New Mexico's high desert hides over 400 ghost towns, and honestly, most travel guides make visiting them sound way more complicated than it needs to be. After spending way too much time researching these abandoned settlements (and getting lost on more dirt roads than I care to admit), I've figured out which ones are actually worth your time and which ones will leave you staring at a pile of rocks wondering why you drove three hours.
Start with the easy wins along the Turquoise Trail
The smartest move for first-time ghost town explorers is hitting the Turquoise Trail between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. You get three wildly different experiences within a 30-minute stretch of Highway 14, and your car won't hate you for it.
Madrid isn't really dead anymore
Madrid confuses people because it's technically a ghost town that came back from the dead. This former coal mining powerhouse that once rivaled Albuquerque in the 1920s now houses about 400 residents, mostly artists who turned abandoned company houses into galleries. The Mine Shaft Tavern still serves burgers where miners once downed whiskey, and their Christmas light display has been going strong since the 1920s, back when the coal company started it to boost morale.
You can actually stay overnight here in legitimate B&Bs, grab coffee that doesn't taste like it was brewed in 1892, and buy art from people who live in former mining shacks. The whole town sits at 35.4058° N, -106.1545° W if you're plugging it into GPS, though honestly just following Highway 14 south from Santa Fe for about 27 miles works fine.
Cerrillos keeps it rougher around the edges
Three miles north of Madrid, Cerrillos feels more like what you'd expect from a semi-ghost town. The population hovers around 229 people living among 27 original buildings, including the 1922 St. Joseph Catholic Church that looks exactly like every Western movie church you've ever seen. During the silver boom, this place supported 21 saloons and 5 brothels, which tells you everything about the male-to-female ratio back then.
The dirt roads through town will rattle your teeth but won't destroy your sedan. Just don't expect any services beyond one operating saloon. No gas stations, no ATMs, no cell service worth mentioning. The Casa Grande Trading Post sells turquoise jewelry and cold drinks, and that's about your lot. The town produced $1.6 million worth of turquoise by 1899, and you can still find rock shops selling local stones if that's your thing.
Golden is properly ghosted
Golden wins the "most actually abandoned" award of the Turquoise Trail trio. Population: literally zero as of the 2021 census. This was New Mexico's first gold rush site west of the Mississippi back in 1825, though good luck finding any gold now.
What you will find:
- San Francisco Catholic Church from the 1830s
- Henderson Store still somehow operating since 1918
- A genuinely creepy historic cemetery
- Absolutely zero services whatsoever
The 37-mile drive from Santa Fe takes you through gorgeous high desert scenery, but fill up your tank first. Golden has no gas, no food, no water, no bathrooms. The Henderson Store sells Native American jewelry and that's literally it. Great for photographers, rough for anyone who didn't pack snacks.
Shakespeare takes preservation seriously… really seriously
Down near Lordsburg, Shakespeare Ghost Town operates like the Vatican of ghost towns. You can't just roll up and wander around. The Hill family has owned it since 1935 and they run it like a museum, which is why it's probably the best-preserved 1870s town you'll ever see.
Tours cost $15 for adults and $7 for kids, but here's the catch: you have to call ahead at (575) 542-9034 because they only run tours when guides are available. The whole experience takes 90 minutes to two hours, and they mean business about the "guided" part. No wandering off to take Instagram shots of the Stratford Hotel where Billy the Kid supposedly washed dishes.
The town peaked at 3,000 residents but never had a church, newspaper, or sheriff, which explains why Russian Bill and Sandy King ended up hanging from the Grant House saloon rafters. The 2.5-mile dirt road from Interstate 10 won't destroy your car, but bring water and maybe a hat because there's zero shade while you wait for your tour to start. As one travel photographer noted, Shakespeare "doesn't try to impress you, and somehow still does."
The mining towns deliver serious industrial decay vibes
If you're after that proper apocalyptic mining atmosphere with towering steel structures and gaping holes in the earth, New Mexico delivers.
Kelly will make you nervous
Three miles south of Magdalena sits Kelly, home to a 121-foot steel headframe that looks like it could collapse any second but has been standing since 1906. This Carnegie Steel beast marks the Traylor shaft, which drops 1,100 feet straight down and, oh yeah, the safety barriers are completely trashed.
I cannot stress this enough: that hole will kill you. Local authorities describe the barrier situation as something "a toddler could climb over," which is terrifying considering how many people bring kids here. The mine produced massive amounts of lead and zinc until the 1950s, supporting 3,000 residents at its peak. Now it's private property where the owners sort of tolerate visitors who aren't idiots.
You can get keys and liability waivers from rock shops in Magdalena for about $10 if you want to explore more extensively. The dirt road requires high clearance unless you enjoy scraping your oil pan on rocks. And seriously, stay away from the shaft.
