[HHW]

I'm moving to the Denver area in the next year and I am looking for suggestions on places to live. I need to be with in a half hour drive or so to Denver. I'm moving from the San Francisco Bay Area. I'd like to live some where with both good road and mountain biking. With good restraunts. coffe shops, book stores, bike shops and such and descent night life. Looking at Littleton and Golden so far or maybe Boulder (But the housing prices are a bit high). Any recommendations or suggestions would be great.

 

[theforsakencheezit]

I'm moving to the Denver area in the next year and I am looking for suggestions on places to live. I need to be with in a half hour drive or so to Denver. I'm moving from the San Francisco Bay Area. I'd like to live some where with both good road and mountain biking. With good restraunts. coffe shops, book stores, bike shops and such and descent night life. Looking at Littleton and Golden so far or maybe Boulder (But the housing prices are a bit high). Any recommendations or suggestions would be great.

Littleton is kind of a drag. It is the epitome of middle class suburbia and has developed into part of denver. Boulder is my favorite as a single college-minded student, but Golden has the best road and mtb riding...but no night life really. That can be fixed with a short drive to either boulder or downtown denver, both around 25 minutes away. good luck and welcome.

 

[TomP]

half hour drive to where in Denver?

I'm moving to the Denver area in the next year and I am looking for suggestions on places to live. I need to be with in a half hour drive or so to Denver. I'm moving from the San Francisco Bay Area. I'd like to live some where with both good road and mountain biking. With good restraunts. coffe shops, book stores, bike shops and such and descent night life. Looking at Littleton and Golden so far or maybe Boulder (But the housing prices are a bit high). Any recommendations or suggestions would be great.

When you say you'd like to be half hour or so "to Denver", do you mean Denver proper? The City and County of Denver? What part? Or one of the suburbs perhaps?

You could live in the far southwest corner of Denver proper and work in downtown Denver (also in Denver proper) and have a half hour commute. If you left the house before 6:30am.

What is commonly referred to as Denver is kind of like one of the big California cities, a conglomeration of municipalities, suburbs, heavily populated but un-incorporated areas... and it's sprawled out. Large. Wide.

Where in Denver will you need to go and how many times per week, like for work? Maybe give us a cross street (e.g. Broadway and 6th Avenue). If you're serious about the half hour thing, you better look a little closely. Lots of folks from your own home state have come to CO in the last 20 years. Half hour commutes don't exactly fall out of the sky in the Denver area these days.

 

[jasonb]

You might find you have to choose between a short drive to nightlife or a short drive to trails. Boulder has a great social scene, great road rides, but good trails are closely kept secrets by the locals. I would suggest hanging out in Boulder for a few weeks before a permanent move because it definitely has a distinct vibe which some people love and others loathe.

Golden is in the middle of one of the greatest public trail systems in the country IMHO, and while there are good resturants and coffee shops the options are limited and the nightlife is even more limited. The price for great trails is a short drive which gets you to downtown Denver (or Boulder) where there is plenty of trouble to be had.

If you are looking for a small town setting Evergreen is a great town. Northern Evergreen/Bergen Park is easily within 30 minutes to Denver but is quite pricey and a bit more suburban because of its proximity. Deeper into Evergreen there is a great local community and a small but vibrant social scene.

When I moved out here five years ago I choose to be in far southwestern Evergreen along the Pike NF boundary. Absolutely beautiful country with trails right out my door, lots of snow and elk, the occasional bear, and a A-frame home with a woodburing stove. It was a bit of a haul to get back there so when I tired of pretending to be a mountain man (actually when my gal tired of me pretending) I moved just a tad west of Golden to a condo in Genesee. For me the Golden area is right in between all the places I want to be. It is a quick sprint to Denver and Boulder and you have a headstart heading west to the mountains.

On the other hand you could get a place in the Highlands neighborhood of denver and....

 

[edemtbs]

Evergreen

 

[billybobzia]

like others have said, kind of depends...
but i live in nw denver, area called the highlands, that is a bit expensive now, but has great coffee shops, bars and restaurants...its about a 5 minute drive to downtown and 15-20 to golden (a bunch of trails)...

if i were to make one general suggestion...i prefer (and others will argue) to live on the west side of town, that way i am closer to the mountains for all my fun....golden is a nice town, but really doesnt have a night life as others have mentioned, but i would live there if i could convince my wife. i work in golden, ride in golden lots, hike in golden, walk the dogs in golden...yet i live in denver....

