This Homage To The Wild West's Heyday Is A Fun-Filled Arizona Ghost Town With Shops And Historic Attractions

There are a few places in the country where fans of American history can step back in time to the Gold Rush era of the 19^th century, such as Dutch Flat, a perfectly preserved town in California's Sierra Foothills. Unfortunately, many of the sites of former mines have been redeveloped and are now part of the modern world.

However, Goldfield Ghost Town, Arizona, just a 45-minute drive east of Phoenix, is a prime example of leaning into the past. A former Gold Rush site founded in 1893, the settlement in its prime was filled with prospectors and their crews looking to make their fortune excavating precious metals from the local mines. However, it was not to last; the seam eventually grew barren, and for decades the town remained deserted.

In the 1980s, however, Goldfield experienced a remarkable recovery, thanks to the restoration of the town's 19^th-century aesthetic by two developers whose work paid off in terms of visitors. People now flock to the site to have their own Gold Rush experience.

There are countless attractions to keep the whole family entertained in Goldfield Ghost Town. One must-visit is the Goldfield Mine Tour, a 25-minute guided experience that takes you underground to the mines as they used to be over a century ago. You can see the ingenious equipment used to extract the precious materials that once made the town thrive. 

A ride on the Superstition Narrow Gauge Railroad, traveling in a Plymouth diesel, takes you a mile and a half around the edge of town as an engineer guide explains the technology that underpinned early rail travel. Meanwhile, the Mystery Shack is an eye-popping experience involving strangely angled objects, such as a seemingly haunted pool table that bends the path of the balls you shoot, and water faucets that flow with water despite appearing not to be plumbed!

Goldfield is also a good place for historic entertainment. Between November and April, the "Goldfield Gunslingers" stage hourly Wild West shootouts, while at night the town hosts spooky ghost tours that take in the old mining infrastructure, with bone-chilling results. You can explore Lu Lu's Bordello and encounter a cast of colorful characters pulled from the 19^th century. For something more active, you can go ziplining, try your hand at gold panning — if you're lucky, you can even find some real gold to take home as a souvenir of your visit — or saddle up and take a scenic mountain horse ride from Superstition's O.K. Corral Stables.

Goldfield Ghost Town is open every day of the week. The train and mine tours operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as do the onsite merchants. Stores include a traditional apothecary, candy store, and bakery, as well as several gift stores specializing in period items. The coffee shop is open from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., and the saloon, which is also a steakhouse, is open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. weekends and until 8 p.m. Sunday to Thursday.

There is a campground onsite with full amenities, which allows for tents, vehicles with hook-ups, and even horses. Other accommodation options include the Saguaro Lake Guest Ranch, a 35-minute drive away in Mesa. Located in the Tonto National Forest, the cozy, rustic ranch offers beautiful views of the surrounding wilderness. If you're looking to combine your visit with a spot of golf or some rejuvenation, Gold Canyon Golf Resort & Spa in nearby Gold Canyon, 20 minutes south, will offer you all the luxury you need.

Looking for other Arizona Wild West destinations? Tombstone is a city full of unique activities, shops, and history, as is the underrated, beautiful desert town of Wickenburg.