Mogollon requires commitment
Getting to Mogollon means driving 75 miles from Silver City through the Gila National Forest on roads that close from October to May. When you finally arrive, you'll find about 15 permanent residents maintaining a mining museum that opens on summer weekends.
This place produced $20 million in gold and silver back when $20 million meant something (about $400 million in today's money). The Little Fannie mine was particularly brutal… miners typically died within three years from silicosis. In 2023, Summa Silver acquired 7,730 acres around here for new exploration using drones and LiDAR, because apparently we haven't learned anything.
The remoteness is part of the appeal, assuming you enjoy white-knuckling it around mountain switchbacks for two hours. Pack everything you might need because there's nothing between Silver City and Mogollon except trees and regret if you run out of gas.
Southern New Mexico serves up variety
The southern part of the state offers everything from BLM-managed historic sites to semi-living ghost towns where you can actually spend the night.
Lake Valley does ghost town tourism right
If you want the ghost town experience without the sketchy private property issues or death-trap mine shafts, Lake Valley is your spot. The BLM manages this site 17 miles south of Hillsboro, and they've actually done a decent job. There's a restored 1904 schoolhouse museum, maintained walking paths, and miracle of miracles… actual restrooms.
The self-guided walking tour takes about 45 minutes and tells the story of the Bridal Chamber mine, where miners found a cavity of pure silver chloride that produced 2.5 million ounces in just two years. At its peak, Lake Valley had 4,000 residents supporting themselves with three churches and twelve saloons, which seems like a reasonable ratio.
Everything's free and open Thursday through Monday from 9am to 4pm. The last permanent residents, Pedro and Savina Martinez, left in 1994, and the BLM wrote about it in February 2025 if you want the full story.
Chloride still has a pulse
Chloride confuses visitors because it's simultaneously abandoned and occupied. About 11 to 20 people live among 27 original buildings from the 1880s silver boom, including the Pioneer Store Museum that's been locked since 1923 with all the original merchandise still on the shelves.
Located 40 miles from Truth or Consequences at 6,181 feet elevation, Chloride offers something most ghost towns don't: actual overnight accommodations. You can rent cabins in authentic frontier buildings or park your RV and spend the night under some of the darkest skies in New Mexico. The museum opens Thursday through Monday from 10am to 4pm, and the last two miles of gravel road won't destroy your car.
Let's talk about not dying or getting arrested
New Mexico's ghost towns aren't theme parks, and they'll hurt you if you're stupid about it. The state has 6,500 abandoned mine sites, and 80% of them want to kill you through various creative methods.
The mine shafts are obviously deadly (over 200 people have died in abandoned mines nationally since 1999), but there's also:
- Unstable explosives from 1900s mining
- Deadly gas accumulations you can't see
- Rattlesnakes who love abandoned buildings
- Lead paint and asbestos everywhere
- Metal structures that will tetanus you
Your phone probably won't work either. Verizon and AT&T claim about 84% and 80% coverage in rural New Mexico, but that's optimistic. The Gila National Forest is basically a dead zone, and Route 60 isn't much better. Bring paper maps and enough water to survive if your car breaks down… figure one gallon per person per day minimum.
The legal stuff matters too. New Mexico trespassing laws include fines up to $1,000 plus potential jail time for aggravated trespass. Many ghost towns sit on private property, and "I didn't see a sign" won't fly as an excuse. Metal detecting is prohibited without permits, and taking artifacts violates federal law.
Planning your ghost town adventure
The best time to explore is December through May when it's cooler and you won't get caught in monsoon flash floods. July through September brings sudden storms that turn dry washes into rivers, and you do not want to be in a canyon when that happens.
Here's what different towns require time-wise:
- Turquoise Trail trio: full day from Santa Fe
- Shakespeare: half day including tour
- Kelly: half day if you're careful
- Mogollon: full day just for driving
- Lake Valley: 2-3 hours including museum
- Chloride: half day, full day if staying overnight
ABQTours offers guided ghost town experiences if you'd rather let someone else drive and explain the history. Otherwise, check out the interactive ghost town map to plan your route.
The future looks complicated
New Mexico just launched a Cultural Properties Restoration Fund with $1 million available for the first grant cycle, offering between $5,000 and $250,000 for preservation projects. This is huge because many of these structures won't survive another decade without help.
Tourism to these sites contributes to New Mexico's $8.6 billion visitor economy, which supported over 72,000 jobs in 2023. But there's tension between preservation and access. The more people visit, the more damage occurs, but without visitors, there's no economic incentive to preserve anything.
If you're thinking about exploring New Mexico's ghost towns, do it sooner rather than later. Every year, another building collapses, another mine shaft opens wider, and another piece of history disappears into the desert. Just remember to bring water, watch for rattlesnakes, and for the love of all that's holy, stay away from the mine shafts. They've been waiting over a century to claim another victim, and they're remarkably patient.
