History continues to be made inside The Brown Palace and Spa, a Mobil Four-Star, AAA Four-Diamond hotel. A visit here will go down as one of your top stops in Denver. Located in the heart of downtown Denver, The Brown will make history come alive and help you create your own.
Historic Brown Palace Hotel & Spa
Enter the Brown and you immediately become immersed in another “world.” As a Denver-based freelance writer, I’ve had the pleasure of staying at the Brown numerous times, and I’ve never been disappointed.
The elegant atrium of the Brown Palace Hotel
Nearly every U.S. president since Teddy Roosevelt has visited The Brown, and the hotel offers three luxurious president suites (Eisenhower, Regan and Roosevelt) so you can sleep with history. If you’re into music history, then a stay at the Beatle’s Suite, named for them and where they stayed in 1964, is worth booking.
Sip a 116-year-old Tradition when partaking of the daily Afternoon Tea in the atrium lobby. Walk through the halls and visit the rooms that made history at the Brown Palace during a complimentary historical tour (advance reservations suggested).
Take a peek at history and taste it too at Palace Arms. With accolades from Zagat, Palace Arms is known as much for its award-winning cuisine as its unique Napoleonic setting. Antiques, including a pair of dueling pistols believed to have belonged to Napoleon, dating from 1670 adorn this restaurant opened in 1950.
Brown Palace Corner King Room
Another must stop, more casual, is the Ship’s Tavern for their famous prime rib and bread pudding.
And if you happen to visit during January, stop by the Brown for a peek at the prize steer, an annual display in celebration of the National Western Stockshow and Rodeo, a Denver tradition since 1906.
Located in the heart of downtown Denver, historic hotels sometime come across as pretentious, yet The Brown Palace somehow brings home the historic component layering in all the comforts of home to make you feel, well, like you’ve come home. And then there’s that ghostly aspect for those looking for a haunting during Halloween – or any time of the year.
President Eisenhower Suite at the Brown Palace in Denver
Here are some insider’s secrets to getting the most out of your Brown Palace stay:
Sleep steeped in history!
Sleep in a Real Presidential Suite! Nearly every U.S president since Teddy Roosevelt has visited The Brown Palace. The hotel has three luxurious presidential suites (Eisenhower, Reagan and Roosevelt), but the Eisenhower Suite is perhaps the most historical room in the hotel. Denver was the location of Eisenhower’s wife’s family home. This actual suite became known as the “Western White House” when they would visit, often for six weeks at a time.
All you need is love, love, love when you stay in the Beatle’s Suite. This suite isn’t just named after the famous band; this is the actual room that they stayed in during their visit to Denver in 1964 for a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Before the Beatles’ visit, the hotel saw a great surge in applications for housekeepers by young girls. After the Beatles’ stay, monetary offers were made for the dishes from which they ate and the sheets on which they slept.
Suite tip: Since Lizzie the cat made permanent paw prints in the concrete a century ago, the Brown has hosted four-leg. Dogs of any size (additional charge and requirements) are welcome to stay in the guest rooms and suites with their owner. Other four-legged creatures include, in honor of the National Western Stock Show each January, a grand champion steer during Afternoon Tea in the atrium lobby.
Sip a 116-year-old Tradition.
Afternoon Tea is served daily in the warm light of the atrium lobby, always with the soothing sounds of a harpist or pianist.
Afternoon tea at the Brown Palace
Specially commissioned Royal Daulton bone china graces each tea table, along with engraved silver tea pots. Scones, tea pastries and tea sandwiches are prepared by the hotel’s culinary staff each day, and Devonshire cream is shipped directly from England. A full complement of wines, champagnes, sherries and ports are also available.
Brown Palace Afternoon tea
Complimentary historical tours for guests of the hotel.
Walk through the halls and visit the rooms that made history — and where some of the guests still haunt the halls — at the Brown Palace. For example, in celebration of Valentine’s Day, Historian will lead complimentary, open to the public “Affairs of the Heart” historic tours of the 116-year-old Brown Palace hotel highlighting the romantic rendezvous’ that have occurred throughout the years, from President Ike and Mamie Eisenhower to the scandalous affairs of Isabelle “Sassy” Springer and Mrs. Louise Crawford Hill. These and other themed tours are offered to the public free of charge.
NOTE: Reservations are required. 303-297-3111.
Take a peek at history and taste it too at Palace Arms. With recent accolades from Zagat, Palace Arms is known as much for its award-winning cuisine as its unique Napoleonic setting. Antiques, including a pair of dueling pistols believed to have belonged to Napoleon, dating from 1670 adorn this restaurant opened in 1950. Tasting menus begin at $65 per person for four-courses up to $95 per person for a sumptuous eight-course tasting. The Palace Arms is also home to a Hardy Perfect Series “Air,” Fire,” Water,” glass of cognac at $600 a glass, the world’s oldest known unblended cognac dating back to the 1870s.
Make reservations online at the hotel website or book through Hotels.com.
