Nevada’s #1 stargazing town also has a clown motel and a haunted hotel

Tonopah’s dark skies aren’t the only draw

You drive three hours north of Las Vegas on U.S. Highway 95. On a clear night, you can see over 7,000 stars without a telescope. But the stars are only the start.

Tonopah, Nevada, sits halfway between Vegas and Reno in the high desert, and USA Today ranked it the number one stargazing destination in the country.

This little town of 2,100 people has a haunted hotel, a cemetery you can walk through, and a motel full of clowns. The weird stuff runs deep here.

Silver ore, a lost burro and a boomtown born overnight

Tonopah exists because of a wandering burro. Around 1900, a prospector named Jim Butler found silver-rich ore while chasing the animal through the desert.

That discovery kicked off a major silver rush, and the town earned the nickname “Queen of the Silver Camps.” Today about 2,100 people live here, 6,000 feet up in Nye County between two mountain ranges.

That remote location, far from any city glow, is exactly why the skies get so dark and so clear at night.

Over 7,000 stars fill the sky on moonless nights

On any clear evening, you can step outside in Tonopah and see thousands of stars with nothing but your eyes. Wait for a moonless night or a new moon cycle, and that number climbs past 7,000.

The Milky Way stretches across the sky in a thick band you can actually trace. Planets show up. Shooting stars cut through without warning.

The dry desert air and high elevation strip away the haze, so everything above you looks sharp and close.

Concrete pads, picnic tables and a dirt road to darker skies

The Clair Blackburn Memorial Stargazing Park sits at the end of Ray Tennant Drive off Highway 95. It’s free, open around the clock, and the Town of Tonopah manages it.

You don’t need a telescope or any gear to enjoy it, but if you bring your own, the park has concrete pads built as stable bases for telescopes and long-exposure cameras.

Picnic tables and benches spread across the grounds. If you want even darker skies, a dirt road continues past the main area.

Free star parties run from May through October

On select weekends from roughly May through October, the town hosts Star Parties at dusk, and they don’t cost a thing.

Two themes rotate through the season: Dark Sky Nights focus on deep-space viewing, while Moon Nights let you get close-up looks at the lunar surface.

The organizers provide telescopes, binoculars, and iPads loaded with stargazing apps. During Moon Night events, you can connect your phone to a telescope and snap your own photos of the moon.

Walk through mine tunnels at a 100-acre outdoor museum

The Tonopah Historic Mining Park covers 100 acres on the site of Jim Butler’s original mining claims. You can walk through preserved buildings, peer into mine shafts, and step inside an underground tunnel.

Self-guided walking tours run daily, and if you want to cover more ground, you can book a guided Polaris UTV tour in advance.

The visitor center holds a mineral collection, a gift shop, and a short film on the town’s mining past. The park opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 4 p.m., seven days a week.

Nevada’s tallest building stood here for 20 years

The Mizpah Hotel went up in 1907, five stories tall, and held the title of tallest building in Nevada for about two decades. During the silver boom, it served as the social center of Tonopah.

The hotel closed, sat empty for years, then reopened in 2011 after a full restoration. Its 47 rooms mix Victorian-era character with modern comforts, and it now belongs to Historic Hotels of America.

USA Today readers also voted it the number one haunted hotel in the country, partly because of the Lady in Red, a spirit said to roam the fifth floor.

Thousands of clown figurines fill the lobby next door to a cemetery

The Clown Motel has earned the title of scariest motel in America, and one look at the lobby tells you why.

Thousands of clown figurines line the walls and shelves, and all 31 guest rooms carry their own clown themes. Right next door sits the Old Tonopah Cemetery, with about 300 graves dating from 1901 to 1911.

You can take a free self-guided walking tour past headstones that mark the lives of miners, outlaws, and frontier settlers.

A downloadable map or a printed copy at the entrance guides you through.

Shoshone baskets and mining tools fill a free museum

The Central Nevada Museum costs nothing to visit and covers a wide stretch of regional history. Inside, you’ll find exhibits on mining, ranching, Native American culture, and pioneer life.

Displays include Shoshone baskets, early photographs, and mining tools from the boom years. A research library sits in the back for anyone who wants to dig deeper.

Outside, large pieces of historic mining equipment line the grounds. The staff here are happy to talk and will share stories about the area that you won’t find on any sign.

A volcanic crater where NASA trained Apollo astronauts

Tonopah sits along the Park to Park in the Dark highway, an astrotourism route connecting dark-sky destinations across central Nevada.

North of town, the Lunar Crater National Natural Landmark opens up, a massive volcanic crater where NASA brought Apollo astronauts to train in the 1970s.

About 15 miles north on Highway 95, the Crescent Sand Dunes draw off-roaders into dramatic desert terrain.

The nearby Extraterrestrial Highway, State Route 375, cuts through some of the darkest and most remote road in the state.

Mining headframes and sand dunes make perfect foregrounds

If you bring a camera, the park’s concrete pads give your tripod a stable base for long exposures. But the real draw for photographers is what you can put in the foreground.

The Crescent Sand Dunes and historic mining headframes near town create dramatic shapes against a sky packed with stars.

The park and the Tonopah Historic Mining Park both host nighttime photography workshops from time to time. Before you go, check the Tonopah Clear Sky Chart online to plan your shoot around the best conditions.

Murals, parades and a bank turned boutique hotel

Downtown Tonopah has murals, monuments, and outdoor sculptures scattered along the streets, all tied to its frontier roots.

The Belvada Hotel, originally built in 1906 as a bank, went through a restoration and reopened as a boutique hotel.

Every year, the town throws Jim Butler Days, a community celebration with parades, mining contests, and live entertainment.

For a town this small, Tonopah holds its own for road trippers. You’ll find restaurants, gas stations, and electric vehicle charging stations right along the highway.

Visit the Tonopah Stargazing Park in Nevada

You can find the Clair Blackburn Memorial Stargazing Park at the end of Ray Tennant Drive, just off Highway 95 in Tonopah, Nevada.

The park stays open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and admission is always free. Star Parties with provided equipment run on select weekends from about May through October.

Tonopah sits roughly 220 miles north of Las Vegas and 240 miles south of Reno, so you can reach it from either city in about three hours on U.S. Highway 95.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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