Cherry Creek North in Denver, Colorado is a Must-See for Visitors

I fly between Cleveland and Salt Lake City frequently. Because there are no direct flights between the two cities since Delta took away their nonstop route during the pandemic, I often have a layover in Denver. I usually pick Frontier Airlines for my return or departing flights to save money, and the trade-off to the cost savings is that it requires a lengthy layover up to eight hours. That actually works well for me, since I appreciate the opportunity to head to the city during my layover to do some exploring.

Getting to Cherry Creek from the Denver Airport

That was the case on Monday, January 9, 2023, when my flight departed Salt Lake City around 6:30 AM MT, touching down about 55 minutes later in Denver. Frontier always arrives in Concourse A of the Denver International Airport, which means you don’t have to take the concourse train to get to the main Terminal to exit the airport: instead, you can take an escalator up to Level 3 (the same level where there is the hidden gem of being able to sleep overnight on comfortable couches) and then walk to the terminal.

It takes less than five minutes to walk your way toward the big American flag to exit, before taking the long escalator ride down to the train where you can catch the A Line. The A Line departs from the airport every 15 minutes, and it makes sense to buy an All-Day pass for $10.50 using the RTD app. You’ll be using the pass from the airport, for any buses you take in Downtown Denver, and then for the train ride back to the airport. Beware: Out of all the cities I have been to, Denver is the one system where they have had a fare officer checking everyone’s proof of payment 100% of the time. I’ve yet to have it happen in Salt Lake City, and Cleveland hasn’t done it in years. Don’t try to skate it.

Per the RTD schedule, the train ride from the Airport to Union Station in Downtown Denver is 37 minutes. It sometimes feels a little longer — more like 45 minutes. When you get off at Union Station, prepare to see plenty of homeless people around the station or in the Downtown area. On previous layovers in November 2021 and February 2022, I have done videos down 16th Street Mall to show off Christmas decorations or snow. When I went in August 2022, though, I had to flee the area when I witnessed an unprovoked vagrant swinging a metal rod at the heads of a group of friends who were hanging around and minding their own business. I didn’t capture that particular incident on video, but I talked about it in an epilogue. I also saw the vast amount of homeless people around Downtown Denver and East Colfax when I explored Colfax Avenue on a warm November 2022 day. Although I could handle the level of homeless I was seeing, I wanted to find a safer area of Denver that I could recommend to visitors of Denver, and I found it with the Cherry Creek North neighborhood. It’s a short drive from Downtown Denver if you have a car. Via bus, I took the free 16th Street Mall bus to Civic Center Plaza, where I connected with the 83L to Cherry Creek.

Video Tour of Cherry Creek North

About Cherry Creek North

Cherry Creek North is a vibrant, outdoor, and pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with over 300 businesses over a span of 16 blocks. About 70% of those businesses are local, with a mix of restaurants, home furnishing stores, artist galleries, clothing stores, spas, salons, gyms, and more. Cherry Creek North is located between University Blvd and Steele Street, and mostly between 1st Street and 3rd Avenue.

Cherry Creek Shopping Center (the mall) is located across the street too, if you are interested in all of the national-brand stores. When you combine everything together, Colorado.com says, “Cherry Creek has the largest and most diverse shopping space between Chicago and San Francisco.” I don’t know how true that is, but it’s a fun fact to try touting, as I did in my video too.

The website for Cherry Creek North is here, where you can stay up-to-date on the latest events and developments there.

Poko’s Notes on Cherry Creek North

1. For as many safety concerns as I had with Downtown Denver or parts of East Colfax Avenue, there were zero concerns of the Cherry Creek area. You are clearly in a more upscale area.

2. Speaking of upscale, when I walked by one of the real estate offices in my video, I saw houses listed for millions of dollars. When you look at Zillow, the houses north of 3rd Avenue seem to be between $2 million to $5 million. If I have a layover in Denver during the Spring, Summer, or Fall, I feel like it’ll be a no-brainer for me to return to this area to do a video walk of some of the houses, as well as the shopping center and the Cherry Creek Trail. My walking tour live stream only captured Cherry Creek North — which is probably the most important piece, but it’d be nice to see the surrounding areas too.

3. Even though I didn’t have a chance to go in any of the stores or restaurants since I was filming, I made mental notes of the places that I would’ve been most interested in, upon first glance: Hermitage Antiquarian Bookshop, Artisan Center, and The Cherry Cricket (for hamburgers). Artisan Center changes their corner window (a squirrel when I saw it) to feature local and staff art, crafts created by Denver school children, and also auction some pieces to benefit causes.

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4. If you see the lead image for this article (the signage/lights for the “Cherry Creek North”), I was wondering where that was located. It took me a few minutes to find it, but it is on Filmore Street. From pictures I’ve seen online, it looks really nice at night time and during special events.

5. There are quite a few construction projects going on. They aren’t obtrusive, but are a sign that Cherry Creek North is only growing.

Map of Cherry Creek North

On Google Maps, you can type in “Cherry Creek” or “Cherry Creek North” in Denver, CO.