Chloride is a self-proclaimed "living ghost town" in Northern Arizona.

Understand

Dating back to 1862 and once a silver mining boomtown (hence the name, from "silver chloride") with 2000 residents, the mining pretty much dried up by 1944 and most of the town along with it. Chloride today hosts about 250 people, many retired, and subsists on a trickle of tourism. If you want a taste of the Old West without any tacky commercialism, this just might be your ticket.

Get in

Chloride is off Highway 93, 18 mi (29 km) north of Kingman, Arizona on the road to Boulder City and Las Vegas. Turn at mile marker 53 onto Mohave County Route 125 and drive for four miles.

Get around

Main Street, Chloride

Chloride can comfortably be covered on foot.

See

There is a mine shaft open to tourists on odd days. The desert landscape is fairly beautiful and quite serene, and provides a perfect backdrop to this little piece of Americana. There are no other major tourist attractions.

Buy

• Free Spirit Mercantile. Locally made wire-wrapped jewelry. 

Eat

• Yesterday's Inn. This aptly named restaurant is a time warp back to the 1920s. Good if fairly basic grub, a surprisingly good selection of regional beers, live entertainment on many evenings. $10. 

Sleep

• Shep's Miners Inn (adjacent to Yesterday's), ☏ +1 928-565-4251. The only place in town to sleep, with eight adobe rooms.