Boulder City · $$$$$
Road trips · Nevada
Nevada road trips & hidden gems.
Nevada is neon and nothing — the Strip, then a hundred miles of empty desert highway, hot springs, ghost towns, and Red Rock’s slickrock minutes from the city. The desert is a cool-season trip. The emptiness is the point.
Happening in Nevada
F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Barely two dozen marquee events hit the whole country in a year — and Nevada has one this November. Roamward builds the trip around it: the scenic route in, the detours worth a slack day, and when rooms sell out.
Best time to visitOct–April (desert)
Don’t missRed Rock Canyon at golden hour
Gem Hunt nominees10 candidates
Hikes10 curated
Scenic drives4
Worth-the-detour corridors
Drives through Nevada
Ranked city-to-city drives that cross Nevada — each with honest +N min detours on the shelf.
Gem Hunt nominees
What locals say you shouldn’t miss.
Community-nominated candidates. Add yours and vote to help choose the first published finalists.
International Car Forest of the Last Church
Forty-plus junked cars planted nose-down in the high desert and covered in ever-changing graffiti, a few minutes off Highway 95 in Goldfield — free and open around the clock.
Cathedral Gorge State ParkA maze of soft golden clay spires and slot-canyon "cathedrals" you can squeeze into, tucked near Panaca in the quiet southeast corner, open 24/7 year-round.
Spencer Hot SpringsGeothermal "cowboy tubs" sitting out on open BLM land near Austin along the Lonely Highway 50, free to soak with nothing but sagebrush and sky around you — time it for sunset.
Lehman CavesA jewel-box limestone cave dripping with rare shield formations, deep in Great Basin National Park near the Utah line — Nevada's least-crowded park, with dark-sky country above.
Clown MotelA working motel and free lobby museum stuffed with over 6,000 clowns, sitting right beside Tonopah's old pioneer cemetery on Highway 95 — stop in to gawk even if you won't stay the night.
Goldwell Open Air MuseumOn the edge of the Rhyolite ghost town near Beatty, seven huge ghostly sculptures rise straight out of the Mojave, including a shrouded ghost-cloth Last Supper — free and open around the clock.
Worth traveling for
Events that put Nevada on the calendar.
The big ones
National parks in Nevada.
The bucket-list landscapes — when to go and what not to miss.
Explore by interest
Everything else worth a stop in Nevada.
Start with a few highlights, choose one interest, or explicitly open the full state guide.
Showing General guide and Scenic routes highlights. Choose a category or Show all for the full state guide.
Scenic drives
Scenic routes through Nevada.
The Loneliest Road (US-50)Carson City → Baker, NV · ~410 miles (NV)Route →The Lincoln Highway (US 30)Times Square, NY → Lincoln Park, San Francisco, CA · ~3,400 milesRoute →Lake Tahoe LoopLake Tahoe loop, CA/NV · ~72-mile loopRoute →The Extraterrestrial Highway (NV-375)Crystal Springs → Warm Springs, NV · ~98 milesRoute →
More worth the detour
The general guide to Nevada.
Museums, monuments, historic sites, and local-only stops from Roamward's shared place map.
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
Boardwalks cross spring-fed desert wetlands where relict fish and other endemic species survive, while the visitor center explains why this Mojave oasis is biologically unusual. Use the recommended west entrance for ordinary passenger vehicles.
Berlin–Ichthyosaur State ParkA preserved mining ghost town shares the remote Nevada desert with one of North America's most remarkable concentrations of giant ichthyosaur fossils.
Logandale Trails SystemBLM red-rock trail network with petroglyph panels between Moapa Valley farms and Valley of Fire.
Lost City MuseumNevada state museum on Ancestral Puebloan 'Lost City' sites, in a 1935 CCC adobe building.
Rhyolite Historic AreaWalk the ruins of a short-lived gold-boom town, including the Cook Bank shell and Tom Kelly's bottle house, four miles west of Beatty. The BLM site is day use only and offers an atmospheric outdoor stop rather than a restored town.
Seven Magic MountainsUgo Rondinone's seven 30-foot stacks of neon-painted boulders in the open desert off I-15; free, no reservations needed.
