WHERE TO STAY IN DENVER, COLORADO: THE RAMBLE HOTEL

WHERE TO STAY IN DENVER, COLORADO

The Ramble Hotel, River North Art District

It’s fair to say i’m a rather fussy traveller and I spend an awful lot of time researching the hotels or accommodation I choose to stay in. I am always seeking the best I can afford, and it’s really important to me that my hotel / accommodation is not only comfortable and a safe place, but also something that inspires me and feels like a treat. To me travel is a luxury and I want the place I am staying to be just as special as the destination I am exploring. I know not everyone thinks this way, and some people see their hotel as a base for simply sleeping, but for me I want to enjoy where I stay and It’s always something I’ll invest my money into.

And that’s not just when I am travelling for pleasure, but also when I am travelling for work. The cost of big corporate hotels are madness and they lack the charm, cosiness and luxe of a boutique that often costs the same if not less, so I tend to always avoid the mainstream hotels and do a lot of research to find smaller boutiques that offer something far more special.

My stay at The Ramble Hotel was part of a work trip to Denver, a place I had never been before and somewhere I’d be for the best part of a week. I wanted somewhere I felt safe,  comfortable and that would be as per my standard of travel / home living: when travelling for work, especially on my own for work, where I stay is really important to me for those reasons. Naturally the corporate hotels were horrendous, expensive, lacked comfort, style and any inspiration, so I decided to take on the search myself and look for somewhere I would be happy to spend a week.

I did an awful lot of research on this trip, especially because It was my first time visiting Colorado, so the city of Denver was entirely new to me and of course I was travelling with work so wanted to feel comfortable being away from home, and in all my research I kept coming back to The Ramble. The decor was 100% my interior style, the location was in an up and coming part of town (RiNo) and the art district which felt like a good base to spend evenings (another really important factor when travelling with work: the last thing you want is to be stuck eating in your hotel every evening or not leaving your room because you’re not near anywhere, let alone be stuck in a shit hotel) and finally I managed to get a good rate for quality of the hotel (it wasn’t cheap, c. $300 a night, but definitely worth it and comparable with the corporate chains) – I highly recommend always doing your research in incognito mode and doing a few checks on price over the course of the week, as the prices change so much throughout the day, throughout the week, and based on your volume of searches.

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THE (KING) ROOM

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Needless to say my research paid off, it hasn’t let me down yet. The hotel was beautiful, in a great location with tons of restaurants to choose from just on the doorstep, and the room was everything I hoped for and more.

Wood panelled walls painted a stunning dark farrow and ball esque blue, crittall windows with views over the local area, dark velvet headboards, marble bathroom and all the touches that made this feel like your dream bedroom decor versus a hotel room. The latter point is what differentiates a good hotel and a bad hotel in my eyes, this felt like my dream bedroom and not a temporary hotel base.

The best thing about the hotel room was the morning light, the warm glow of the sun rising snuck through my curtains every morning and made waking up such a delight – never something I would usually say. I fortunately settled right into Colorado time (perhaps because I was in NYC only a week or so before), and so my jet lag wasn’t too bad but was enough to ensure i enjoyed the 630am sunrises. The room came to life at this time, and I couldn’t help but jump out of bed and take photos every morning.

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THE HOTEL

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The nature of travelling with work is that we spent quite a bit of time in our hotel when we weren’t at the office; on the weekend we arrived (flight prices meant it was better for us to travel on the weekend, giving us a little time to settle in and get to know the area too), evenings post a day of meetings and we enjoyed breakfast in the hotel every morning and ate in the hotels restaurant next door Super Mega Bien. The hotel was also close to some fab restaurants, we loved Cart & Driver (the best pizza i’ve ever had) and The Populist, you can read more on those here.

As we were travelling in the peak summer, we also got the chance to make the most of the beautiful roof terrace in the evenings and the weekend, and my friend Anna (who I was travelling with for work) and I often met here for an Aperol and a bit of time to read our book and unwind post work, before getting ready for dinner. I really loved the outside space here, and made such good use of it, it’s the perfect evening sun trap and ideal space to chill out when we had time.

The hotel also has a fab bar ‘Death & Co’ which is open to the public in the evenings, which we popped down for a cocktail a few times, but mostly we enjoyed the main lobby area in the mornings for our daily breakfast and coffee. The light in the morning was just magical in this space (the hotel architects have done a great job capitalising on morning, day and evening light in the space), the breakfast was also delicious and a great diverse menu – although most mornings I opted for the Huevos Rancheros (cornbread, anasazi bean, hatch chili verde) or avo on toast, with an oat milk iced coffee. Most mornings were quiet and a really chilled start to our day, but often started to fill out with people coming to work from the space as we left for work. It seemed to be a real hot spot for local freelance workers to make base, which again made me love it all that much more as it reminded me of the likes of Soho House and felt like a creative hub.

READ MY DENVER TRAVEL GUIDE HERE

Overall I couldn’t recommend The Ramble more, I absolutely loved my stay there and couldn’t speak more highly about the hotel, the interiors and my experience at the hotel. Yes it is on the toppy end at around $300 a night (exc breakfast), but it really is worth it if you too are incredibly fussy about where you stay and really like to stay in a hotel that is both aesthetically inspiring but also very homely and comfortable.

I hadn’t ever thought about a trip to Colorado or Denver before this work trip came up, but I absolutely loved my visit and actually would really recommending adding Denver to your US road trip or travel bucket list. Many people are making the move from the fast pace of NYC to places like Denver because of the outdoorsy nature of the city and the work life balance it offers. In the short time we were there, I certainly saw the appeal.