Tips for Smooth Sailing: Moving to Denver, Colorado
This article provides insights for moving in Denver, Colorado.
Denver, Colorado-specific tips
Moving to a new city can be challenging. It would help if you did a couple of things before going to a new place:
Find a place to stay
Go to Facebook groups and look for groups that are relevant to housing. Draft a post of who you are, what you are looking for, and your budget, and post it out there. That helps in getting noticed. You can see an example here:
Go to Airbnb; message owners and try to get a long-term deal on their property.
Look via Furnished Finder; a platform designed to connect traveling healthcare professionals, such as travel nurses and therapists, with property owners offering furnished, short-term housing options. The website aims to provide healthcare professionals with convenient and affordable housing solutions for their temporary assignments, typically lasting 13 weeks or more. You can still look there and let the owners know if you are not a healthcare professional.
Find your group of people
Besides work, you might find it tough to meet new people who you share interests with. A great way to do it is through the Meetup app; a platform designed to help people connect with others who share similar interests and hobbies in their local area. Users can join existing meetup groups or create their own groups centered around specific interests. Members can browse and join local groups, attend events, and engage with other community members.
Transportation
Car: Consider getting a car. It is THE main mean of transport here in Denver, and in Colorado in general. It makes it super easy to go to the mountains, to get around, and to other cities. If you are getting around with other means it will take you A LOT of time. If you do not go out frequently, Uber/Lyft (get discount from my referral here) is the way to go, which are not cheap but on my occasion still cheaper overall than having one.
Bike: Denver is a bikable city. Short distances (less than 30min) and not many street ups and downs. There are also nice bike trails (i.e. Cherry Creek trail), and the streets are pretty safe to bike; there is space and good roads and pavements. If you don’t have a bike you can use the Lime app to rent one or rent a scooter on the spot.
Bus/Metro/Train: For these, there is a centralized app that you can download to make it easy to transport around; the RTD app. See this video for more details on how to use it ‘How to Navigate the Denver RTD System’.
Sketchy Neighborhoods
While Denver is a safe city overall, as in any big city there are some areas in which you need to be more cautious. Here are the areas below, in case you want to stay out of trouble or get into a breathtaking adventure:
Colfax Street: especially east Colfax near the Aurora area and West Colfax near Sloan’s Lake.
Market and 16th Street Mall at night
Capitol Hill area at night; and during the day near the bus stops.
Backpacker tips
Gym: Planet Fitness is the cheapest one ($10 membership — April 2023), and with branches all over America can be a good deal for you. I was going to Carla Madison Recreation Center as it was closer to me and the membership was reasonable; $30/month — 50% off if you go with someone who lives at the same address! So go ahead and find yourself a roommate as well:)
If you are there for a short time or you are indecisive, you can go for one-day trial to each of those PLUS Anytime fitness, and get some free exercise while deciding.
Supermarket: Cheapest one from the chains is Trader Joe’s. Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Safeway are expensive, Kings Soopers is slightly less than them; Walmart is also there, and a bit more affordable than Target (which is also expensive). Not sure if there is a cheaper non-chain option; haven’t looked much for it because they are is none within a 25-minute bike radius from my house.
Shopping: Ross Dress for Less has value-for-money deals when it comes to clothing. Also, check out DWS if you are looking for shoes.
Haircut: Aveda Institute Denver, a school cosmetology/beauty saloon, is the cheapest place. You can get a haircut for $20 (as of April 2023). Demand is high so reservation in advance is encouraged. You can get it for even cheaper if you call them to pre-book and ask for the 10% discount 😉
Shoe soles: This is more specific but it might be helpful. Having comfortable soles is important for your feet. After the advice of Margaret, a serial hiker (especially her husband), I went to Fleet Feet to get soles for my shoes. Without knowing much about foot science, this place seems solid. They make you stand in a digital machine that takes measurements of your feet, and they propose some solutions for you. You can also get the results via email if you’d like. Also, prices are decent ($50-$60 as of May 2023 for a normal pair of soles).
Conclusion
This article provides a guide to help you with your move and settling in. Hopefully, you would be able to adapt these guidelines to your personal circumstances and needs. For an activities and visits guide read this article here, and for restaurant recommendations check this one out.
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