Things to do in Butte
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Butte
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, with everything open, and September the quiet pick for colour, lower rates and full museum season.
March is a one event month, worth it for St. Patrick's Day and otherwise late winter mud and wind.
Worst months for a general visit, with highs in the 20s F and icy passes, unless you come to ski, soak and snowshoe.
Shoulder months are quiet and cheap, but statue tours go weather dependent and snow can arrive from September onward.
What's on
- St. Patrick's Day Parade 17 March
Montana's biggest St. Patrick's Day in its most Irish city, with a noon Uptown parade on the 17th itself.
- Montana Folk Festival Second weekend of July
One of the largest free outdoor music festivals in the Northwest, with six stages across Uptown.
- Evel Knievel Days Late July
Motorcycle shows, stunt demonstrations and concerts in Uptown honouring Butte's most famous son.
- An Ri Ra Montana Irish Festival August, usually the second weekend
A free Irish music, dance and culture festival at the historic Original Mine Yard.
- SnoFlinga Late January to early February
Montana's winter festival of skiing, snowshoeing, curling, fat biking and a polar plunge, mostly free.
Best things to do in Butte
World Museum of Mining
A real mine yard with an 1890s town and a guided tour 100 feet underground, the essential first stop in Butte.
Berkeley Pit
A mile wide open pit mine filling with acidic water, viewed from a stand for a small fee, sobering and unforgettable.
Uptown Historic District
More than 6,000 historic buildings on steep Victorian streets, the largest and most intact mining city core in the West.
Old Butte Historical Adventures
A guided walk into the underground city, a Prohibition speakeasy, a barber shop and the 1890s jail below Main Street.
Copper King Mansion
William Clark's 34 room Victorian mansion of carved wood and Tiffany glass, toured by day and slept in by night.
Our Lady of the Rockies
A 90 foot statue on the Continental Divide at 8,510 feet, reached only by the official bus tour from town.
Granite Mountain Mine Memorial
An open air hilltop memorial to the 168 miners killed in 1917, with survivor testimony and a panorama over Butte.
Mai Wah Society Inc
The surviving heart of Butte's Chinatown, a mercantile and noodle parlor telling the Chinese community's story.
Where to stay in Butte
Uptown
first trip, history, walkable evenings
The historic hilltop core, walkable to dinner, bars and most sights, with steep streets and the city's character.
The Flats and Harrison Avenue
road trips, families, predictable chains
The interstate corridor south of Uptown, with easy parking and pools but nothing to walk to at night.
Fairmont, near Anaconda
resort night, golf and soaking
A self contained hot springs resort 17 miles west, a destination in itself rather than a base for Uptown.
Think twice about
- East Uptown toward the Berkeley Pit and Walkerville
Empty, unlit feeling blocks and a residential hill with no visitor services. Visit by day and by car, and sleep in the Uptown core instead.
- Mercury and Galena alleys after dark
The old red light and Chinatown alleys are fascinating by day with the Mai Wah, but quiet and rough feeling late at night.
Best restaurants in Butte
Uptown Cafe
Butte's fine dining room for nearly thirty years, a cafe lunch by day and dishes like Beef Wellington at night.
Casagranda's Steakhouse
A multi course Montana steakhouse dinner in an 1895 warehouse, from corn chowder to house mac and cheese.
Lydia's Supper Club
A family run Italian American supper club since 1946, serving rib steaks, prawns and spumoni on Harrison Avenue.
Sparky's Garage
Slow cooked barbecue in a vintage garage dining room with a 1949 Chevy, a patio and room for groups.
Metals Sports Bar and Grill
A sports bar inside the 1890 Metals Bank building, with dozens of TVs, a bank vault and a strong kitchen.
Shawn O'Donnell's American Grill and Irish Pub
The pub heart of Irish Butte, with corned beef, fish and chips, soda bread and a full Irish whiskey shelf.
The Hummingbird Cafe
Uptown's beloved breakfast cafe, with berry French toast and the widest vegan and gluten free options in town.
Joe's Pasty Shop
Butte's defining cheap eat, a Cornish miner's pasty of beef, potato and onion, plain or with gravy.
Best bars in Butte
Headframe Spirits
Butte's distillery tasting room, pouring its own bourbon and the Orphan Girl cream liqueur until 8pm daily.
