Denver's free museum days run on a system most states would envy: the voter-approved SCFD tax funds hundreds of free days a year across the metro's museums, gardens, and zoo. The trade-off is that almost none of them are fixed weekly windows — each institution posts its own date list, and the big ones (Botanic Gardens, Denver Zoo) now require advance tickets that sell out. The reliable constants: kids are free every day at History Colorado, the Denver Art Museum, and MCA Denver. Every entry below was checked against the venue's own admission page.
If you're working from an older list, three Denver standbys have changed: the Children's Museum's free first-Tuesday evenings are gone, MCA Denver's $1 First Saturdays no longer appear on its admission page, and the Kirkland Museum merged into the Denver Art Museum in 2024. Details in the box below — plus note that Boulder's free CU Museum of Natural History is closed for renovation into summer 2026.
Denver
Denver Art Museum
Regularly $22–$30 adultsThe DAM posts SCFD free days roughly monthly — second Tuesdays plus special Saturdays like the Colorado Day Art Market (Aug 1) and the Friendship Powwow (Sep 12). General admission is free those days for everyone, and visitors 18 and under are free every day. Special exhibitions may still be ticketed.
🌐 Check current dates →Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Regularly $25.95 adultsDMNS runs a dozen SCFD free days and nights a year — including Juneteenth, evening sessions, and Night at the Museums (Nov 7) — and unlike most Denver venues you can just walk up, no reservation. Free entry covers the permanent halls; the planetarium and temporary exhibitions take a separate ticket.
🌐 Check current dates →Denver Botanic Gardens
Regularly $18.25 adultsSCFD free days at York Street and Chatfield Farms (remaining 2026: July 1, Aug 25, Nov 27) are ticketed and sell out — reservations open on the 1st of the month, three months rolling. Year-round freebie: the first floor of the Freyer–Newman Center, with its library and herbaria, needs no ticket at all.
🌐 Check current dates →Denver Zoo
Regularly Varies (dynamic pricing)The zoo's seven Community Free Days are first-come, first-served online tickets released about two weeks before each date — no walk-ups at all, and every guest including toddlers needs a timed ticket. Remaining 2026 dates: November 11, 14, and 22, with tickets released in late October and early November.
🌐 Check current dates →History Colorado Center
Regularly $20 adultsNot SCFD-funded, but donors keep three free days alive: El Día del Niño (Apr 26), Colorado Day (Aug 1), and Night at the Museums (Nov 7). The bigger budget story is that kids 18 and under are free every single day — a family of five pays for adults only, any time.
🌐 Check current dates →MCA Denver
Regularly $14 adultsNot free, but the best standing deal in town: $5 admission every Tuesday through Thursday evening (the museum stays open to 7 pm), with the rooftop café and bar thrown in. Teens 13–18 and kids under 12 are free every day, and a My Denver Card admits two adults free per child.
🌐 Check current dates →Children's Museum of Denver — Joy Park Free Nights
Regularly $19.75 ages 2–59The museum's only remaining free window: its big outdoor Joy Park playscape opens free one Friday evening a month in summer (2026: May 22, June 19, July 17, Aug 21, Sep 25). The indoor museum is closed during free nights but offers $12 Tuesday Nights on June 2, July 7, and August 4.
🌐 Check current dates →Always Free in Colorado
No free day needed — these flagship museums never charge general admission.
Free days that recently ended
Still listed on many older round-ups — verified gone as of June 2026:
- Children's Museum of Denver free first-Tuesday evenings — Gone — the museum's site now states it offers no free nights beyond the outdoor Joy Park Fridays (May–Sept). New consolation: $12 Tuesday Nights on select summer dates.
- MCA Denver $1 First Saturdays — No longer listed on the museum's admission page — the standing budget window is now $5 admission Tuesday–Thursday after 5 pm. Teens are still free every day.
- Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center monthly free days — The FAC's own event calendar currently shows no upcoming Museum Free Days, and the museum is now closed Sunday–Tuesday. Older lists tout second Saturdays and third Fridays — call (719) 634-5581 before planning around one.
- CU Museum of Natural History (Boulder) — The always-free campus museum is temporarily closed for the Hellems renovation, expected through summer 2026 — collection visits by appointment only until it reopens.