Ely, NV

A farm-to-table steakhouse in the truest local sense — owners Jess and Terrill Trask raise their cattle on their Perigo Hay and Cattle ranch, and the beef is cut and cooked on site. This is Ely's best dinner option by a wide margin, drawing guests who drive two hours specifically to eat here. The dining room is warm and unhurried, with a solid cocktail list and thoughtful desserts.

Ely's most dependable all-day bar and grill, smoke-free and locally owned on Aultman Street near downtown. The menu runs burgers, sandwiches, and appetizers with a few Nevada-specific twists like the Nevada cheesesteak. Locals cite it as the most consistent kitchen in town for a casual lunch or bar-style dinner with patio seating in good weather.

A sit-down Italian restaurant on Aultman that makes its pasta, bread, and meatballs in-house daily, which puts it in a different category from everything else in Ely. The menu runs classic Italian-American — carbonara, lasagna, marsala — with generous portions and a full bar. A legitimate Italian dinner this far out on Highway 50 is genuinely surprising.

A long-running Mexican and steak hybrid on East Aultman, open unusually early and late by Ely standards and known for fast service even when busy. The menu bridges Mexican standards (enchiladas, fajitas, taquitos) with a steakhouse side, and locals give the green chili especially high marks. The combination earns it the widest repeat-visitor base of any restaurant in town.

A family-owned smash burger counter inside the Jailhouse Casino building on 5th Street, with patties hand-formed from never-frozen beef and toppings hand-sliced daily including house-made garlic mayo. The format is fast-casual but the effort is clearly not — this is better burger execution than most dedicated burger spots in larger Nevada towns. A strong option for lunch before or after the Nevada Northern Railway.

A third-generation family-owned pharmacy that has operated a 1950s soda fountain counter since 1946, serving malts, sundaes, Lime Rickeys, and a rotating sandwich menu on the original equipment. It's on Atlas Obscura for a reason — the checkered floor, red vinyl stools, and working fountain feel genuinely preserved rather than nostalgic. The toy store downstairs is a bonus for families.

Ely's best espresso stop, operating out of a flower shop on the east side of downtown with a drive-through window and walk-in counter. The shots are properly pulled and the blended drinks (lattes, mochas, frappes, smoothies) are made to order, not poured from a jug. Rated 4.5 on TripAdvisor and cited consistently as the town's coffee standard — an easy stop before heading east to Great Basin National Park.

A family-run Chinese restaurant on Aultman Street with a 4.4 Google rating and consistent reviews praising fresh preparation and generous portions. The menu covers Cantonese-American standards — stir-fries, fried rice, chow mein, soups — and it stands apart from Ely's other options by covering a cuisine niche no one else does in town. Closed Sundays.

A 3.6-mile loop in Cave Lake State Park that climbs 977 feet through pinyon-juniper forest to a ridgeline overlooking the reservoir, the Schell Creek Range, and Steptoe Valley below. It's the best elevated perspective in the immediate Ely area and quiet enough on weekdays to hear nothing but wind. Rated 4.6 stars from 120-plus AllTrails reviews.

An easy 3-mile out-and-back in Cave Lake State Park that follows Steptoe Creek through willows and cottonwoods, crossing on several footbridges before returning via the Success Summit Road shoulder. Flat, shaded, and accessible to most hikers — a good morning walk before the day heats up or a recovery trail after strenuous hiking. The creek corridor is reliably green and cool even in August.

A network of mountain biking and hiking trails on Ward Mountain just south of Ely, maintained by the local trail association and suitable for intermediate hikers as well as cyclists. The trails wind through pinyon and juniper at elevation ranges from about 6,000 to 7,500 feet with views across the Spring Valley. Less visited than Cave Lake and useful for a longer day on the trail close to town.

