Ghost Towns
Ghost Towns Near Las Vegas
Five towns, in the order most people should consider them, with a drive time from Las Vegas and a plain description of the visit. Tonopah is listed after them because the Clown Motel page lives with the weird day trips, and the town is still a mining camp on the same highway as Rhyolite.
Times are rounded planning figures for a dry day. They are not live traffic and not a report on dirt-road conditions. The drive-time table uses the same numbers.
The towns
- Nelson Ghost Town and the Techatticup Mine
About 45 minutes · Weathered mine buildings at a privately run site. The highway approach is paved. River access is a separate question.
- Rhyolite Ghost Town
About 2 hours · A short spur from Beatty to railroad-era ruins and the Goldwell Open Air Museum. Give it a full day from Las Vegas.
- Goodsprings
About 45 minutes · Pioneer Saloon, a cemetery, and a few older buildings in a town where people still live. Easy pavement, about 45 minutes.
- St. Thomas
About 1 hour 15 minutes · A walk inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area to foundations that only exist as a visit when the water is down.
- Gold Point
About 3.5 to 4 hours · An occupied remnant, not a staffed park. Worth it only if the unpaved approach is acceptable that week.
- Tonopah and the Clown Motel
About 3 to 3.5 hours · Tonopah is a real county seat with a mining park and the Clown Motel. The drive is too long for a casual there-and-back. Filed under Weird Day Trips because of the motel, and linked here so it stays on the mining-town map.
- Area 51 Day Trip from Las Vegas
About 2.5 hours each way · About two and a half hours each way to Rachel. You stay on public roads. The test site is not a tour.
Choosing a day
Nelson and Goodsprings are the half-day drives, both about 45 minutes, both reachable on pavement. Rhyolite needs a full day. St. Thomas is a shorter drive than Rhyolite and only pays off when Lake Mead is low enough to expose the foundations. Gold Point is the far one, with unpaved miles at the end.
Ways to stack them, and the reasons not to, are on sample itineraries. Water, fuel, and old mines are on desert day-trip tips. Drive figures for every stop are on drive times and distances.