If you're looking for a great place for a summer vacation this year, you need to take a good, hard look at Denver. Here are five reasons why:

Fun things to do.

We have Six Flags Elitch Gardens with its amazing water park, the Children's Museum of Denver, the, Downtown Aquarium, and the Denver Zoo. Plus, there is the Denver Art Museum, the Nature and Science Museum with its incredible exhibition Body Worlds II, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA).

Big league sports

Denver has two big league teams that play here during the summer the Colorado Rockies and the Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer team. Whichever you choose, you'll have a great summer evening under the Colorado stars. Plus, you can get tickets to see both these teams play on game day by walking up to the their ticket counters.

Great summer weather

Denver's summer weather is a treat. In July, our hottest month, the average daytime high is 88 degrees and the average low is 58. This means that even if its warm during the day, it cools off at night to become really comfortable. Plus, we get very little rain and when we do, it usually consists of brief late-afternoon showers.

The best of both worlds

When you choose Denver for your summer vacation, you get both a big, fun city and our spectacular mountains. You can literally shop at Nieman-Marcus (in the Cherry Creek Mall) or take in the Denver Art Museum in the morning, and then spend the afternoon watching buffalo roam high up in the Rocky Mountains just 30 minutes from our downtown area.

One of our best secrets in the city's chain of mountain parks which total 14,000 acres, or 22 square miles, scattered over an area of 380 square miles. These mountain parks offer everything from spectacular scenery and picnicking to hiking and even fishing. Best of all, you can drive to most of them in an hour or less.

Two great day trips

You can use Denver as a jumping off point for some fun day trips. One I like is a loop from Denver to Estes Park, through Rocky Mountain National Park, then down the Big Thompson Canyon and through Loveland and back to Denver. You can do this trip in one day and it has everything great scenery, wildlife watching and a fun, little town.

The second trip I like is to Colorado Springs. It's only 60 miles from Denver and has the Air Force Academy, Pikes Peak (don't miss the cogwheel railroad), Garden of the Gods, and a half-dozen other attractions.

Pick Denver for your summer vacation and it's simple. You just can't go wrong.