Didn't see too much information from earlier threads.

I'll be visiting Denver for a few days in late April with the girlfriend, and looking for a few recommendations.

We're both young, and will not have a car unfortunately, so we'll be relying on walking/uber/etc.

What areas should we look into staying? We want to be next to good bars, food, activities.

Any restaurant/brewery recs?

Any places nearby we could do some hiking/outdoorsy things? Estes park would be nice, but it's about 90 minutes from Denver if I recall.

Any other ideas are also appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Anything Downtown....Larimer Square is a good location for restaurants and there are bars everywhere. Would recommend finding something around there. Hotels are pretty cheap so you should be able to get a nice room in a good location relatively inexpensive.

I would stay downtown. Hotels are relatively cheap and you can get around easily by walking or uber. LoHi, LoDo, and Uptown have lots of good restaurants/bars and easy to get to.

Some of my favorite breweries are Renegade, Former Future, and Denver Beer Company. Linger has pretty good food, plus if the weather is nice you can go next door to Little Man Ice Cream and enjoy the view/atmosphere with your GF.

Also if you want to hike you don't have to go that far out. Evergreen is close along with Golden however it's going to cost a bit to get out there without a car.

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We're both young, and will not have a car unfortunately, so we'll be relying on walking/uber/etc.

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You can hang in downtown Denver without a car. If you're interested in sports, check the Rockies, Nuggets, Avalanche schedule. I suspect Avalanche tickets are still going to be pricey but you can get into Coors Field for next to nothing.

If you want to explore anywhere else in the Front Range, you're going to have to have a car. There's just no other way around it. Boulder is 50 miles from Denver and Estes Park, etc. is beyond that.

And you probably already know that DIA is a million miles from nowhere so plan plenty of time to get to/from the airport. I know there was talk of running the light rail out there but I don't think it ever happened. Wait a minute, I just checked and it looks like after April 22, 2016, you'll be able to take light rail to/from DIA. That's new.
http://www.rtd-denver.com/LightRail_Map.shtml

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We're both young, and will not have a car unfortunately, so we'll be relying on walking/uber/etc.

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If you want to explore anywhere else in the Front Range, you're going to have to have a car. There's just no other way around it. Boulder is 50 miles from Denver and Estes Park, etc. is beyond that.

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While I agree that most travel outside the city really needs a rental car or it will be more frustrating than not, the distance from Downtown Denver to Downtown Boulder is 25 miles and Estes Park is 60+ miles from Denver.

And the airport is only 20 miles from denver..

Hell, I can get there quicker from my house (30 miles) quicker than I ever got from Tomball to IAH!

How many days is a few?

If you aren't familiar with Colorado or Denver, I think you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't go up into the mountains for a day.

Rent a car, drive to Estes, go to RMNP, hike around a bit. If you get to RMNP by 9am you won't have any trouble parking at some of the more popular short trails (Bear Lake, Emerald Lake, etc).

Denver itself is awesome, but if all you are doing is bar hopping you can do that in most major cities.

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How many days is a few?

If you aren't familiar with Colorado or Denver, I think you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't go up into the mountains for a day.

Rent a car, drive to Estes, go to RMNP, hike around a bit. If you get to RMNP by 9am you won't have any trouble parking at some of the more popular short trails (Bear Lake, Emerald Lake, etc).

Denver itself is awesome, but if all you are doing is bar hopping you can do that in most major cities.

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Agreed. If you're making the trip up from out of town, you have got to go into the mountains. Staying only in Denver doesn't sound very fun honestly, as great of a city as it is.

OP, Estes Park is your best bet for a day trip.

Thanks for all the advice.

Decided to rent a car for at least one out of the three days we're there so we can go to Estes park. Any specific areas we should hike while there? I know we'll make sure to check out the hotel that's famous for The Shining as well

That is the Stanley hotel. It is where Stephen King stayed in the 70s and was inspired to write the story of the shining. It wasn't filmed there. But you can definitely find out a lot about it when you go. But it's also a haunted hotel, so they really focus on ghost tours and such. Outside of all of that, it's a beautiful 100 year old hotel with breathtaking views of Estes park and longs peak.

There is a great hike just up the road from the Stanley called gem lake. It's got great vantage points to see the whole Estes park valley, and just an overall great hike. It's about 3-4 miles rt if I recall, and will take a good hour and half or more. There's a quaint little lake at the top.

Estes Park is the main gateway into Rocky Mountain National Park. Good (although popular) hikes on that side of the park are Bear Lake and Alberta Falls. Access to the rest of the park including Trail Ridge Road could be limited depending on how much snow is still on the ground.

RiNo is a fun area:
http://www.rivernorthart.com/places-to-eatdrink/

As is Lodo:
http://www.10best.com/destinations/colorado/denver/lodo-lower-downtown/

Cherry Creek North is home to The Cherry Cricket:
http://cherrycreeknorth.com

You can rent bikes downtown and enjoy a nice ride on paved trails to Boulder, Golden, and other interesting spots. Stay on the paved trails or rent a mountain bike so you can venture onto the many trails that are incredibly easy to access.

Cherry Cricket is more of a dive bar that is great for locals, I would not recommend anyone actually seek it out if they are visiting from out of town.

Everyone who comes to visit my company from out of state always want to have one meal at the Cricket. There are several who catch an early flight in just to have the opportunity. I don't go there very often and can't actually remember the last time, but it sure is popular with the out-of-towners we see.

I like the Cricket but I can think of many more restaurants that are better

We enjoyed the Microbrewery tour.

http://www.denvermicrobrewtour.com/

I'm in Denver every couple months for work. I typically hit up cherry cricket every trip for a burger. I really like their burgers.

If/when you go to RMNP and go to Bear Lake, after hiking around Bear take the trail up to Dream Lake. It's a 20 minute walk, not very challenging, and is incredible once you arrive.

Odell, Oscar Blues, and Left Hand breweries are all easily accessible on your way back from Estes. When you get to Lyons on 36, instead of turning right to continue on 36 to Boulder, stay straight on 66 to Longmont. Left Hand is in Longmont, or you can head north from Longmont to Ft Collins, etc. Both cities are on 25, which is an easy drive back south to Denver when you're done.

We stayed at hotel Monaco and it was great. Happy hour every day and near 16th street. The restaurant Parma located in the hotel was great. Sushi den was also very good. If you like diners then SAMs diner was awesome.

If you want to get out to Boulder, it's a quick easy bus ride (busses are fine and not sketchy) and takes about 40-45 minutes I'd say from Union Station area. From Boulder you can walk around and as its right by the front range, there are lots of hikes right on your doorstep. Walking around Boulder is nice. It's a college town too so has a young feel to it.
http://www.rtd-denver.com/flatiron-flyer.shtml

You can also take a train out to Golden from Denver.
http://www.rtd-denver.com/WestRailLine.shtml

Coors Field is a great place to watch baseball. Little Man's ice cream is good, and Illegal Pete's makes some good burritos. And there are good breweries everywhere.

But Denver is just a city, see the mountains! The trails around boulder and evergreen should be melted soon after the big spring storm we just had. I would check conditions in RMNP before you go.