L.A. takes the Mile High City: A fan's guide to Rams at Broncos and Kings at Avalanche in Denver

Every L.A. fan has that one road trip they keep saying they will take someday. This week, the schedule makers took the excuse away.

On Sunday night, September 27, the Rams walk into Empower Field at Mile High for Sunday Night Football. Three nights later, on Wednesday, September 30, the Kings drop the puck on their season at Ball Arena, just down the road. Same city. Same trip. One hotel room. Denver is a little over two hours from LAX, which is less time than it takes to get to Vegas on a Friday afternoon, and you already do that without thinking about it.

So do not fly in for one game. Fly in for both, keep the two days in the middle for yourself, and come home with the kind of story your group chat will be sick of by Halloween. Bring your partner, your best friend, your sister, your season ticket crew, or nobody at all. This is one of the easiest solo sports trips in the West, because the train does all the driving.

Rams at Broncos. Sunday, September 27, 6:20 p.m. Mountain, Sunday Night Football on NBC, Empower Field at Mile High. Last season Denver went 14-3 and took the AFC's top seed. The Rams were the NFC runner-up. Both teams lost their conference title games, which means a Rams vs. Broncos Super Bowl was one win away on each side. This is the closest anybody gets to seeing it, and it comes in prime time with Matthew Stafford on one sideline and Bo Nix on the other.

Kings at Avalanche. Wednesday, September 30, 8 p.m. Mountain, national on TNT, Ball Arena. It is opening night for both teams, and the first time the Avalanche have ever opened a season in September, courtesy of the NHL's new 84-game schedule. It is also the first meeting since Colorado swept the Kings out of the first round in April. Kings fans remember. Avs fans will make sure of it.

Good news first: this might be the cheapest bucket-list sports trip on the calendar. Nonstops from LAX run a little over two hours, and most of the regional airports fly to Denver too, so pick the one closest to your couch. Once you land, the A Line train runs from the airport to Union Station in about 40 minutes, and from there the whole trip is on foot or on light rail. Skip the rental car unless you are heading to the mountains.

Tickets are where the money goes. Sunday Night Football is Sunday Night Football, and get-in seats for Rams at Broncos were sitting in the $144 range on TickPick, the no-hidden fee ticket marketplace, this week. The Kings opener is the bargain of the trip, with seats starting around $52. Book your hotel now, because a prime time Broncos game fills downtown fast and the good rooms go first. Book early and the only thing that stings on this trip is the altitude.

Rule one: you have world class Mexican food at home, so do not spend a Denver meal trying to beat it. Eat what Denver does better, which is green chile on everything. Rule two: reread rule one.

El Taco de Mexico, Santa Fe Drive. The bright yellow building at 714 Santa Fe has been feeding this city since Maria Luisa Zanabria started out of a trailer in 1985. In 2020 it became the first Colorado restaurant the James Beard Foundation named an America's Classic. Order the chile relleno burrito, smothered in green chile. No notes. Fight us in the comments if you know a better green chile in this town.

Buckhorn Exchange, 1000 Osage Street. Denver's oldest restaurant, open since 1893, holder of Colorado liquor license No. 1, with somewhere around 500 mounted animals watching you eat. Get a steak or the bison. If your crew dares you into the Rocky Mountain oysters, know that they are not oysters, and look it up after you order. The light rail stop is right across the street, which you will appreciate.

My Brother's Bar, 15th and Platte. The oldest bar in Denver, pouring in one form or another since 1873. No TVs, classical music on the speakers, burgers wrapped in paper. Order the JCB with jalapeno cream cheese, then find the framed letter from Neal Cassady, the real guy behind Dean Moriarty in On the Road, asking a friend to go pay off his bar tab. It is the one bar in town where you cannot watch the early games on Sunday, which is exactly why you go.

Casa Bonita, Lakewood. Yes, that Casa Bonita. The pink palace from South Park, bought and restored by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, with cliff divers and a 30-foot waterfall while you work through a basket of sopapillas. Reservations are required and they go fast, so check for openings the minute you book your flight. If you get in, that is your Monday night sorted.

