We had our sights set on a full week away. Savannah, Georgia. Nova Scotia. The Oregon Coast. We batted around all three before the flight and hotel prices talked us out of it. So instead of a week far from home, we scaled back to a three-day long weekend in Leadville; a place I’d been meaning to visit for the entire twelve years I’ve lived in Colorado.
Somehow, in over a decade of exploring this state, I’d never made it up to the highest incorporated city in the United States. Leadville sits at 10,152 feet, tucked into a high valley near the headwaters of the Arkansas River, with Colorado’s two tallest peaks — Mount Elbert and Mount Massive — rising on the western horizon. It’s a town that once rivaled Denver in size and wealth during the silver boom of the 1880s, and its downtown still looks the part: brick storefronts, ornate cornices, and a Wild West saloon or two still pouring drinks in the same buildings they always have.
We booked lodging and activities only about two weeks out, which for us is basically last-minute. It worked out fine — but depending on the time of year, you may want to give yourself a little more runway than we did.
A quick fun fact before we get into the day-by-day: you’ll sometimes hear that Leadville came within two votes of becoming Colorado’s state capital. It’s a great story, and it gets repeated constantly around town — but when we looked into it, it turns out to be local legend rather than history. In the actual 1881 statewide vote, Leadville wasn’t even one of the official contenders (those were Denver, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Cañon City, and Salida), and Leadville only pulled in 374 write-in votes county-wide, finishing third behind Denver and Colorado Springs even in its own backyard. Denver won in a landslide. Fun story, just not a true one — and honestly, the real history of Leadville’s mining boom and bust is wild enough without embellishment.
Getting There
We left the house around 7:15 a.m. on Saturday, expecting a three-hour drive. It ended up being closer to two — I think we’d looked at a traffic-heavy estimate the first time. I-70 through the mountains is gorgeous no matter which direction you’re driving, and even after we exited the interstate, the drive up toward Leadville stayed scenic the whole way. If you’re coming from the Front Range, budget close to two hours in good conditions.
Where We Stayed in Leadville For our two nights in Leadville, we based ourselves on the south end of town, at the Old Tale Inn. This wasn’t our first choice, but unbenowdst to us, there was a race in town, and lots of places were booked. The Inn was about 11 rooms. The room was basic, clean, and dark. But, being within walking distance of Harrison Avenue made a huge difference—we could pop out for breakfast, stroll to the museums, and hit the saloons without ever needing to move the car. At $264 and $257 per night, it was a little pricey for what it was a solid base for being steps from the action.
Day 1: History, a Little Altitude Shock, and an Accidental Bike Race
We rolled into Leadville around 9:30 a.m. ready to hit the ground running. Our travel style is naturally pretty ‘go-go-go,’ and Day 1 ended up being a full-on foot tour—clocking 15,651 steps (5.9 miles). Between systematically exploring downtown, walking back to move the car, heading to the hotel for a quick recharge nap, walking the entire length of town for the bar crawl, and heading back out for dinner, we crisscrossed Harrison Avenue multiple times.
Breakfast at the Golden Burro Cafe and Lounge ($37.20 for two). I got a burrito that hit the spot. Justin ordered the huevos rancheros, which looked — and by his account, tasted — pretty rough. He barely touched it. One for two isn’t a bad breakfast average, but if you go, maybe steer toward the burrito.
From there we walked up to the Heritage Museum, housed in a beautiful old Carnegie library (we’d actually just seen another one of these in Dodge City, and it’s fun realizing how many small American towns share this same civic architecture). I’d assumed it was free since the website didn’t post pricing, but it’s $6 per adult and $3 per child, cash accepted. Worth it. One room covers the town’s founding and mining history with well-done dioramas; the other is packed with period artifacts. Upstairs is a replica of Leadville’s famous Ice Palace — a genuinely incredible piece of history.
Here’s the short version: in the winter of 1895–96, with the town reeling from the Silver Panic and Leadville’s mines idling, local business leaders gambled on building an actual ice castle to draw tourists back to town. They pulled it off in about 36 days — a Norman-style structure with 90-foot towers, a 180-foot skating rink, ballrooms, a restaurant, a theater, and even a carousel house, all built from solid ice blocks over five acres. It opened January 1, 1896, drew huge crowds via special train fares, and then — this being Colorado — an early spring thaw melted the whole thing by the end of March. It was a financial bust for its investors, but it’s one of the more delightfully absurd stories in Colorado history, and the museum tells it well. Give the whole museum 45–60 minutes.
