DENVER (KDVR) — If you ask someone who isn’t from Denver what they associate the city with, any music lover will instantly respond with Red Rocks. But what many people who haven’t lived or visited here will not know is just how far the venue is from downtown.
Red Rocks is currently slated to host nearly 150 concerts this year, with the season-opening on March 31 and running through mid-November.
The iconic venue has a capacity of 9,525, which means there could be up to 1.4 million people attending concerts in 2023. All of those people will have to find a way to get there which can be especially daunting if you don’t own a car or are trying to avoid driving.
RTD offers train service from Union Station to Golden Station at the Jefferson County Government campus, but this still leaves you five miles away from the entrance to Red Rocks. Denver mayoral candidate Ean Thomas Tafoya has recently launched a petition to get RTD service from Golden Station to the venue. It has 1,000 signatures.
Other ways to get to Red Rocks
While the outcome of that is far from determined, here are your other options to get from Denver to Red Rocks.
An Uber ride for the 21-mile trip will cost upwards of $40 heading to the venue. That doesn’t include the cost of a return trip and the wait for a driver willing to pick you up at the venue.
Another option is to rent a party bus. A bus for 20 people from Denver to Red Rocks through ridetoredrocks.com will cost $1,100, or about $55 per person. Powderhound, which runs the website, will pick the group up as early as 2.5 hours before the concert. The website touts that adults can drink inside the bus and it can be used as a base for tailgating before the concert. At the end of the night, the group will be dropped off together at one location.
If you’re going solo or in a small group and traveling from Denver, On Location runs a shuttle that has pickup at the Colfax location of Illegal Pete’s 45 minutes before the gates open and Thirsty Lion at Union Station 30 minutes before gates. The cost is $50 for a round-trip ticket, and both pickup locations offer specials for people who are riding. The shuttles leave Red Rocks 30 minutes after the music ends.
For those who are able to drive and willing, Red Rocks has five free parking lots that open two hours before the audience is allowed into the actual venue. All of the lots require a walk to get to the venue, and for some of the farther lots, it’s more of a hike than a stroll. Keep in mind that the venue is built into a hill, and from most of the parking lots, you’ll be entering at the bottom of the arena after walking uphill to the entrances.