Georgetown Loop, Central City & Golden's Mountain Heritage

The best-preserved Victorian silver mining town in Colorado, with over 200 buildings on the National Register — Georgetown boomed from 1859 to the 1890s on silver discoveries, then the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act ended it overnight. The freeze-frame effect left the town intact. Walk Hotel de Paris (now a museum), Grace Episcopal Church, and the Maxwell House on your own or join the walking tour.

A Georgetown institution in a Victorian building on 6th Street — homemade soups, sandwiches, and the pies that regulars plan their Georgetown visits around. The strawberry rhubarb is seasonal and worth timing for.

A narrow-gauge excursion train that climbs 640 feet from Georgetown to Silver Plume via a 4.5-mile route including the famous 300-foot-high Devil's Gate High Bridge — originally built in 1884 to connect the two mining towns. The open-air cars pass through the Clear Creek canyon in a way no car trip can replicate.

Idaho Springs' legendary mountain pizza institution since 1973 — thick, honey-drizzled crust pizza built for mountain appetites, with local Colorado beers and a dining room full of skiers, hikers, and miners' descendants.

The definitive collection of Gilpin County mining history, housed in a building that survived the 1874 fire that destroyed most of Central City. The exhibits cover everything from the original placer gold discoveries to the stamp mill operations that processed millions of tons of ore — remarkably well-curated for a county historical society.

Built in 1878 and one of the most beautiful small opera houses in America — the interior is a perfect Victorian jewel with an ornate pressed-tin ceiling, original gas lamp fixtures converted to electric, and a stage that has hosted opera continuously (with some interruptions) since its construction. Tours available when productions aren't running.

The Victorian hotel at the center of Central City's 1870s history — the 'Face on the Barroom Floor' painting (by Herndon Davis, 1936) is the most famous barroom art in Colorado. Cold drinks and the original bar fixtures.

Highway 6 through Clear Creek Canyon follows the original 1870s toll road and later the Colorado Central Railroad grade — the canyon walls close to within 50 feet of the road in places, and the river runs through Class III-IV rapids that attract commercial whitewater operations. Pull-offs along the canyon let you watch the kayakers from the rim.

A converted Golden warehouse hosting rotating local vendors and a rotating tap system — the right spot for a casual dinner in a town that has quietly developed one of the better food scenes on the Front Range.

A well-regarded dinner spot near The Miners Inn Golden.

William Cody chose the summit of Lookout Mountain as his burial site, with views across the Great Plains he spent his life mythologizing. The museum is a serious collection of Western history artifacts — Cody's showmanship was genuine theater, but his role in documenting the closing of the frontier was real. The grave overlook faces east toward Denver and the plains stretching to Kansas.

The world's largest single-site brewery occupies most of downtown Golden's Clear Creek waterfront. The free 30-minute tour walks through the brew house, aging caves, and packaging line and ends in the tasting room where four samples are included. The scale of the operation is genuinely impressive even for beer skeptics.

A naturally formed 9,000-capacity outdoor amphitheater set between two 300-foot sandstone monoliths — the geological formations are 300 million years old and the acoustics are the product of pure chance. The hiking trails through the park are open year-round when no concert is scheduled, and the Trading Post Trail gives the best view of the amphitheater's scale from above.