On the walk back into town, we ducked into the Melanzana store. Fair warning: you really need an appointment to shop there properly, though they do keep a small rack for walk-ins. We didn’t love the colors available that day and left empty-handed, but the brand’s popularity in this town cannot be overstated — you were genuinely in the minority in Leadville if you weren’t wearing one of their fleeces.
While wandering downtown, we stumbled — happily — onto the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race, timed right as the elite finishers were coming in. The top two men crossed the line within a second or two of each other, and we stuck around long enough to watch the first woman finish too. It’s hard to overstate how impressive 100 miles on a mountain bike is under normal circumstances; add in Leadville’s elevation, plus even higher stretches out on the course, and it borders on absurd. (and the following weekend folks would be running the 100 miles!)
Standing around in the sun got hot fast (altitude will do that), so we cooled off with a stop at Two Mile Brewery, sitting outside on the patio (#311).
At 2 p.m. we had tickets for the Tabor Opera House Tour. Our guide was young, clearly reciting a memorized script, and got visibly thrown off by follow-up questions — mine included. The tour leaned heavily into the biography of Horace and Baby Doe Tabor and comparatively light on the building itself, which was a bit of a letdown since we’d just absorbed most of that story at the Heritage Museum a few hours earlier. That said, the theater itself is worth seeing: fold-down seats, some with little umbrella and hat racks tucked underneath, and an original balcony section built so tightly together that modern-sized humans can barely fit — they no longer sell tickets up there, partly because the ledge is too low for safety. We also saw the stage’s backdrop collection (said to be worth millions) and the dressing area below. It was a short tour overall, and if you’ve already done the Heritage Museum, temper your expectations for new information.
Knowing we were going to be drinking some beer later on, we thought we should get some more food in us. We had lunch at The Famous. We started with some fried sweet potato disks, I got a salad and Justin got the pizza. I thought my salad had too much dressing on it — but I think I like things a little drier than others. But overall it was good, the service was friendly, and we had an indoor seat near the back open door — so the atmosphere was perfect.
We checked into our hotel next, then headed out for our evening plan: a guided historic bar crawl ($44/person) through Leadville’s saloons. We enjoy doing walking tours in cities/towns to get a deeper look from someone local. Four of us were booked, but the other pair never showed, so it turned into essentially a private tour. Our guide, Dean, was outgoing, funny, and easy to talk to — genuinely one of the best parts of the day. We hit the Pastime Saloon, the Silver Dollar Saloon, the rooftop at Treeline, and finished (no drink) at the Delaware Hotel. Honestly, with just the two of us, Justin and I probably could have done the same bar hop on our own — the tour shines more with a bigger group to swap stories with, and by that point in the day, a lot of the mining history was repetition of what we’d already heard twice. Dean carried it well regardless. The tour ran about 2 hours instead of the advertised 2.5, wrapping around 7:30 p.m.
Justin wanted dinner after; I was less hungry but tagged along to The Leadville Grill and Cantina. The salsa was genuinely the best part of the meal — I had fish tacos, Justin had a combo platter, and by that point I was too full to properly enjoy mine.
Day 2: Trains, Museums, and a Splurge Dinner in a Yurt
Day 2 was another active one—we logged 14,104 steps (5.27 miles). It was a bit less zigzagging than Day 1, but between walking to the train depot, covering multiple floors at the National Mining Museum, and the hike up to the yurt dinner, it was a steady, high-energy day.
We started with breakfast at Mineral 1866, the restaurant inside the historic Delaware Hotel — genuinely delicious. Justin got the Leadville 100 (a hearty option living up to its name), and I had an omelet.
From there we walked to catch the Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad scenic train, where we’d upgraded to seats in the lounge car with big windows. I may write a full post on the train ride separately, since there’s a lot to say about it — the short version is that it was good, but not quite the jaw-dropping experience I’d built it up to be in my head, and seating placement matters more than you’d think for the views.
Next up was the National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum. This is where I hit a wall of frustration with customer service — long story short, a staff member gave me technically-true-but-unhelpfully-worded answers about the $1 bag lockers that turned a 30-second interaction into a confusing five minutes. Once we actually got inside, though, the museum itself delivered: more excellent dioramas, a simulated mine shaft you walk through, and my two favorite rooms — the glow in the dark & a beautifully organized hall of rocks and minerals.
