11 Best Things to Do in Lakewood, Colorado

March 29, 2020 - Updated

Lakewood, CO boasts an abundant amount of beautiful Colorado scenery, offering many different ways for visitors to spend time outdoors and admire the gorgeous surroundings. Visitors will also find live music, breweries, cafes, and more throughout the city.

1.Bear Creek Lake Park

Bear Creek Lake Park, centered around three different lakes in Lakewood’s foothills, is a bit hidden away from everything. The main attractions found in the park are camping, fishing, boating, and biking. The park is surprisingly large and is home to its namesake lake, Bear Creek Lake, which measures about 100 acres in size. The lake is open for motorized boating between March 15 and November 15. Fifteen miles of trails and forty-seven campsites are also located in Bear Creek Lake Park, along with three cabins. Other popular activities at the park include hiking, horseback riding, and archery.

15600 W Morrison Rd, Lakewood, CO 80228, Phone: 303-697-6159

2.William F. Hayden Green Mountain Park

The William F. Hayden Green Mountain Park features over 2,400 acres of wide open space and is the city of Lakewood’s second largest park. Visitors can hike along the park’s sometimes challenging multi-use trail network leading to the summit of Green Mountain. The summit offers hikers stunning and unique views of the high mountain peaks off to the west and the Denver metro area over to the east. The grounds of William F. Hayden Green Mountain Park were once home to buffalo but now provide a habitat for a variety of different wildlife, such as mule deer, rabbit, bluebirds, and hawks.

1000 S. Rooney Rd, Lakewood, CO 80228, Phone: 303-697-6159

3.Lakewood Heritage Center

The Lakewood Heritage Center highlights the local history of the city of Lakewood, Colorado, along with the lifestyles, inventions, and numerous changes of the twentieth century. The center is situated within Belmar Park and is home to a museum with more than ten historic buildings, thirty thousand artifacts, an outdoor amphitheater, and an area for festivals. The Lakewood Heritage Center’s gift shop and gallery are open to visitors free of charge Tuesdays to Saturdays. Tours of the historic buildings are also offered on Saturdays at 11:00am and 2:00pm. It’s recommended that visitors interested in a tour reserve their spot in advance.

801 S. Yarrow St, Lakewood, CO 80226, Phone: 303-987-7850

4.Colorado Mills

Colorado Mills in a large shopping mall of over one million square feet in the city of Lakewood. The mall is home to more than 135 stores and is anchored by ten stores and entertainment options, including Forever 21, Jumpstreet, United Artists Theater and IMAX, Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th, Eddie Bauer Outlet, H&M, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Burlington, and Super Target. Many of the shops at Colorado Mills are outlet shops, along with several local shops. There are also an array of dining options, such as Cinnabon, Sarku Japan, Qdoba Mexican Eats, and the Yard House.

14500 W Colfax Ave, Lakewood, CO 80401, Phone: 303-384-3000

5.Crown Hill Park

Crown Hill Park provides a natural haven within a suburban Colorado neighborhood, a place for people to retreat and relax, enjoy some outdoor recreation lakeside, and admire the many species of birds that call the park home. Crown Hill Park is situated between the city of Lakewood and the city of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and is the site of a National Urban Wildlife Refuge within its borders. Activities visitors can find in the park include hiking, wildlife viewing, fishing, biking, picnicking, jogging, rollerblading, walking, and horseback riding. The wetlands in the park’s northwest corner are a Wildlife Sanctuary.

9357 West 26th Ave, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033, Phone: 303-271-5925

6.Valkarie Gallery and Studio

Valkarie Gallery and Studio is the vision of Karrie York and Valerie Savarie, opened to the public in Lakewood in 2013. The gallery strives to offer diverse artists a collective, creative creation and exhibition space, cultivating a family atmosphere among its resident and exhibition artists. Guests can view works by resident artists such as Kim Anderson, Dorothy DePaulo, Aria Fawn, Miki Harder, and Josh Davy, along with works by featured guest artists working in a variety of diverse media. Past exhibits have showcased media ranging from traditional forms such as painting, drawing, and photography to crafting media such as jewelry, paper cutting, and book sculpting. Each Thursday, guests can drop in as part of open house creative night studio time, beginning at 5:30pm and ending at 9:00pm.

445 S Saulsbury St, Lakewood, CO 80226, Phone: 720-220-7587

7.Bear Creek Greenbelt

The Bear Creek Greenbelt is an out and back 3.5-mile trail in Lakewood, Colorado that is a good walk for people of all ages and skill levels. Visitors can find that trailhead on Estes Street in the Stone House Parking Area. From the trailhead, the path follows along the shore of a large pond before crossing over a bridge and into an open meadow. Crossing a second bridge leads to another pond and then to a small boardwalk that crosses over wetlands. Following Bear Creek on to Wadsworth Boulevard leads to another bridge before Wadsworth Overpass, and then hikers can head back west.

2800 S Estes St, Lakewood, CO 80227, Phone: 303-987-7800

8.240 Union

240 Union-A Creative Grill serves a variety of contemporary American cuisine in the heart of Lakewood, Colorado. The restaurant specializes in wood-fired pizzas, fresh seafood, and specialty pastas, along with chicken, lamb, pork, and beef dishes. 240 Union provides an upscale, yet still casual experience in dining in the Denver-West metropolitan area. The creative 240 Union has been open in the Lakewood-Denver community since 1989, serving spirits and delicious meals in a unique showroom-type restaurant. The large open kitchen lets guests watch the cooks preparing meals from a menu that changes with the season and includes daily specials.

240 Union Blvd, Lakewood, CO 80228, Phone: 303-989-3562

9.Cafe Jordano

Cafe Jordano is a little Italian restaurant in the city of Lakewood that doesn’t take reservations for groups consisting of fewer than six people in order to still have open table for their neighbors. Regulars often arrive at the restaurant at least thirty minutes early to make sure they can get a table. The menu features classic Italian dishes prepared well by an Italian family. The Heitman family has been welcoming guests to Cafe Jordano for more than twenty years. The Italian eatery is open for dinner six days a week, closed on Sundays, and open for lunch Monday through Friday.

11068 W. Jewell Ave, Lakewood, CO 80227, Phone: 303-988-6863

10.Blue Sky Cafe

The Blue Sky Cafe is a locally owned and operated cafe that serves breakfast and lunch. Along with serving an array of dishes, the cafe also offers a coffee and juice bar, and transforms into a yoga studio at night. Blue Sky Cafe strives to provide a delicate balance between food that really tastes good and food that is actually good for you. The restaurant is committed to offering the most natural and freshest ingredients, with no preservatives, antibiotics, hormones, or fillers. Only healthy oils and fats are used, such as canola oil, pure butter, and olive oil.

14403 W. Colfax Ave, Lakewood, CO 80401, Phone: 303-216-2670

11.Great Frontier Brewing Company

Great Frontier Brewing Company prides itself on creating handcrafted, great tasting, and quality beer that include Gluten-Reduced beer and Gluten-Free beer. The first letters of the name of the brewery are intentionally “GF” to recognize the specialization of the beer company in Gluten-Free brews. Great Frontier got its beginnings thanks to a brewing kit Mike Plungis received for Father’s Day. After some of his family needed to go gluten-free, Mike began making gluten-free beers out of a desire to make beers for them that tasted like regular beers. The first gluten-free beer, Blonde Annie, has won several awards.

2010 S. Oak St, Lakewood, CO 80227, Phone: 720-328-1758