Traveling to Denver
Want to guess what the two most isolated ballparks in MLB are? Well, you’ve got Seattle leading the way from its perch in the Pacific northwest, and then you’ve got … Coors Field. It may not seem like it, but it’s over 600 miles to the next closest ballpark (Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City).
Fortunately the Mile High City has one of the busiest airports in America, ranking third in annual passengers, and fourth in flight traffic. You can fly direct to Denver from 45 U.S. states (plus Washington D.C.), 17 foreign countries, and any of the 210 airports worldwide that service Denver International Airport directly.
In this chapter, we’ll help you find the best route to Denver, whether you use the airport, which is 21 miles away from Coors Field, one of the major interstates that intersect in Denver, or come to town via Amtrak.
Flying to Denver
Denver International Airport (DEN) is big and busy and serves as a hub for United and Frontier. Southwest also has a major presence here, with nonstop flights to over 80 destinations, including 26 MLB cities. A total of 23 different airlines fly into and out of Denver, giving you plenty of favorable flight times to choose from.
With all Sunday games at Coors Field scheduled for 1:10pm, factoring in luggage collection (you can check your bag at the ballpark) and ride time to the airport (train or rideshare), you can reasonably expect to make a 6:30pm flight out of Denver that night.
Because Denver is a major hub for three airlines, there’s a decent chance that you can get just about anywhere on Sunday night, even though flights back to the East Coast after 6:30pm will get you in pretty late. But be sure to check your flight options before buying game tickets or booking non-refundable hotels. If you can’t get the flight that you need, you may have to skip out on the Sunday afternoon game, which is fine – as long as you can get to Denver in time for the Friday night game, you can get two games in and then do a little Sunday sightseeing before heading to the airport.
Getting from the airport to Coors Field / Downtown
Once you are on the ground at DIA, you have three options to get to downtown Denver (where the ballpark is located) or to your hotel: a train that runs directly from the terminal to Union Station in downtown, taxis and rideshares, and rental cars.
Taking the train from Denver International to Downtown / Coors Field
Even when running on its holiday and Sunday schedule, the train leaves the airport every 15 minutes from 5:00am through 7:30pm. During the rest of its service time – 4:00am to 1:30am – it runs every 30 minutes. Service from Union Station back to the airport begins as early as 3:00am and runs at the same 15/30 minute intervals.
The train takes 40 minutes to go between the airport and Union Station. A ticket costs $10 per person and is good for the entire day in both directions, so if you’re doing one of those same-day stopover baseball adventures, you only need to buy one train ticket!
The train is a regularly used means of getting to/from the airport by locals, so it’s fairly busy at most times of the day. It also has plenty of room for bags, and since it’s well staffed, it tends to be clean and pleasant to ride. We consider it to be safe (even late at night/early morning), and thus can recommend you using it.
Taking rideshare or taxis to Downtown
If you’re with a group or staying at a hotel that isn’t near Union Station, it will probably be more cost and time-effective to use rideshares from the airport. The average Uber or Lyft from the airport to downtown will cost between $45 and $55 and take around 35 to 40 minutes. It can be longer depending on the time of day and the traffic on I-70 into downtown.
Taxis are also available and cost a flat rate of $71 to downtown (airport access fees included). So, rideshares will usually be the better deal, but check your app first, and if surge pricing has pushed the fare above $71, catch a cab instead.
Renting a car
You can also rent a car, but that will require you to take a shuttle bus to the rental car agency located off-site and could add 30-60 minutes to your travel time in getting downtown. You’ll also have similar delays when returning the car and that extra time could be the difference between making a Sunday night flight or missing it.
On the other hand, with 12 ski resorts within two hours of Denver, plus Boulder less than an hour away (and 45 minutes beyond that to Rocky Mountain National Park), having a car to explore the area may be how you want to go. If you are planning on doing that kind of exploring, a rental car will be your best (and, really, only) option. Just be sure to allow for enough time to return it before your flight.
Driving to Denver
As a kid growing up in Kansas whose family used to drive to Colorado every year for ski trips, I have driven through Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado countless times. And anyone who has made that drive knows that it feels like an eternity. It’s entirely doable, but it isn’t scenic or desirable, unless visiting the world’s largest belt buckle in Abilene is on your bucket list.
It’s far prettier coming from the west on I-70, from Wyoming to the north, or New Mexico to the south on I-25.
Regardless, Denver is a driver-friendly city. And while parking downtown can be somewhat pricey, it’s also plentiful.
The project to add express lanes to I-70 and drop it below surface streets finished in 2023, making getting through the 10-mile stretch east of I-25 much faster. But if you’re heading into downtown for a Friday night game, give yourself an extra 30 minutes for rush hour traffic. You’ll be competing for road space with the many drivers who are heading into the mountains for the weekend.
Taking the train to Denver
One of the most beautiful train trips in the United States is the California Zephyr, which travels between Chicago and San Francisco and stops at Denver’s Union Station, just three blocks from Coors Field.
It’s not the most conventional means of getting to Denver, but if you’re doing the cross-country thing, the times actually match up pretty well for seeing baseball. The current schedule shows that it arrives from the west at 6:40pm into Denver, and continues on to the east at 7:10pm, so departing to the east lines up well with a 1:10pm afternoon start.
From the east it arrives at 7:15am, and continues west at 8:05am, which matches up well with catching an evening game and then traveling out the next morning.
Click the link here for the most current Amtrak schedule.
Bottom Line
If you’re coming to Denver, you’re probably flying. Be sure to think about what your itinerary will be while you’re here, and that will dictate your ground transportation strategy. If you’re just coming for baseball and to explore downtown Denver, then you should definitely skip the rental car and stick to either the train or rideshares. If you’re going to head to Boulder or the mountains, a rental car will be the way to go.
In terms of flight schedules, just make sure to book a return flight late enough in the day if you’re trying to fly on the same day that you’re catching a game.