Boots on
Best hikes in Nevada.
From family-easy to bucket-list — trails worth the detour, great for the RV & camping crew.
Calico Tanks (Red Rock)
slickrock to a hidden tank + a Vegas skyline view
Cathedral Rock (Mt Charleston)a steep climb to a canyon overlook
Charleston Peak (South Loop)the highest summit in southern Nevada
Fire Wave (Valley of Fire)striped sandstone like a frozen wave
Gold Strike Hot Springsa canyon scramble to riverside hot springs
Grapevine Canyon Petroglyphsancient rock art near the Colorado River
Beyond the parks
Wild lands in Nevada.
National forests, wilderness, and monuments — the big scenic public land between the parks and the gems.
Bucket-list wonders
Scenic landmarks in Nevada.
The iconic slot canyons, overlooks, and rock formations — and how you actually get to visit each one.
The gloriously weird detour
Roadside Americana in Nevada.
Giant statues, folk-art wonders, vintage neon, and roadside oddities — the stops worth the exit.
Where to wake up
Camping in Nevada.
The most scenic places to pitch a tent or park the rig — each with how to reserve and how RV-friendly it is.
Raise a glass
Breweries, distilleries & wineries in Nevada.
The trip-worthy taprooms, distilleries, and wine country.
Where to eat
Road-trip dining in Nevada.
Restaurants, diners, and food halls that fit the drive — curated by town, not scraped from a phone book.
Alamo Kitchen
A sturdy Alamo meal for the Extraterrestrial Highway run, giving the lonely desert stretch one more real-town option.
Windmill Ridge RestaurantA practical Alamo meal for the southern end of the Extraterrestrial Highway and Pahranagat Valley.
Kerouac'sScratch-made, seasonal dinners at the Stargazer Inn that have made tiny Baker an unlikely food destination. Seasonal (roughly late May–mid October, Wed–Sun) — check before you drive out.
Kerouac's RestaurantA polished Great Basin gateway dinner when the US-50 day ends near Lehman Caves instead of another casino buffet.
Sugar, Salt & MaltEclectic little kitchen swinging from pasta to sushi nights to homemade ice cream sandwiches — in a town of 60 people. One of the very few dinner options at Great Basin's doorstep.
Happy Burro Chili & BeerCult roadside shack where locals, bikers, and park travelers share picnic tables over award-winning chili and cold beer. The definitive cheap eat on Death Valley's east side.
Snow season
Best ski resorts in Nevada.
Big-mountain steeps, all-mountain variety, and family hills.
On two wheels (road)
Best cycling in Nevada.
Scenic road rides, iconic climbs, and car-free rail-trails.
Knobby tires
Best mountain biking in Nevada.
Trail systems, bike parks, and gravel routes.
Soak it in
Best hot springs in Nevada.
Resorts, historic bathhouses, and wild primitive soaks.
Spencer Hot Springs
free desert tubs with wild horses and Toiyabe Range views.
David Walley’s Hot Springsan 1862 resort of mineral pools below the Sierra near Tahoe.
Carson Hot Springsa historic bathhouse with private mineral tubs in the capital.
Bog Hot Springsa warm desert ditch-soak in Nevada’s remote far north.
Soldier Meadowswild high-desert pools deep in the Black Rock country.
12 Mile Hot Springsa rock-dammed creek soak in the northeast desert.
Chasing water
Best waterfalls in Nevada.
From roadside stops to bucket-list hikes — easy ones flagged for the RV & family crew.
Tee it up
Public golf you can book in Nevada.
Stateline · $$$$$ — Celebrity-am host
North Las Vegas · $$$$$ — Top-25 course conjured from raw desert
Las Vegas · $$$$$ — Tom Fazio golf on the Strip
Las Vegas · $$$$
Las Vegas · $$$$ — Greatest Nicklaus holes in the desert
Plan the Nevada trip
Get the scenic route, the stops, and the timing.
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Where to stay
Find a place to stay near Nevada.
Hotels, cabins, and rentals close to the action — compare and book for your trip.
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