A moderately strenuous 5-mile loop in Cave Lake State Park that starts at the lower parking lot and winds through pinyon-juniper hills, passing seasonal springs and open ridges with views across White Pine County. More elevation change than the Overlook Loop on a longer overall route, and less traveled. The springs attract wildlife in late summer and early fall.

A 90-minute round trip on a restored steam locomotive from the East Ely Yards through Robinson Canyon to the Ruth mining district, narrated by a museum interpreter. This is the flagship experience at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum and runs on a scheduled basis throughout the year with specialty themed rides layered on top. The open gondola car is the best seat.

A hands-on program at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum where participants actually operate a full-size steam or diesel locomotive on the main line under close supervision of a professional engineer. This is not a simulator — you pull throttle, control brakes, and navigate the real tracks. One of fewer than a dozen places in the world offering public steam locomotive operation.

A self-guided 28-stop walking tour through downtown Ely using a call-in audio system — you dial a hotline at each numbered stop and hear a narrated story about the mural or sculpture in front of you. The tour covers approximately 2 to 3 hours at a leisurely pace, ranging from large-scale railroad history murals to smaller pieces commemorating Basque and Native American heritage. The download map from White Pine Main Street is the starting point.

A perfectly preserved 1950s pharmacy in the old Kennecott copper company town of McGill, 8 miles north of Ely, closed in 1979 after the pharmacist died and donated to the White Pine Public Museum with all original inventory intact. The shelves still hold faded shampoo bottles, nail polish, penny candy, and toys from the era. Atlas Obscura lists it; no other description quite prepares you for how completely it stopped in time.

Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park sits at Bortle Class 2 darkness — among the darkest designations available — and the six stone beehive ovens provide a striking foreground for Milky Way photography between July and October. No organized program here, just BLM-dark skies and zero light pollution in any direction. The park allows dispersed camping, making a full-night stay possible.

A National Historic Landmark occupying the original East Ely Yards, this is one of the few places in the world where you can actually operate a full-size steam locomotive. The 70-plus buildings and 30 miles of original track have been left largely intact, giving a rare sense of a working railroad frozen in 1906. Worth a half-day minimum, especially if the steam locomotive is running an excursion.

Six beehive-shaped stone ovens standing 30 feet tall in a remote canyon of the Egan Range, built in 1876 to process charcoal for nearby silver smelters and used for only three years before the ore played out. The ovens are remarkably intact, the surrounding pinyon-juniper canyon is quiet and cool, and the site sits at Bortle Class 2 darkness for exceptional night photography. About 20 miles south of Ely on a passable dirt road.

A community-run museum covering 11 exhibit halls worth of White Pine County history — Shoshone culture, Basque sheepherders, the copper boom that drew workers from across Europe, and the Pony Express route through central Nevada. The Cave Bear replica ('Lilly') and the full-scale McGill Drug Store replica are the standout rooms. Smaller and less polished than a big-city museum but genuinely local in character.

Ely was the first Nevada town to use large-scale murals as an economic development tool, and the result is 28 outdoor murals plus sculptures concentrated along Aultman Street and the surrounding blocks. The artwork spans mining history, Basque sheepherder culture, the railroad era, and Native American heritage — each piece commissioned from professional artists with specific historical briefs. A free audio tour (call-in format) adds context at each stop.

A BLM-managed two-square-mile public rockhounding area about 6 miles west of Ely where dark red almandine garnets erode naturally from the rhyolite hillside. No fee, no permit, and the garnets are not hard to find — they wash downslope into drainages and turn up in surface gravel. A genuinely family-friendly outdoor activity that gives kids a real specimen to take home.

A 32-acre reservoir at 7,300 feet in the Schell Creek Range, 15 miles southeast of Ely, surrounded by 4,500 acres of pinyon-juniper and ponderosa forest. German brown trout are native to the lake and hatchery rainbows are stocked regularly; the fishing is reliably good from shore or small boat. Four maintained hiking trails range from easy to strenuous, and the park is remote enough to be genuinely quiet on weekdays.