Goldfield is high desert at about 1,700 metres, which makes the summer hot but tolerable and the winter genuinely cold. The best months are April, May, September, and October — daytime temperatures in the 20s, cold nights, low chance of rain, and great low light for photographing the old buildings.
Mid-summer days regularly reach 35°C, and the open desert offers no shade; midwinter nights drop below freezing and the wind across the basin makes everything feel colder. The annual Goldfield Days, usually the first weekend in August, brings a small festival of parades, mining contests, and live music — a chance to see the town with more than the regulars in it.