Start Counting Those Steps: How Far You Have to Walk at Colorado’s DIA

You’ve said it hundreds of times if you’re a business traveler.

If you’re a vacationer, you’ve gone to the airport excited and ready to relax, and then it starts out anything but.

You show up at Colorado's DIA, check your bags, and survive that looooong Denver International Airport security line. Then, you make it down the escalator (or steps if you’re counting 'em with that wearable tracker) to the train, er, "automated guideway transit system," as the airport folk call it.

I love that little arriving music and the message from Denver’s mayor. These guys do, too, and made a fun song from the DIA train announcement.

Next up: Herd off the airport train and up the escalators. You have arrived at your concourse.

But wait, the walk continues. You’re lucky if you have one of the first gates. Mine are always at the very end of the concourse.

It feels like you’ve walked a mile, maybe more. And you are right.

How long is the walk to the gates at DIA?

It’s 1.45 miles, to be exact.

That’s 3,336 steps for the average woman.

And for her, it takes 20 minutes.

You’ve always said it: DIA has got to be the biggest airport on earth. Well, it isn’t, but the walk is among the longest in America.

(BTW, Denver's airport is the biggest in the Western Hemisphere.)

A shoe company recently compared the longest and shortest airport walks, and DIA was ranked fourth for the longest walk between gates.

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How does Denver International Airport compare?

Longest Airport Walks

1: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport at 2.16 miles

2: Washington Dulles International Airport at 1.62 miles

3: George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 1.52 miles

4: Denver International Airport at 1.45 miles

5: John F. Kennedy International Airport at 1.38 miles

Even while traveling and stress often go hand in hand, only 40% of Americans find the long airport walk annoying, according to Kuru’s travel research.

The shortest? Well, I would have imagined Jackson Hole Airport would make this “short” list. But no. It will just have to remain one of the most beautiful landings—in my opinion, of course.

Shortest Airport Walks

1: Blue Grass Airport at 0.11 miles

2: Westchester County Airport at 0.12 miles

3: Harrisburg International Airport at 0.12 miles

4: Lihue Airport at 0.18 miles

5: Hollywood Burbank Airport at 0.20 miles

How big is Denver International Airport?

By other measures, here’s just how large the growing airport is.

• 140 gates
• 34,00 acres of land (53 square miles)
• It has one of the tallest air traffic control towers in the United States.

The next time you’re heading out to DIA, put on those walking shoes — you’re gonna have to walk a mile in ’em.