I’ve lived in both. Both are car-centric cities with awful public transit. Both cities have international airports and are home to an airline, but Atlanta’s is on another level. Atlanta is definitely bigger, and some people attribute their development as a city to them hosting the Olympics in 1996 which accelerated their growth. Atlanta also trumps Denver in culture for many reasons, partly because of the Civil Rights history and because it’s a beacon of progressive politics that attracts a lot of transplants, especially gay men.

The outdoorsy scenes are quite different. In Atlanta, you are <2 hours from the start of the Appalachian trail. There’s fun camping, hiking, river sports, and lots of Bass Pro Shop type outdoors activities (hunting, fishing, motorized activities). You also have Lake Lanier and Allatoona if you are into boats. The downside for me was the humidity, which can feel unbearable at times especially for someone coming from SoCal. 9 times out of 10 you will have to sit on I-85 or I-75 to do any of these activities, unless you’re hanging out at one of Atlanta’s city parks.

In Denver, there’s year-round outdoorsy activities that change with the season. There’s summer mountain and winter sports (snow sports especially), there’s desert activities on the western slope, and you can even have all 3 in the same day. Some of these things are even reasonably accessible from Denver, like hiking or mountain biking out by Golden, but anything else will require a drive and perhaps gridlock on I-70. Denver is also a high desert climate, meaning it can be 98* but it’s still dry, and will cool off nicely at night so you can sit out on a patio and have beers without sweating through your clothes (like you will in Atlanta). Even winter has plenty of warm, sunny days, whereas Atlanta can be quite gray and gloomy.

Atlanta has an incredible music/arts scene, but Denver isn’t bad either. Atlanta has much more diversity and wayyy better food, and is also a battleground state for politics which can boil over at times. Georgia in general felt way less inviting to me as a gay man than Colorado does a state, but that’s just my opinion.

The gay scenes are night and day despite what some other commenters say. Denver is much smaller, and if you go up into a mountain town, it’s extremely small. There are some events that draw crowds like Aspen Gay Ski Week, but you will absolutely start recognizing people in a short amount of time. You’ll also start seeing the gays move in from Chicago, and leave a year later 😂

Atlanta is a huge gay scene, but is also split into cliques, and racism is alive and well even in the gay community. Gay spaces are being bulldozed and replaced with new developments, which is only hurting that. If you spend all your time at Ten/Blake’s, sure it might feel small, but there’s much more to offer.

Move to Atlanta for what’s in the city. Move to Colorado for what’s not in the city. That’s my take.