Lodging: Palace Hotel

Silver City Central

If you prefer local flavor to the Super 8, this is the place for you: Guests have climbed the grand staircase of Silver City’s Palace Hotel for more than a century, then settled into rooms that overlook Broadway and Bullard, the downtown heart of this town of about 10,000 people, 112 miles northwest of Las Cruces. The ambiance is Old West, and the Palace is perfectly situated near downtown’s antique stores and art galleries. Mere steps away are the Buffalo Bar (a bison head is mounted on the wall) and Isaac’s Bar & Grill, named for the man who, in 1881, housed the town’s grandest mercantile in this building. Downstairs from the Palace’s second-story rooms are two galleries, a bookstore, and coffeehouse. You’ll also find nearby three of the best restaurants in town: Diane’s, 1zero6, and Shevek & Mi.

The hotel’s lobby is a great place to curl up with a novel, study a map, or chat with owner Nancy Thompson. The brick building, originally home to a bank and general store, was erected in 1882; its fancy bolt-on iron façade—now fully restored—was hauled by oxcart from St. Louis. A hotel took over the top floor in 1900 and continued into the 1970s, when the upper level was converted into apartments. The current owner, Thompson, and her late husband, Cal, returned the entire structure to its McKinley-era (1897–1901) glory and, in 1990, reopened it as the Palace Hotel. Think decorative pressed-tin ceilings, crown moldings, antique mirrors, beadboard wainscoting, plush carpets, creaky floorboards, and steam heat. Each of the Palace’s 18 modest yet comfortable accommodations (including seven two-room suites) is configured differently, recalling a cozy budget hotel in the European style. Indeed, many guests from across the Atlantic say the Palace offers a taste of what they imagine Silver City was a century ago.

From $48 nightly, including continental breakfast; Palace Hotel, 106 W. Broadway, 575 388-1811, www.zianet.com/palacehotel—Richard Mahler