There are restaurants offering Asian cuisine, innovative New Southwestern cuisine and international fare in every price range. For a distinctly Colorado-style meal, visitors can visit Denver, Boulder and many mountain towns, which offer freshly brewed local beer and delicious food.

Regional specialities:
• Fresh rainbow trout.
• Buffalo and elk steaks.

The Denver Performing Arts Complex houses seven theatres including the Boettcher Concert Hall (website: www.denvercenter.org). Among the other varied entertainments in the city, there are smaller venues staging theatre, popular music, jazz, dance, comedy and country and western music. The vibrant nightlife scene features something for everyone (website: www.denver.com/nightlife). For detailed information on scheduled events, visitors can consult The Denver Post or the Rocky Mountain News. Many of the ski resorts, notably Aspen and Vail, have countless restaurants, bars and other après-ski diversions.

Denver offers extensive shopping facilities. Cherry Creek Shopping Center, the Denver Pavillions (located on 16th Street Mall), Park Meadows Center (the first shopping centre in the USA that resembles a beautiful mountain lodge) and Larimer Square all offer a pleasant shopping environment. 

Denver now has three factory outlet shopping centres: Castle Rock (situated 20 minutes south of Denver), Silverthorne in Summit County and Rocky Mountain Factory Outlets at Loveland. The Colorado Mills complex is located in Lakewood, near Denver, and has been described as ‘Disneyland meets outlet mall'. Aspen in the Rocky Mountains has an unsurpassed range of shops and upmarket boutiques selling top designer lines. Special buys in Colorado include gold earrings and necklaces, Native American jewellery, Navajo rugs and handicrafts such as pottery, wind chimes and wildlife sculptures.