Organized Tours

Visitors who want to be personally guided to the attractions of Denver and the surrounding areas by those in the know have a variety of choices.

Half- and full-day bus tours of Denver and the nearby Rockies are offered by the ubiquitous Gray Line, P.O. Box 17646, Denver, CO 80217 (tel. 800/348-6877 for information only; 303/289-2841 for reservations and information; www.coloradograyline.com). Fares for children under 13 are half the adult prices listed. Prices include entry fees but usually no food. Tours depart from the Cherry Creek Shopping Center at 1st Avenue and Milwaukee Street, as well as from local hotels and hostels on a reservation basis.

A 4-hour tour (no. 27), leaving at 1:30pm, takes in Denver's mountain parks: Red Rocks Park, Bergen Park, and Buffalo Bill's grave atop Lookout Mountain. It costs $40 for adults. The Denver city tour (no. 28), which departs daily at 8:30am and takes about 3 1/2 hours, gives you a taste of both old Denver -- through Larimer Square and other historic buildings -- and the modern-day city. It's $35 for adults. The city tour combined with the mountain-parks tour costs $70. Gray Line also offers tours of Rocky Mountain National Park, Golden and Morrison, and the Colorado Springs area; call or check the website for information.

The Colorado Sightseer, 6780 W. 84th Circle, Suite 60, Arvada, CO 80003 (tel. 303/423-8200; www.coloradosightseer.com), offers guided tours of Denver and environs. The Historic Denver tour includes a visit to LoDo and some of the city's earliest buildings, the State Capitol, the Molly Brown House, and Four Mile Historic Park. It lasts about 4 hours and costs $45 for adults, $35 for children 5 to 12, and it's free for children under 5. A Rocky Mountain National Park tour, lasting about 9 1/2 hours, costs $85 for adults and $65 for children 5 to 12 (free for children under 5), including a box lunch. The 4 1/2-hour Foothills Tour includes stops at Coors Brewery, the Buffalo Bill memorial, and scenic Red Rocks Park. The costs are $45 for adults, $35 for children 5 to 12, and free for children under 5.

The LoDo District (tel. 303/628-5428; www.lodo.org) leads guided walking tours of the storied area June to October. Tours depart from Union Station (17th and Wynkoop sts.) on Tuesdays at 10am and Saturdays at 1pm; the cost is $10 adults, $5 students, and free for those under 13. They also offer different walking tours on Thursday and Saturday afternoons. Take advantage of your cellphone with Rocky Mountain Audio Guides (tel. 303/898-7073; www.rmaguides.com), which delivers 40- and 80-minute walking tours of downtown Denver. Call 24 hours before your tour to purchase; then you simply dial a number and walk around town, guided via satellite.

Bicycling & Multisport Tours

The World Outdoors (tel. 800/488-8483 or 303/413-0938; www.theworldoutdoors.com) offers a 6-day, 5-night multisport hut-to-hut tour that begins and ends in Vail (100 miles west of Denver). The huts, described by Mountain Bike Magazine as "luxurious backcountry accommodations," serve as recreational headquarters for guests, who have plenty of hiking, rafting, and sightseeing opportunities between mountain-biking treks. The trips aren't cheap, costing around $1,500 per person, but this might be the best way for the outdoors enthusiast to enjoy the Rockies west of Denver. Available in June and August, tours include meals but not biking and camping gear.

Colorado Mountain Expeditions (tel. 888/CME-HIKE [263-4453]; www.coloradotrailhiking.com) offers supported weeklong treks on the Colorado Trail (which runs 483 miles from Denver to Durango) for $925 per person, all meals included. The beauty of these trips: You only carry a day pack. A support crew sets up your camp and makes your meals while you focus on the trail, not the campsite.

Another company that offers weeklong tours in the area is Bicycle Tour of Colorado (tel. 303/985-1180; www.bicycletourcolorado.com). For $300 to $400, a biker can join a tour involving more than 1,000 riders and 70 volunteers -- including medical and bike-tech support as well as guiding services -- on a 400-mile journey that hits six different cities each year, crossing the Continental Divide several times in the process. Although accommodations can be prearranged at hotels, most riders elect to stay at facilities provided by the city (for example, the local high school). All meals are provided for the one fee for the week.

A good resource for bicyclists is the Denver Bicycle Touring Club (www.dbtc.org), which organizes local rides and publishes a monthly newsletter.