There are some cities in this world which are simply get stuck in your mind. Once you have a bite of it, you can never take it out. You just want to go there again and again.
One such example is Virginia city. I remember I was just staying in Reno-Tahoe area for a weekend (Carson city, to be exact), looking for a place to go and then this city comes up “Virginia city” and some mention that there are saloons there and other attributes of Wild-west feeling. Since I was really interested in those things, I decided to go there.
And here we are, the city is located pretty high in the mountains, so people usually refer to “going up to Virginia city” when they talk about going there. I don’t know about you, but for me, such a landscape is very inspirational.
Once you are there, where to go? That’s quite simple, but let’s make few highlights to make it easy:
St. Mary in the Mountains
The only thing I could say when I saw it is just “Wow”. No matter how religious you are, if you see this in person you would be probably blown away by its beauty. Well, at least I hope so. In my opening it’s stunning.
Virginia city gun fight shows
I cannot say for sure for winter months, but in summer and autumn there is a lot of free guns shows going on. The purpose is to basically imitate how it was back then in Wild West times. So every few minutes you will hear gunshots and people “shooting” each other with imitational bullets. That’s too cool to miss out!
The way it was museum
This museum allows you to dive deep into the history of wild west and discover the roots of it. This is also a must to visit place which I highly recommend.
On your way out of the museum, you will find a guestbook where people are asked how did they knew about Virginia city. Most of the responses were “from a relative”. And I simply wrote “Google” there since I just found it accidentally on Google Maps. And I’m glad I did.
Silver Terrace Cemetery
This is the place which is recommended by many people if you look at review websites, including me. This place will blow your mind as well by its uniqueness. You can spend a lot of time there reading labels on tombstones and imagining how it was back then in times.
Gun fight shows. Paid ones this time
I guess you already got an idea that Wild West is mostly about gun fights and saloons, right? But I do highly recommend on going to paid gunshows since you will see a lot more. The story might not be very new, but it doesn’t mean that you will not enjoy it. So, go ahead and check out “Virginia City Outlaws”.
Souvenirs, photos and beyond
Some people like souvenirs, some people don’t. I personally probably don’t like since most of them just lie around and collect dust. But still, since the place is unique and you are going to remember it for a long time, why not just make this experience even better? Wild-west stylized photos seem to be a good example of how remarkable souvenir should look like.
Restaurants and saloons
After a long day in this interesting wild west mecca, why not indulge yourself with some nice restaurant or saloon? I don’t want to make any specific recommendation, because there are multiple options there and it’s all within short walking distance.
Tours around the city
There are also tour buses that you can take to know more about the history of this town.
And while it’s considered a ghost time, the more proper term would be “semi-ghost” town since there are always visitors there and you will not feel there like you are alone.
What do I think about this town overall? I think it’s a great place to visit and it’s definitely worth your time. And it’s a short drive away from Tahoe, Reno or Carson City.