Well you have decided to visit America’s hottest National Park and it certainly lives up to the name and you will feel the heat no doubt about it. We visited Death Valley in July and stayed for a day there including night stay. I will share our itinerary during the trip and recommendations for places to stay there.
The first thing when you start entering the area, the landscape will wow you. It is like no other place and there was just vast land till your eye can see and most of the time on the road we were the only car present, it felt really isolated and we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. We traveled during peak summer which I will not recommend. The heat was so uncomfortable that we preferred to stay inside the car AC or go back to the hotel and could not stay out for longer time. You can see below the temperature on the day we reached, it was 47 C / 116 F.
But in spite of the heat we managed to do some sightseeing and here are some places you can’t miss if you are visiting here.
Table of Contents
Furnace Creek Visitor Center
You can start at the visitor center and know more about the area and get your souvenirs. The temperature display in front of the Visitor area shows the current temperature and you can pose with that.
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
This is one place you can view Sand Dunes in Death Valley. These dunes are named after Mesquite trees which grow in abundance in the area. Take a walk in the sand dunes, but avoid during peak hot hours. Best time to visit would be sunset or sunrise. You can view amazing dark night sky here as well.
Bad Water Basin
Did you know the lowest point in North America is right here in Death Valley. Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America at 282 ft (86 m) below sea level. The salt flats here cover nearly 200 square miles (518 square km), and are composed mostly of sodium chloride (table salt), along with calcite, gypsum, and borax.
You can see just white salt flats here and it is so beautiful. Walking on salt is an experience you will remember for sure.
Artists Palette
The unnatural landscape of Death Valley has its own charm and sometimes you feel if you are in some other planet itself. Make a stop at Artists Palette and you can see various colors splashed across the hills. Volcanic deposits rich in compounds such as iron oxides and chlorite give this vibrant color to the hills in middle of nowhere. The drive to and from this spot is also pretty amazing. You drive through hills carved by erosion and it was really memorable.
Zabriskie Point
The most iconic vista in Death Valley is Zabriskie point and you can see it in the souvenirs too. We had to skip the walk to the top to see the view point. It was really hot for hiking and we had to leave the place soon to continue our journey. But if we visit next time we will definitely check the views from the top.
A bit of Star Wars trivia for you all. Did you know The famous movie series filmed scenes in the park for Episode IV — A New Hope and Star Wars Episode VI — Return of the Jedi.
1 Day visit plan itinerary
- Start at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.
- Continue on the road visit Furnace Creek Visitor Center
- After that continue on the Badwater road and visit Bad Water Basin.
- Then come back in the same road and take Artists Drive road in the right and visit Artists Palette
- Then come out in the main road and visit Zabriskie Point.
- After that we wanted to exit and carry on for Las Vegas and on the same road we came across Death Valley National Park welcome sign.
Some more places to visit
If you want to spend some more time you can consider these places to visit.
- Dantes view – A 45 minute drive from Furnace Creek, Dantes View offers birds eye view of Death Valley and you can see the panorama right in front of you.
- Father Crowley Vista Point. – You can see the stunning view of Rainbow Canyon, a colorfully striped canyon created by ancient volcanic activity
- Harmony Borax Works – Twenty-mule team wagons were once used to transport borax 165 miles from Death Valley to Mojave. And you can see the wagon on display there.
Taking care of Heat
If you plan to visit during summer like us, you have to be very careful of the heat and take precautions. Here are some tips to help you
- Try going out early in morning or in evening. It does not feel cool in evening, just that sun won’t be that harsh then.
- Keep electrolytes in hand. This is a must, and we finished few packets during our trip.
- Keep enough water with you and stay hydrated though-out the day.
- Keep hand fan or mist near you when you are out.
- Dress comfortably and wear something lightweight.
- Sunscreen is a must to protect your skin.
- Hats or if you can carry an umbrella.
Places to stay in Death Valley
There are not a lot of options to stay inside Death Valley. Most people prefer to stay in Vegas and visit from there. But there are couple of Hotels and we stayed in one of them during our visit.
- The Ranch at Death Valley – We had a comfortable stay here and the surrounding had an old world charm to it. It is a mid range hotel.
- Oasis at Death Valley – It is a bit more costly option.
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