After that came the exhibit on molybdenum, the mineral behind the nearby Climax Mine, once the largest underground mine in the world. Discovered in 1879 and misidentified for years (early prospectors thought the gray ore was worthless), molybdenum turned out to be critical for hardening steel, and by 1957 Climax was mining and milling 35,000 tons of ore a day with 1,800 employees. When the mine’s company town — at 11,450 feet, once the highest town in North America — outgrew its home, it was moved building by building down the mountain to Leadville in the early 1960s. I loved that the museum ran three parallel timelines side by side so you could see mining, national, and world history unfold together. We didn’t linger long in the Hall of Fame section itself.
Getting hungry but knowing we had a serious splurge dinner ahead, we kept it light with a stop at Mountain Pies, splitting a margherita pizza on the patio (the other pizzas on nearby tables looked excellent too).
Then it was back to the hotel to rest before our reservation at the Tennessee Pass Cookhouse, a yurt-dinner experience that deserves — and got — its own full post, because there’s simply too much to say about the hike up, the setting, the food, and the sunset to squeeze in here.
Day 3: Mosquito Pass by UTV, Then On to Beaver Creek
Our last morning in Leadville was a UTV tour up toward Mosquito Pass, the highest drivable pass in the Lower 48 at 13,185 feet. That one gets its own full write-up too, since we shot about 75 minutes of GoPro footage and there’s a lot of great trail and mining history to cover.
After the tour wrapped, we packed up and left Leadville, driving the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway from Leadville toward Minturn, filming the drive along the way.
We stopped at Vail Brewing Company, sat outside with a beer, and ordered fried pickles from the food truck parked nearby. (#312)
From there we checked into Beaver Creek Lodge, where we were greeted with sparkling wine — and then promptly got stuck in the elevator for 20 minutes. We tried the pool and hot tub, though the hot tub was too hot for me to even get a toe in comfortably.
We didn’t plan much else for that final stretch, and in hindsight that was the right call — after three fairly packed days, and a minor stomach issue that popped up, some unstructured downtime was exactly what we needed.
Why We Stayed an Extra Night Instead of Just Driving Home
We talked about this on the drive — why not just head straight home after Leadville instead of adding a night in Beaver Creek? The honest answer is that three full days away, even close to home, was genuinely restorative. We were busy nearly the entire time and enjoyed almost everything we did. Splitting the return trip with one relaxed, low-key night made the whole long weekend feel like a real getaway instead of a rushed errand — even though we never got farther than a couple of hours from our front door.
Summary & Costs
This long weekend may be more in the splurge category — an expensive dinner, lots of admissions & tours, and lodging.
| Day 1 | Hotel: $264.34 Food / Drink: $183.51 B: Golden Burro Cafe and Lounge $37.20 S: Two Mile Brewing $31.70 L: The Famous $64.97 D: The Leadville Grill and Cantina $49.64 Activities: $137.16 + $48.30 drinks Heritage Museum $12 Tabor Opera House $32 Bar Crawl $93.16 + drinks 26.55 + 13.75 + 8.00 |
| Day 2 | Hotel: $257.07 Food / Drink: $485.00 B: Mineral 1886 $39.64 L: High Mountain Pies $25.47 D: Cookhouse: $17.20 + $402.69 Activities: $188.15 Train Ride: $147.15 (used a coupon) National Mining Museum $41 |
| Day 3 | Hotel: Rewards points + $50+tax resort fee ($50 parking waived since we got stuck in elevator) Food / Drink: $149.62 B: Hotel $23 S: Vail brewing Company $24.52 + 10.85 food truck D: Dusty Boot $91.25 Activities: $296.94 ATV Tour $276.94 + 20 tip (used a coupon) |
| Total $2,060.09 | Hotel: $571.41 Food / Drink: $818.13 Activities: $670.55 |
What We’d Do Differently if we went back for a long weekend in Leadville
A few honest notes for anyone planning their own trip:
- Sequence your history carefully. Between the Heritage Museum, the Tabor Opera House tour, the National Mining Hall of Fame, and the bar crawl, we heard the same core Leadville mining-boom-and-bust story retold four separate times in under 30 hours. Pick two, maybe three, and space them out.
- Set your expectations for the scenic train appropriately — it’s a pleasant, well-narrated ride, but if you’re expecting jaw-dropping drama the whole way, read our full train post first.
- The Tennessee Pass Cookhouse is a genuine splurge — beautiful setting, memorable hike, but dinner was inconsistent for us, we’d go back for brunch though! More in that post.
Up next: full deep-dives on the Tennessee Pass Cookhouse yurt dinner, the Mosquito Pass UTV tour, and the Leadville Colorado & Southern scenic railroad — three experiences that each deserved more room than a single itinerary post could give them.
