Silver City

Silver City is a town in the southwestern part of New Mexico, USA. An old mining town, it is currently undergoing rebirth as a modest high-tech center and jumping-off point to a number of attractive areas in the mountains. The small nearby towns of Bayard, Hurley, etc., are also covered in this article.

Travel to Silver City - Visa Requirements

There is intermittent air service via commuter airlines from Albuquerque. Road access is best from the southeast, via US 180 from Deming, and southwest, via NM 90 from I-10 near Lordsburg. NM 152 connects Silver City to I-25 near Truth or Consequences to the east, and is a scenic and interesting drive, but one with some daunting hairpin curves that may challenge drivers of large, unwieldy vehicles. Access from the north is sharply limited by the roadless Gila Wilderness.

Tours and Getting around Silver City

Silver City tourist attractions and sightseeing

• Silver City Museum, 312 W. Broadway, +1 575 538-5921. Open Tu-F 9AM - 4:30PM, weekends 10AM - 4PM. Free. Memorabilia of Silver City's mining-town past.

Silver City city tours

• Silver City Blues Festival, Gough Park, downtown Silver City, [1]. May 22 - 24, 2009.  

Silver City souvenirs and shopping

• Mimbres Region Arts Council(MRAC), PO Box 1830, ☎ 888-758-7289, [2]. Silver City Blues Festival 

Silver City Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

The Mexican food is good all over town.

The Drifter 711 Silver Heights Boulevard - Old fashion diner

Silver City nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

• The Flame 2800 N Pinos Altos Rd - An interesting experience
• Buffalo Bar 211 N Bullard St - Interesting is not quite the right word
• Silver City Brewing Company 101 E College Ave - Say hi to Bob

Silver City cheap and luxurious hotels, youth hostels and lodging

• Carter House, 101 N. Cooper St., +1 575 388-5485. Two lodging options here: a well-regarded B&B in an historic building, or dormitory-style accommodations as part of the American Youth Hostels system.
• Comfort Inn Silver City, 1060 E. Rt. 180. Indoor pool & hot tub, free high-speed wireless internet. Entire hotel is non-smoking. Usually one of the first to fill up.
• The Cottages at Piñon Canyon, 2037 Cottage San Road, +1 800 938-3001 (toll free) or +1 575 388-3000. Set comfortably by Gila National Forest. Pricey, but how often can you stay in a place that was the childhood home of a man who walked on the Moon (astronaut Harrison Schmitt)? ON 7/18/2008 I called to make a reservation and both numbers were disconnected. Is this place still in business?
• Holiday Inn Express, 1103 Superior St. Generic hotel-chain lodging, nothing special but comfortable. Newer building than the other nearby chain hotels. Includes free high-speed internet.
• Palace Hotel, [3] 106 W. Broadway, 575-388-1811. Renovated historic hotel in downtown.

Get out

Silver City's mountain setting allows for a number of fine excursions to outdoor points of interest:

• City of Rocks State Park [4], south of town via NM 61. Fee $5/day for day use; campground fees start at $8/night and range upward depending on access to hookups, etc. A number of interesting short hikes are possible through weird terrain reminiscent of better-known Chiricahua National Monument across the state line in Arizona (another good, but long, excursion from Silver City).
• Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument [5] north of town, a unit of the national park system. Fee $3/day for individuals, $10/day for families; Park Pass applies. Trails to archaeological sites are open for day use. No lodging at the monument; plan to stay in Silver City.
• Gila Wilderness is a large roadless area north of town, reachable via any number of trailheads in the area. Good for day hiking and backpacking.
• Pinos Altos is a mining ghost town located six miles north of Silver City on State Road 15. It has been converted into a tourist attraction and features museums, restaurants, lodging, and art galleries. [6]

This page was last edited by Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. Based on work by Seth Fulton and Bill Johnson, Wikitravel user(s) PerryPlanet, Uncia and Cacahuate and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license