 

[jugdish]

Try Ault.

 

[preparation_h]

Littleton is kind of a drag. It is the epitome of middle class suburbia and has developed into part of denver. Boulder is my favorite as a single college-minded student, but Golden has the best road and mtb riding...but no night life really. That can be fixed with a short drive to either boulder or downtown denver, both around 25 minutes away. good luck and welcome.

Littleton doesn't have nightlife but I can't remember the last time I used a car to get to a trailhead. If you are considering littleton I would definitely recommend the SW corner of it. The road rides are abundant and you'll have canyon climbing right out the door. As for MTB riding...oh boy!!!! Pretty descent schools and I have 3 starbucks within a city block. It is suburbia but hey I could care less if I can get my dose of saddle time w/o driving. I will be the first to tell you that if you're considering buying a house and aren't from around here you need to take a close look at house foundations because the soil is very expansive along the front range corridor. Be very cautious!!!! Especially w/newer homes!

 

[HHW]

Thanks for all the info. I guess the half hour drive would be to Downtown Denver. I would choose Golden or Evergreen if it was just me but the othe half would like to be in the city so we are looking for something in between. Driving to work isn't much of a consideration I will work at the airport and only have to go once or twice a week at the most.

 

[cutthroat]

I lived in Golden for about 3 years and really enjoyed it. It has great riding, both mountain and raod, pretty quick access to the mountains, downtown Denver is a 30-40 drive, good access to Boulder, but it's still a bit "hickish" in some respects. That was about 12 years ago, so it's grwon a lot since then. Don't move to Colorado - you'll hate it - all the sking, biking, 300 days of sunshine....

 

[TomP]

probably Lakewood

Thanks for all the info. I guess the half hour drive would be to Downtown Denver. I would choose Golden or Evergreen if it was just me but the othe half would like to be in the city so we are looking for something in between. Driving to work isn't much of a consideration I will work at the airport and only have to go once or twice a week at the most.

When I lived in the Denver area, I worked at the Tech Center, which is way down south and hell-and-gone from good mountain biking. I lived in old Littleton, a little east of the old downtown.

If I went back, I'd probably try to live downtown. If I wanted a more suburban thing, I'd be looking at Lakewood. Split the difference between getting downtown and getting into the hills.

And there are some really nice neighborhoods in Lakewood. Probably a better fit for you than Littleton. There isn't anyplace in the metro area farther from DIA than Littleton.

I'm one of those people mentioned in another post who reacts negatively to the Boulder vibe. I think I've disliked that place since my car and my then-girlfriend-now-wife's car were both broken into while parked next to each other in Boulder back in 1989. It's more than that, but let's just say Boulder did not make a good impression on me.

Good luck.

 

[billybobzia]

I lived in Golden for about 3 years and really enjoyed it. It has great riding, both mountain and raod, pretty quick access to the mountains, downtown Denver is a 30-40 drive, good access to Boulder, but it's still a bit "hickish" in some respects. That was about 12 years ago, so it's grwon a lot since then. Don't move to Colorado - you'll hate it - all the sking, biking, 300 days of sunshine....

i work in golden, it only takes 15-20 minutes to get downtown if you hop on the highway..

 

[Sin]

Can't you just freakin stay where you are? There are way to many freakin people here as it is! Welcome To Colorado Now Go Home Blahahaaahaahahaahaaaa

 

[cutthroat]

i work in golden, it only takes 15-20 minutes to get downtown if you hop on the highway..

That'a about right if you're not in the rush hour. When I worked there (downtown) it seemed like a good commute could get me to 15th and Curtis in half an hour. On the other hand, a wreck on 6th Ave. westbound left me stranded on the highway for 2 hours.

 

[billybobzia]

That'a about right if you're not in the rush hour. When I worked there (downtown) it seemed like a good commute could get me to 15th and Curtis in half an hour. On the other hand, a wreck on 6th Ave. westbound left me stranded on the highway for 2 hours.

that makes sense, i go against the flow of traffic to and from work...