Argo Gold Mill and Tunnel in
Idaho Springs (CO)

Very cool tour, this thing was cutting edge in its time!

You get a short tour into a very small portion of the tunnel. The mill part of the tour was interesting.

Amazing views nice little small strip of a town, great place to visit on your way up the mountain!

We were provided information on the mine, mining process and gold processing. You will walk through the old gold mill and get a glimpse of the ARGO water drainage and cart train tunnel. You are also provided a pan of sand to pan for some gold flakes you can keep. While interesting, I'm not sure it is worth the $30 a piece for entry.

Overall a great tour! Understanding the logistics and economics involved, considering halving the maximum tour size. Our guide would start talking in the next area before half of the folks on our tour were able to get there. But he was very informative and knowledgeable. Also, think about adding captions to the video tour show before the tour ends.

This was great for a day trip and I can say as a native had never realized they did tours! We walked in on the hour and were able to join the tour group but after us it was full so I would recommend getting there 20 min early or on weekends making a reservation. A short bus ride to the tunnel entrance and then a tour from the top to the bottom of the mill. We learned A LOT. I would say if you have mobility or breathing issues this isn’t the place to go. Your time in the mine tunnel is short as is the distance you can travel inside it. The mill is dusty and there are tons of crazy old stairs. The price for the tour was a little steep $30 for adults and $20 for kids plus they state the tour guides work on tips. It was a full 1+ hours with the tour and the gold panning. I would totally recommend but there are going to be people who don’t feel the price is worth it. Also note that no gold was found here it was merely a tunnel for transporting it to the mill. There are lots of other mines to visit in the area too.

The only negative thing I would say is that it's a bit misleading that they advertise this as a gold mine, which it is not. Also, you only get to go about 20 or so feet into the tunnel for reasons which I will not spoil here. On the upside, our guide Dylan and the girls in the gift shop were wonderful. Dylan was informative, funny, and didn't stray away from some of the more controversial aspects of the Argo history. I really appreciated that. If you've ever wondered what a gold mill from the turn of the 20th century looks like, this place is worth the visit.

Fun experience, different from other mine tours. Kids loved that gold panning was a part of it. Running water and bathrooms before and after tour. FYI- with the ongoing construction and updates, the roads in may differ from your gps/map.

I had an absolute blast at Argo Mill & Tunnel in Idaho Springs! Our tour guide Sam was fantastic knowledgeable, engaging, and full of enthusiasm. He brought the history to life and made sure everyone was included. The tour was hands on and fun, from the breathtaking mill structure to gold panning in the final pit. If you enjoy local history and a bit of adventure, this one’s a must do with an awesome guide at the helm.

It was a great time. Got to learn a lot about the area and the mine. Thomas was our guide and really helped make the experience that more awesome with all the knowledge of the site new and old. I wouldn’t skip the experience and can’t wait to come back and see the expansion of the Argo going up the mountain.

Touring the Argo was an experience we won't forget - our tour guide was incredible, and was very knowledgeable. Touring the entrance to the Argo and the mill was fascinating, especially seeing one of the first circuit breakers by Tesla himself in person (which was very fun to review with my electrician husband). I've been to many mine tours but the Argo is one that will stick with us! There is gold panning at the end of the tour, and gemstone panning for the kids. Guaranteed gold flecks. Truly would recommend!

Was a good experience, but they need to change their website. People think they are going into tunnels, and they do not. Guide is 5 starts his name was sam. Not bad price either. Lots of history learned which was a plus.

Very interesting museum in a former gold mine. Excellent Visitor Center here on site with a lot of didactic materials. The whole tour takes about an hour but you can learn a lot in that time. I highly recommend it. I highly recommended stop here.

Such a fun and unique experience! You get to explore a bit of the mines and learn a lot about the history of gold mining in Colorado along the way. Yes, you do get to look for gold. A slight disclaimer, you will only find 1 - 3 specs and it is in a separate basin. However, it's fun and informative nonetheless.

You CAN visit Argo and not pay BUT,...your stuck outside in the parking area and ca walk around and take photos of the outside. There website sais you can pay just for the gold panning organ to take the full tour. We walked around and looked but did not go in (we had a large group with kids and didn't want to pay a lot of money). We (i) want to come back and go in.

This tour was better than I expected. The history involved was very interesting. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. He made sure we could all hear him, and he waited to talk to us until we were all gathered round. (We were with a large group.) It was fun to see all the areas of a mill and hear about the history surrounding the events from years past. The gift shop is small, but had nice things to purchase for memories.

Not your average mine tour - not much of a mine to see! However, We had a great time! The tunnel is cool and the history is fascinating. Our tour guide Tommy was extremely knowledgeable and his animated personality made the tour a BLAST! Ally working the front check in was incredible as well. Thank y’all for making our experience special!

Cool place to visit. We did the tour, our tour guide was fairly new so he was not well trained as of yet. We couldn’t quite understand the process. The history is really cool though. Definitely a fun day. Panning for gold was fun!

