How to make use of the Denver Airport Train: From airport to downtown in 37 minutes for simply $10.50

At many main airports, attending to and from the town middle could be a little bit of a soul-sucking slog that may take extra money and time than you would like.

Long waits or walks for cabs or journey shares and costly drives to/from the town middle can shortly take the wind out of your sails when all you wish to do is begin (or finish) your trip.

However, after my first time on the Denver Airport Train, I’m a contact obsessive about how simple and inexpensive it was to journey the 23 miles from the Denver International Airport (DEN) to downtown Denver. In reality, it was really easy it pushes Denver (and the mountain-bound Ski Train from Denver, extra on that shortly) even increased on my visit-again-soon listing.

In case you’ve got by no means ridden the Denver Airport Train and are curious the way it would possibly make your subsequent journey to the world simpler, here is the way it works.

Related: TPG’s information to Denver International Airport

The indicators will learn “Trains to City” or “Transit Center,” so simply comply with these as you head to the principle a part of the airport that is house to the luggage carousels and floor transportation, after which head towards the Westin airport resort space.

Once you are there, as a substitute of going into the Westin, you may head down the escalator to the Transit Center.

At the bottom degree, you may see a ticket machine and the prepare platform — these are good indicators that you simply’re in the correct place.

While there are some reductions accessible to seniors, kids, navy and related, full-fare tickets are $10.50 and accessible on the market both on the machine and even in an app if that is your choice.

Related: Best bank cards for trains

Related: Denver airport conspiracy theories

How lengthy does the Denver Airport Train take

Normally, the prepare runs each quarter-hour from 5 a.m. to eight p.m. and each half-hour exterior these hours (apart from just a few hours within the very nighttime when it stops working). During my October journey, it was working each half-hour all day lengthy resulting from some ongoing repairs, however that is not the conventional state of affairs.

Once the journey started, the pace reached 79 miles per hour, so it solely took 37 minutes with the six included stops earlier than we arrived at Denver’s Union Station, which was the seventh and closing cease on the A Line.

Related: Where to eat and drink on the Denver airport

What it was like on the prepare

During my 5:30 p.m. journey, the prepare was clear. There had been quite a few riders on board, nevertheless it definitely wasn’t crowded. In different phrases, we did not need to share the two-by-two seats with anybody if we did not wish to.

The seats had been padded and there have been baggage racks each over the seats and close to the prepare exit doorways.

From Denver’s Union Station, you may have numerous transportation choices that change from strolling to your close by resort or sights like Coors Field, utilizing the free sixteenth Street MallRide hybrid shuttle buses, getting a cab or utilizing a ride-hailing service, connecting to Light Rail, taking Amtrak’s California Zephyr and even heading to Winter Park on the Ski Train.

It may be difficult, cumbersome and gradual to drive your self to the mountains from Denver, relying on the day and the climate — to not point out the fact that rental vehicles may be fairly costly.

With that in thoughts, one of many causes I used to be so excited on the simplicity of the Denver Airport Train was that it made the prospect of driving the Ski Train that departs from Union Station seasonally on weekends that rather more interesting.

We might fly into Denver on a Friday, take the prepare to Union Station that evening, keep downtown close by at a resort like The Crawford in Union Station or the close by Rally Hotel overlooking Coors Field, after which take the Ski Train from Union Station on Saturday morning proper to Winter Park with out ever needing to hire a automobile.

Related: Guide to Denver airport lounges

After snowboarding Saturday and Sunday, you would hop the Ski Train again to Union Station within the afternoon, get the Airport Rail again to the airport and fly house all with out coping with visitors, driving or automobile leases.

Or, do what TPG’s Benji Stawski did final yr and take the ski prepare to Winter Park only for the day and easily maintain your resort in Denver.

Also, if you end up with a bit of time to kill inside Denver’s Union Station, that is not the worst consequence, both. It’s a fairly pretty house with some locations to eat and drink whilst you wait.