Silverton is the single best day trip from Durango — and, for a lot of visitors, the reason the region lands on a Colorado bucket list in the first place. It's the town at the top of the Durango & Silverton railroad and the high point of the Million Dollar Highway: a former silver-mining camp, above 9,300 feet, that still looks like the 1880s with mountains stacked straight up on every side. This guide covers what Silverton is, how to get there from Durango, what to do once you arrive, and where to stay if you turn the day trip into an overnight.
Where Silverton is, and how to get there
Silverton sits about 45 miles north of Durango, deep in the San Juan Mountains, in San Juan County — the most rugged, least populated corner of Colorado. There are two classic ways up, and both are attractions in their own right.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is the headline. The coal-fired steam train climbs 45 miles up the Animas River canyon — country with no road through it — and sets you down in the middle of town for a layover before the return. Our things to do in Durango and Durango attractions guides both put the train at the top for a reason.
The Million Dollar Highway (US-550) is the drive: switchbacks, mountain passes, and cliff-edge stretches with no guardrail, connecting Durango to Silverton to Ouray. It's spectacular and demanding in equal measure — do it in daylight, unhurried, and let faster locals pass. Driving up has one big advantage over the train: you set your own schedule and can bring a Jeep, bikes, or the dog.
The town: Greene Street and Blair Street
Silverton is walkable end to end. Two parallel streets organize it. Greene Street is the main commercial drag — restaurants, shops, the visitor center, the daily life of town. Blair Street, one block over, is the historic side: in the mining era it was Silverton's saloon-and-dance-hall district, and it still carries that Old West character today. Between them you have essentially the whole town, and you can see it on foot in an afternoon.
A quick history
Silverton was born from silver. Prospectors moved into the San Juans in the 1870s, the town organized itself into the county seat of San Juan County, and in 1882 the railroad arrived from Durango — built specifically to haul ore down out of mountains that had no other practical way out. The mines ran, boomed, and eventually faded, but the railroad and the townscape survived, and today the entire downtown is a National Historic Landmark. That's the paradox that makes Silverton worth the trip: it's a real, still-lived-in town that also happens to be one of the best-preserved 19th-century mining camps in the American West. When you walk Greene Street, the false fronts and the mountain backdrop aren't a re-creation — they're what's left, kept up.
Things to do in Silverton
- Ride or watch the train. Even if you drive up, the depot and the arriving steam train are the town's daily event.
- Drive the Alpine Loop. Silverton is a gateway to one of Colorado's premier high-country OHV and 4x4 routes, linking ghost towns and 12,000-foot passes toward Lake City and Ouray. Jeep and side-by-side rentals and tours run out of town in summer.
- Kendall Mountain. The peak above town anchors a small recreation area — a community ski hill in winter and hiking access in summer.
- Walk the National Historic Landmark district. The whole downtown is protected; the mining-era architecture is the attraction.
- Use it as a San Juans base. Ouray, the ghost towns of the Alpine Loop, and the high passes are all within reach.
Mind the altitude on all of it — Silverton is higher than almost anywhere visitors are used to, and the effort of a short walk lands differently at 9,300 feet.
Where to stay in Silverton
If you stretch the day trip into an overnight — worth doing, since it hands you the town after the train crowd leaves — lodging is a handful of small, independently run motels in the walkable core. Three anchor the center of town:
- Triangle Motel (848 Greene Street, (970) 387-5780) — pet-friendly, with an ADA-accessible room, right on Greene Street next to a fuel-and-supply stop. The practical base for an OHV or Jeep trip.
- Prospector Motel (1015 Greene Street, (970) 387-5466) — central and budget-friendly, an easy walk to the shops and restaurants.
- Kendall Mountain Lodge (1025 Blair Street, (970) 844-6465) — on the historic Blair Street side, leaning into the mountain-lodge character a block off the main bustle.
Rooms are limited and summer weekends sell out, so book ahead. Silverton has no chain-hotel overflow, so the independent motels are the lodging — reserve as soon as your dates are set.
When to visit
Summer (late June through early September) is peak: the Alpine Loop is open, the train runs full, and the town is at its liveliest — and busiest. Fall brings golden aspens and thinner crowds before the passes close for the season. Winter is quiet and snowbound, with the small ski hill running and limited lodging in service. Spring is mud season — calm and cheap, with the high country still under snow.
Fitting Silverton into a Durango trip
Most people see Silverton as part of a broader Durango stay — a day up the train or the highway, bracketed by nights in town. Our where to stay in Durango guide covers the Durango end, and the things to do and attractions guides map the rest of the region. If Silverton is the anchor of your trip, book the room up there first — it's the one that runs out.