Lordy, what an experience, along with a fabulous drive to Idaho Springs. There is a river that runs right in front of the mine gorgeous. Since my hip is bone on bone, unfortunately, we had to pass on the tour. We decided to do the panning for gold and the gemstones so we could at least enjoy ourselves. Going during the week was a fantastic idea, with no crowds along with light traffic. Our Tour Guide Evan was so friendly, along with knowledge of panning for gold. Once we got our gold flakes, then they gave you a bag with rocks along with gemstones. It was so much fun for me & my sister to have quality time bonding over panning for gold. Really beautiful day outside, so we took a walk to the bridge and took pictures of the river too. Big Shout Out to Evan, we had a blast as our tour guide. Thank you now that's off our bucket list!

What a cool place this is! I'm a Native Coloradan, and I've always wanted to come here, and today was my first time! Dillon was our tour guide and he was phenomenal! Very passionate about his job and mining in general which made our tour much more fun and informative! You start out watching a short informative video about the history of the mine and surrounding area. Then you ride a tour bus to the top to begin the actual tour. Unfortunately it started raining pretty good when we got to the top and we couldn't spend as much time on a few things up there, but regardless, it was still fun! You access the mine from the top and it was so cool to be able to step back in time for awhile as we walked through the areas that Dillon was leading us through! So much history in there! We finished up by walking through the small museum on the lower part of the mine and being able to see and read all the things in that museum was amazing! This was one of the coolest tours I've been on and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something cool to do with the family, especially if you want a peek into a piece of the gold rush era here in Colorado!

The tour was great. It's not my first gold mine tour. The mill was awesome. Show up about 15 to 20 minutes. We showed up right as one was leaving. So we had to wait an hour. But we adventure around and took some pictures. At the end of the tour, you got to pan for gold. Each container didn't have much gold.

I was in Colorado and thought it would be fun to see a gold mine. Although we didn’t go too far into the mine, I did enjoy this experience. After a quick in and out of the entrance to the mine, you tour the mill and you can check out the museum and pan for gold. There were about 12 on the tour I think, just one child and it was about an hour I think. The tour guide was very knowledgeable in the history. I went the Tuesday after Labor Day. I didn’t buy a ticket online and got there a little before noon. That tour was full so I just waited until 1p. Probably a good idea to buy tickets a head of time over the summer and on weekends if you don’t have time to wait. I think this is appropriate for kids. I think the ticket was $25, I don’t remember exactly. Check the website to be sure. Parking lot is stone and not very big. I’d imagine if they are busy they would run out of room but you can probably park in town or on the street. There was a little park within walking distance with playground equipment and a restroom. The visitors center is also within a 5 min walk and they have a small museum.

A historical experience of how the gold rush started, and an interactive experience of how to pan for gold! The tour is well worth it as you get to explore both the giant mill and the tunnel into the mountain. Our guide was educated and made the whole thing interesting! To pan for gold at the end was really fun! My wife and I came home with 7 gold flakes. Whether you're a tourist to the area or a local, it's a fun date!

We visited the gold mine when we were going to ski to Winter Park. I first thought it will be a tourist trap but I was wrong. I am glad we visited the historic gold mine and learned a lot about gold mining history. Very educational and authentic machines to see. Our tour guide is very knowledgeable. He is so much fun to listen to. Argo Mill was the world’s largest mill of its kind. It processed over 100 million dollars of gold ore at prices of $18 to $35 per ounce. Tours last about an hour, so wear comfortable shoes and bring a light jacket. Afterward, the tour everyone on the tour gets to try their hand at gold panning. This is a must see if you visit Denver.

We had a great tour by Kris and learned so much about the amazing history of Argo! We loved going through the Mill and seeing all that has been preserved over the years. The tour was an hour and starts with a quick informative video, then we moved through the outdoor area to the mill. You do have to climb 6 steep flights of stairs at one point but there is also an option to not go all the way up and sit on some benches if you can’t make it. The actual tunnel is very short but impressive! Make sure to bring cash to tip your tour guide! We really enjoyed ourselves and were so happy to have finally taken the tour as it’s been on our list. My only complaint is the gal working the desk inside acted as if we were annoying her by asking simple questions when we bought our ticket. Sorry, but you work in tourism and people have questions. Maybe if you are bothered by communicating with customers, this isn’t the industry for you.

$25 per ticket for adults. Most the original artifacts in mill was sold for scrap years ago. I think tourist trap fits this well. Our guide must have been pretty new as he kept looking at the script “as he called it” he did not seem too enthusiastic about his role as guide. He asked if there’s any questions and two seconds later he continued with his speech, not giving anyone A real opportunity to ask a question. Also He walked in front of everybody “as a tour guide should” but while he was talking he did not turn to face us. Wifey and I could not understand a thing he was saying. At the end of the tour you get to do d so one gold panning, each pan given has 3 flakes of Gold “per our guide” worth about $4 which is prepared buy the powers that be ahead of time. “This was also told to us by our guide” I appreciated his honesty but that really does not say much about the organization that runs this place. I have been to 4 mine tours in my life and hands down this was the worst. Just a few miles away is the George Town loop railroad which also give a mine tour “I highly recommend going there and skip this one all together, it’s just not worth it.

Cool history. Just know the mine flooded in 1943 so you can’t go down into it. It was pricey considering you can’t go into the mine. On top of that, the tour guides work for tips which doesn’t make much sense considering how much they charge. The mill is really neat to see and they’ve set up a nice little museum in it. Our tour guide was awesome (Andrew). Gold panning and gemstone panning was a highlight for the kiddos. Overall I have mixed feelings about it but would still recommend a visit at least once.