Outdoor things to do in Butte
Old Works Golf Course
A Jack Nicklaus municipal course on a reclaimed smelter site, famous for its black slag sand bunkers.
Highland View Golf Course
Butte's own golf, a 1939 regulation nine plus a par 3 nine, flat, walkable and family friendly.
Thompson Park
Over 25 miles of trails and a rail trail through two tunnels and over a trestle to the Continental Divide Trail.
Continental Divide Trail
The 3,100 mile trail wraps around Butte, and day hikers can sample it from Homestake Pass or Maud S Canyon.
Fairmont Hot Springs Resort
Four naturally heated mineral pools, indoor and out, plus a waterslide and golf, 17 miles west of Butte.
Discovery Ski Area
An uncrowded local ski hill of 2,200 acres and 67 trails, gentle in front and steep double black at the back.
Georgetown Lake
A 3,000 acre mountain lake for trout and kokanee fishing and boating, on the scenic loop to Philipsburg.
Big Hole River
A blue ribbon trout river best fished on a guided float day, famous for its salmonfly hatch and grayling.
Best hotels in Butte
Finlen Hotel and Motor Inn
Butte's grand 1924 hotel in Uptown, with a ballroom, a lounge and restored tower rooms at the top of the local market.
The Miner's Hotel
A 12 room boutique in a former bank, with mine named rooms, a vault suite and a basement speakeasy.
Copper King Mansion
Sleep in the Clark mansion itself, with a full breakfast in the dining room and the tour free for summer guests.
Copper King Hotel & Convention Center
The big full service highway hotel, with an indoor pool, on site dining and a breakfast buffet reviewers praise.
Best Western Plus Butte Plaza Inn
The volume reviewed chain pick on Harrison Avenue, with an indoor pool and breakfast near Montana Tech.
Super 8 by Wyndham Butte
The reviewed budget workhorse on Harrison Avenue, clean and quick for an interstate night in Butte.
Fairmont Hot Springs Resort
The resort stay of the area, with mineral pools, a waterslide and golf on site, 17 miles west of Butte.
Is Butte expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $85 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $160 a person |
| Splurge | $290 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- World Museum of Mining: a few days ahead
- Old Butte Historical Adventures: a few days ahead
- Our Lady of the Rockies: a few days ahead
- Mai Wah Society Inc: a few days ahead
- Mother Lode Theatre: a few days ahead
- Old Works Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Highland View Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Fairmont Hot Springs Resort: a few days ahead
- Reserve the World Museum of Mining underground tour in season and Our Lady bus seats ahead in summer.
- Book Casagranda's, Uptown Cafe dinner and Lydia's rather than chancing a walk in.
- Book hotels before flights for St. Patrick's Day, Folk Festival, Evel Knievel Days and An Ri Ra weekends.
- Book Old Works tee times ahead on summer weekends.
- Check seasonal hours for the Mai Wah, the Mineral Museum, Joe's Pasty Shop and Christina's before building a day on them.
Is Butte safe?
- Walk the lit Uptown core at night, and drive the emptier eastern and northern blocks after dark.
- Never touch or wade in Berkeley Pit water or mine yard runoff, and keep to marked paths in the old mining district.
- Carry bear spray and water on Continental Divide Trail hikes, where there is no water on the canyon climbs.
- Check Montana DOT conditions before winter day trips, as Homestake Pass and MT-1 ice up fast.
Butte travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Do not build an evening around the Pekin Noodle Parlor, which closed in April 2026 after 115 years.
- Do not one night Butte on Harrison Avenue and miss Uptown, which is the entire point of the stop.
- Do not expect Bozeman style polish, a chef scene or late nightlife outside festival weeks.
- Do not underdress for the Divide, where the statue tour and trailheads are cold and windy on warm town days.
Getting around Butte: public transport and more
- You need a car for Butte overall, but Uptown itself is walkable once you are based there.
- Butte sits at the I-15 and I-90 junction, about 1 hour from Helena, 1.5 hours from Bozeman and 2 hours from Missoula.
- Uptown is steep and sits at 5,538 feet, so stairs and hills feel harder on the first day.
- Rideshare is thin, so plan a festival night exit in advance or stay within walking distance.
- The summer trolley from the visitor centre is a good first morning orientation before walking Uptown yourself.
Who Butte suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Butte your trip
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