Rent a Car in Denver

Denver sits at roughly 1,600 metres above sea level — the Mile High City — and its light rail covers downtown and some suburbs well, but the real reason to hire a car here is what lies just outside the metro: Rocky Mountain National Park is about 1.5 to 2 hours north-west, and Colorado's ski resorts — Breckenridge, Vail, Winter Park, Keystone — are all within a one-to-two-hour drive along I-70 west into the mountains. None of that is reachable by public transit.

Because Denver International Airport sits so far from downtown, most visitors collect their hire car straight at the airport rather than in the city itself, especially if the plan includes a mountain trip. Keep in mind the altitude change: if you're driving up to a ski resort or Rocky Mountain National Park, elevations climb quickly from Denver's mile-high base to over 3,000 metres, so allow time to acclimatise and check winter tyre or chain requirements between October and May.