The A Line: Denver Airport to Downtown by Train
The University of Colorado A Line runs between Denver International Airport and Union Station in about 37 minutes, every 15 minutes through the middle of the day. The fare is $10 — and it is an Airport Day Pass, not a one-way ticket, so the same $10 covers your trip back later that day plus unlimited other RTD rides. Almost every national guide to Denver gets this wrong and tells you $10 each way.
Book where the train actually stops
How much does the train from Denver airport cost?
$10 for an Airport Day Pass. RTD sells it as a day pass rather than a single ride, so a same-day round trip between the airport and downtown costs $10 total, and it also covers every other RTD bus and train you take that day.
That distinction is worth real money on a short trip. If you land Friday, ride into town, and take light rail to a game on Saturday, you are buying two day passes rather than four single fares.
Riders 19 and under travel free on RTD, so a family arriving with teenagers pays for the adults only.
| Pass | Adult | Discount |
|---|---|---|
| Airport Day Pass | $10.00 | No additional charge for discount-fare riders |
| 3-hour pass | $2.75 | $1.35 |
| Day pass | $5.50 | $2.70 |
| Monthly pass (includes airport) | $88.00 | $27.00 |
| Upgrade to airport from a 3-hour pass | $7.25 | — |
| Upgrade to airport from a day pass | $4.50 | — |
How long does the A Line take, and how often does it run?
About 37 minutes end to end between Denver International Airport and Union Station, covering 23 miles. Trains run every 15 minutes through the middle of the day and every 30 minutes early and late, seven days a week. RTD adjusts the exact windows at each service change — the next takes effect 27 September 2026 — so check the live schedule for your travel date.
First and last departures shift with the schedule and RTD does not publish them in a form worth quoting here. If you are catching a genuinely early flight or landing near midnight, check RTD's live schedule for the day you travel rather than trusting any guide, including this one.
Which Denver hotels are on the A Line?
The A Line has eight stations, and three of them put you inside a walkable Denver neighborhood: Union Station for LoDo and downtown, 38th and Blake for RiNo, and Central Park for the east-side residential neighborhoods. Book near one of those and you can skip the rental car entirely.
The practical version: staying at Union Station or in RiNo means the airport is a single train ride with no transfer. That is unusual for a US city and it is the strongest argument for paying LoDo rates on a first visit.
- Union Station — LoDo, downtown, the 16th Street FreeRide, and connections to Empower Field and Ball Arena
- 38th and Blake — RiNo, and a short walk to Mission Ballroom
- 40th and Colorado
- Central Park
- Peoria
- 40th and Airport Blvd — Gateway Park, the airport hotel cluster
- 61st and Peña
- Denver Airport
Rooms at the end of the line
All four are inside a few minutes' walk of Union Station, where the A Line terminates. The Crawford is literally inside the building.
stylish downtown location near union station
Is the A Line better than a rideshare from the airport?
For downtown, RiNo or anywhere near Union Station, yes — it is faster than rush-hour traffic, costs $10 for the round trip, and drops you in the middle of the city. A rideshare wins if you are staying somewhere the train does not reach, arriving outside service hours, or traveling with more luggage than you want to carry.
This page covers the train. Hotel shuttles, mountain shuttles, rideshare and taxi costs are covered separately in the Denver airport ground-transport guide. Denver gets an unusually high share of visitors by air — 42% of overnight visitors arrive by plane, against a national average of 28% — which is why the airport connection matters more here than in most US cities.
Worth doing once you are downtown
You saved the rideshare money. Here is what the difference buys.
2h 30minDenver City Highlights Tour & Neighborhood Spotlight
3hDowntown Denver Food Tour
1h 45minBest of Denver Bus Tour: Highlights, Views & Local Favorites
2h 30minThe Best of Denver: E-Bike & Bicycle Tour of the Downtown Sites
Getting to Denver venues without a car
Light rail reaches most of Denver's major venues directly from downtown. Empower Field is two stops from Union Station on the E or W line. Ball Arena has its own station on the E and W lines. Mission Ballroom sits by the 38th and Blake A Line station.
