Questions about Denver station -- luggage and things to do

[JackieTakestheTrain]

Hi: I am taking the CZ to Denver over Memorial Day weekend. Is there a place to leave my luggage without checking it? I am going in a sleeper.

Just curious if there was a waiting lounge to either hang out and/or leave my bag until my host gets off work.

Also,I hear that the Union Station is brand new. Can anyone tell me what to expect? I have about 6 hours to kill there until I am picked up.

Thanks!
-Jackie

 

[KmH]

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=am/am2Station/Station_Page&code=DEN

Denver Union Station has a Baggage Storage service and waiting areas, one likely for sleeper berth passengers.

http://www.amtrak.com/baggage-services

I won't get to see the new station until May 1, but in the mean time - http://unionstationindenver.com/

 

[Rail Freak]

I was there in October. WOW, what a station! You wont have any problem killing six hours. There is also, what they call, the sixteenth ave mall, which is several blocks of sixteenth ave. that offers free hop on & off bus service. Have Fun!!!

 

[dburden]

A little Warren Zevon to get you ready for your short stay in Denver:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfSQOgu0ZJg

Dave

 

[BoulderCO]

Yes, six hours will go by quickly. The pedestrian Mall on 16th st that someone else mentioned make for a very nice walk. Also a free circulating bus you can use if you don't want to walk all the way. Union Station is at one end of the mall and the far end is perhaps 45 minute walk if you keep moving. But you will find lots of interesting places to stop along the way.

Do you like craft beer? If so, Denver has a couple dozen microbreweries and perhaps 6 or so of them are an easy walk from Union Station. They all have nice tasting rooms. A dependable one I can highly recommend is Great Divide Brewing on Arapahoe and 22nd. If you want a one-stop place with about 80 different beers on tap, check out the Falling Rock Tap House on Blake St.

May is baseball season, and Coors Field - home of the Colorado Rockies - is a 15 minute walk from Union Station.

And the station itself now has some very nice amenities. If breakfast or lunch time, check out "Snooze". Out-of-this-world breakfast entrees all day. There are some other nice bars and restaurants there also. Their "Terminal Bar" is on the main level inside the station. They have regular seating inside there, but one unique feature is that you can order a beer from a window and then enjoy it in the station lounge area itself. Instead of the old hard wooden "pew" seats they used to have, they now have a selection of couches and comfortable seats to use while waiting for your train. Quite civilized, really!

 

[PaulM]

Denver Union Station has a Baggage Storage service and waiting areas, one likely for sleeper berth passengers.

I don't believe Denver has a separate waiting area for sleeping car passengers. It has a section of seats along the wall near the entrance to the tracks, presumably for Amtrak patrons. The rest of the main hall is seating for the upscale food court; although there's nothing to say a waiting passenger couldn't join the latte/laptop/tablet crowd.

Missing from the old station are the desk where you line up for the conductor to collect tickets and the rent-a-cop guarding the platform. Each time we have departed from the new station, we were told to head directly to the platform.

 

[niemi24s]

I don't believe Denver has a separate waiting area for sleeping car passengers.

If that's called a "lounge", then according to this... http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=am/am2Station/Station_Page&code=DEN ..you are correct.

 

[KmH]

SAC doesn't have a 'lounge', but I'm told the station has a sleeper pax waiting area separate from the rest of the waiting area.

I've seen photos of the same thing at the LAX station. No 'lounge' but an area for sleeper pax.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

SAC doesn't have a 'lounge', but I'm told the station has a sleeper pax waiting area separate from the rest of the waiting area.

I've seen photos of the same thing at the LAX station. No 'lounge' but an area for sleeper pax.

Though I didn't get a chance to see it in person (went from one train to the next), I know LAX now has a lounge.

 

[niemi24s]

This gives the details of the three different types of lounges and their locations... http://www.amtrak.com/station-lounges ...but whether or not it's up to date is anybody's guess. Was in SAS at the Amtrak station for a few hours a while back but never ventured from the safety of my sleeper on the Texas Eagle. I may be the adventurous type, but I'm not stupid.

 

[JackieTakestheTrain]

Hey -- this all sounds great.

I hope I can check my luggage because unfortunately I have a big bag and I cant lug it around.

Either way, if the weather is good, I can always find some place to sit outside, having something good to drink and people watch.

Thanks!

 

[ehbowen]

I believe that at Amtrak stations which offer checked baggage service you are able to day-check your hand luggage for a fee of $4. While that might officially be "per piece", when my father and I day-checked our luggage in Seattle they allowed us to hook all our bags together and only charged us one fee for the stack.

 

[user 6862]

This is what the central seating area looked like in February this year, looked well used and upbeat.

 

[jshell]

Wow! I haven't seen it since the last year it was open before all the renovations. I loved it then - felt like a nice musty old train station. The tunnel you went through to get to the trains was full of great old doors to yesteryear (if I recall correctly - seemed like a few doorways with names of old rail lines on them). The wooden pews felt nice. And it seemed in better condition internally than Orlando's, but it probably got a lot less use with the single daily Zephyr than Orlando's station gets.

But this looks fantastic. I'll be taking the Zephyr from Chicago to Salt Lake on Memorial Day myself (leaving Chicago on Memorial Day, so passing through Denver on Tuesday). I'll try and take a moment to peek inside the station.

And to the original poster: yes, plenty of great restaurants and brewpubs nearby. Wynkoops is right across the street from the station. My favorite in recent years has been Breckenridge Brewery, a half block from Coors Field. It's a very walkable area around Union Station (unlike the temporary station they've used the past few years which was nearby but a little more cut off from things).

16th street also leads to a nice riverfront park a few blocks from the station that I've found to be quite pleasant place to pass some time quietly.