, sightseeing, nature, and my DH loves beer (I am not a beer drinker, but I will go to breweries with him because he loves it so. Bonus points if they serve liquor or cider or wine I can drink).

My first question is: What is your favorite Denver hotel? I can Google and Trip Advisor but I like hearing from people I "know" who live there/have been there. Or at least, what area of Denver should I look into? I don't want super expensive/high end but we prefer boutique hotels or local places to chains when we travel.

For our 5 nights in Estes Park, I was leaning towards the Taharaa Mountain Lodge. It gets good reviews on TA and is affordable; any personal experience with it OR recommendations for a different place to stay near RMNP?

ETA: Would you do one night in Denver, 5 nights in the NP? Or 2 nights Denver, 4 nights in the NP? The main "attraction" for us is hiking in the mountains, so I was leaning toward the first option. But Denver also looks awesome and 24 hours is not much time there.

[osumelissa]

I think Denver is worth two nights. Once you go up to RMNP, you should make some time to go to Boulder. It is a cool little city.

[gringachef]

I would stay in Downtown Denver if it's your first time visiting. The Oxford or The Crawford are my favorites.

Take a drive up to Morrison to see Red Rocks while you're in Denver (35 min drive).

Boulder is cool city as osumelissa mentioned and is on your way to Estes Park so you could easily stop there & check out Chatauqua Park, Pearl Street & the University-area. You could easily spend a good portion of a day there sightseeing. Oh, and Avery Brewing Co is just outside of Boulder and is a really neat place to visit.

[mrspez07]

Anything downtown for hotels. Courtyard by Marriott, It's not boutique but is central and reasonable. I think 2 days in Denver is good. You could do red rocks or Roxborough State Park for hikes close to town. There are a ton of breweries in the Denver metro, maybe have your DH do some research on the ones he'd like to try and then explore that part of town or do a trail with breweries as the stops.
In Estes Park, if you want the option to cook, we stayed (10yrs ago tho) at Evergreens on Fall River the weekend we got engaged. Beautiful.
Take a day up there to go to Grand Lake via Teail Ridge Rd. The road is great and the other side is gorgeous!