- Coors Field — walk from Union Station, about seven minutes
- Ball Arena — Ball Arena/Elitch Gardens station on the E and W lines
- Empower Field at Mile High — two stops from Union Station on the E or W line
- Mission Ballroom — 38th and Blake on the A Line, one stop from Union Station
- Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre — a 10-minute walk from Arapahoe at Village Center station
- Red Rocks Amphitheatre — no transit service. You drive, take a private show shuttle, or use a rideshare.
What about the 16th Street FreeRide?
The free shuttle along 16th Street is now called the 16th Street FreeRide, not the MallRide, and the street itself is now just 16th Street rather than the 16th Street Mall. It runs Union Station to Civic Center every 4 to 12 minutes, free, with no ticket.
16th Street reopened over the first weekend of October 2025 after more than three years and $175 million of reconstruction. Guides that still call it the MallRide or describe the construction detours were written before that and have not been touched since.
Book where the train actually stops
The A Line only saves you money if your hotel is near one of its stations. These two clusters are the ones it genuinely serves — Union Station at the end of the line, and the airport district for a pre-dawn departure.
LoDo & Union Station
You get off the train and walk to the front desk. The most expensive sleep in Denver, and the only one where the A Line does all the work.
All LoDo & Union Stationhotels →Near DEN
For a flight before about 7am, when working backwards through the timetable makes a downtown room a bad night's sleep.
clean, spacious suites near the airport
massive resort with water parks and stellar service
steps from your gate, premium prices included
convenient airport stay with friendly service
Common questions
Is the $10 A Line fare each way?
No. RTD sells it as an Airport Day Pass, so $10 covers the trip out, the trip back the same day, and any other RTD bus or train you use that day.
Do I need to buy the A Line ticket in advance?
No. Buy it at the station or in RTD's app before you board. There are no reservations and no assigned seats.
How do you buy an A Line ticket at the airport?
At the ticket kiosks by the platform — they are at the bottom of the escalator down from the terminal, and they take cash or card. You do not need an account and you do not need the app, though RTD's MyRide app works if you prefer. Buy before you board: inspectors check tickets on the A Line regularly. Youth 19 and under and active-duty US military ride free, which is worth knowing before you buy four adult fares for a family.
How long is an RTD day pass valid?
Until 2:59am, not 24 hours from when you activate it. That trips people up: a pass bought at 4pm on Tuesday is dead at 3am Wednesday, not at 4pm Wednesday. The upside is that within one service day an Airport Day Pass covers multiple airport round-trips, so if you are collecting someone later the same day you do not need a second one.
Which level of Denver airport is baggage claim on?
Baggage claim is on Level 5, on both the east and west sides of the terminal. Passenger pickup is Level 4. People mix these two up constantly when arranging to meet someone — if you are being collected, agree on Level 4 and a side, east or west, because the building is long enough that the side matters more than the level.
Where does the A Line drop you in downtown Denver?
Union Station, in the middle of LoDo. The station building itself holds The Crawford HotelBook, a food hall and several bars, and the 16th Street FreeRide starts from the door.
Have RTD fares changed recently?
Not since 1 January 2024, when RTD simplified and in most cases lowered its fares. Fare news from 2026 concerns Access-on-Demand paratransit, not the trains or buses.
Also worth knowing before you book
Still deciding where to book?
The full neighborhood breakdown covers who each part of Denver actually suits, what it costs, and who should skip it.
Where to stay in Denver →How this guide got made
A mix of things: Google ratings and review counts, weighted so a 4.5 with two thousand reviews beats a 5.0 with eleven; walking distances routed over real sidewalks rather than measured as the crow flies; and a decent amount of opinion from someone who lives here and has been in most of these lobbies.
Hotels move, though. Rooftop pools close for the winter. Parking that was free in March costs $50 by June. A dog policy grows a weight limit. Everything here was checked in August 2026, and we go back through it every quarter — but the hotel is the only one who knows what's true today. So if one specific detail is the reason you're booking — the pool, the shuttle at 4am, whether the dog comes — take ninety seconds and call them. Then go enjoy Denver.
Rate links go to Expedia and earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes the order — the ranking is the ranking, and plenty of places we recommend pay us nothing. More about how this site works.
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What will it cost on your dates?
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