A 6:20 kickoff hands you the whole day. Sleep in, because the altitude gets everybody the first night whether they admit it or not. Grab brunch, then ride the E or W light rail line from Union Station to the Empower Field at Mile High station. It is a short ride, and it beats the parking situation, where lots are sold in advance and a big share of the spaces belong to season ticket holders.

The lots open hours before kickoff, and Broncos Country takes its tailgating seriously. Wear the blue and yellow with confidence and good manners. Be a good guest, and do not be surprised when the Broncos family two cars over hands you a plate. Then get inside, find your seats, and watch the sun slide behind the Front Range while the whole country tunes in on NBC. That is the picture you flew in for.

Two things that save your night: travel light, and bring a real layer. The NFL clear bag rule applies, so it is a clear tote or a small clutch no bigger than 4.5 by 6.5 inches, which means the everyday purse stays at the hotel. Load your mobile ticket before you leave. Late September in Denver can go from T-shirt afternoon to cold night in a hurry, and a night kick means you sit through the drop. Also, drink water like it is your job. The beers hit harder a mile up. You have been warned.

You have two free days between games. Do not waste them in the hotel.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre is about half an hour west of downtown. On days without a show, you can climb the rows and stand on the same stage every band you love has played. Check the concert calendar before you go.

Rocky Mountain National Park is about an hour and a half northwest, and late September is when the aspens turn gold across the high country. Through October 12 you need a timed entry reservation to drive in between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., but you can enter before 9 or after 2 without one, and extra permits drop on Recreation.gov at 7 p.m. the night before. Set the alarm, go early, and bring the good camera.

Then come back down for dinner. Casa Bonita if you scored the reservation, the Buckhorn if you did not, and a nightcap somewhere in LoDo either way.

Wednesday is the reason you stayed. Opening night in the NHL is its own holiday: the lights go down, the players get introduced one by one, and a building that waited all summer finally gets to be loud. Ball Arena is a flat walk from LoDo, so eat downtown and stroll over. Puck drops at 8 p.m. Mountain.

Now, the part Kings fans will not love hearing. Last spring Colorado won the Presidents' Trophy and swept LA in the first round. Then Vegas swept the Avs in the conference final, which is a sentence Kings fans have probably read more than once with a small smile. This is the first shot at payback, on the road, on national TV, against a team led by Nathan MacKinnon coming off a 53-goal season. Bring the black and silver and make them hear it.

Cannot swing this week? The Kings are back at Ball Arena on April 2, 2027. Everything in this guide still works then, except the aspens.

LoDo is basecamp. Stay near Union Station and you are on the airport train, the stadium train, and a walk from Ball Arena, with restaurants and bars on every block in between.

Big budget? The Crawford Hotel puts you upstairs inside Union Station itself, and the Four Seasons Denver and the Brown Palace, open since 1892, are the classic splurges. Middle of the road? The Oxford Hotel is Denver's oldest hotel, dating to 1891, and its Cruise Room bar is built for a postgame nightcap. The Rally Hotel at McGregor Square, The Maven Hotel at Dairy Block, and Limelight Denver are all an easy walk to Ball Arena. Rolling deep with a crew? Split a rental with a kitchen in LoHi or RiNo. First trip to Denver, stay near Union Station. You can get adventurous on trip two.

Here is how this ends. It is Wednesday night, a little after 10:30, and you are walking out of Ball Arena into cool mountain air with your voice half gone. Maybe the Kings got their payback. Maybe they did not. Either way, you have a Sunday night under the lights at Mile High, a green chile burrito you are still thinking about, and a camera roll full of gold aspens. The scoreboard is one part of the story. The trip is the rest of it. Book it, bring your people, and go be loud a mile up.

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See you at Mile High. Be a good guest, and travel loud.

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Before you book: 

Broncos parking and transit  ·  RTD trip planner  ·  Ball Arena  ·  Rocky Mountain National Park timed entry  ·  Visit Denver