Death Valley is a park of extremes, and that is exactly why I love it. It holds the lowest, hottest, and driest ground in North America, and yet it is full of color, sculpted badlands, towering dunes, and even snow-capped peaks. Will and I spent weeks out here filming, and the sheer range of landscapes packed into one park still amazes me.
It is also a park that demands respect. Summer heat here is genuinely dangerous, and many of the best spots sit at the end of long, rough roads. Plan well and Death Valley rewards you like few places can. Here is my honest, ranked list of the best things to do in Death Valley National Park.
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Where to stay near Death Valley National Park: Most visitors base themselves in Furnace Creek, California, the closest gateway with a real range of options. You can compare hotels and lodges near Death Valley National Park to find dates that still have availability, since the best places book out months ahead in peak season.
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It is also worth carrying a paper map and a good guidebook, because cell service is spotty across most of the park. We use the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map for Death Valley National Park for trail planning, paired with a detailed Death Valley National Park guidebook for trip ideas and logistics.
For the full trip plan, including lodging, maps, and driving distances, see our complete Death Valley National Park guide.
Top Things to Do at a Glance
| Activity | Type | Time Needed | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Badwater Basin | Walk | 1 hour | Paved |
| Zabriskie Point | Viewpoint | 30 minutes | Paved |
| Artists Drive and Palette | Scenic drive | 1 to 2 hours | Paved |
| Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes | Walk | 1 to 2 hours | Paved |
| Dante’s View | Viewpoint | 1 to 2 hours | Paved |
| Racetrack Playa | Remote drive | Full day | High-clearance 4WD |
1. Stand on Badwater Basin
At 282 feet below sea level, Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America, and walking out onto its vast salt flats is the quintessential Death Valley experience. The hexagonal salt polygons stretch toward the horizon, and a sign high on the cliff behind you marks sea level for scale.
- Logistics: Paved parking off Badwater Road, then a flat walk onto the salt. Walk farther out to escape the trampled area near the boardwalk for the cleanest patterns.
- Best time of day: Sunrise and sunset for soft light. Avoid midday in summer, when the basin becomes a furnace.
2. Catch Sunrise at Zabriskie Point
Zabriskie Point is my favorite sunrise spot in the park. The eroded golden badlands light up like they are glowing from within, with the dark wrinkle of Manly Beacon front and center. It is a short walk up from the parking lot, which makes it an easy win.
- Logistics: A paved path of a few minutes from the lot off Highway 190. Arrive 30 minutes before sunrise to claim a spot, since it gets popular.
3. Drive Artists Drive to Artists Palette
This one-way, 9-mile scenic loop winds through hills splashed with greens, pinks, and purples, the result of oxidized metals in the rock. The pullout at Artists Palette is the colorful highlight, and the whole drive is a roller coaster of dips and turns.
- Logistics: One-way, off Badwater Road, with a vehicle length limit that rules out big RVs. Late afternoon light makes the colors pop.
4. Walk the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
These are the most accessible dunes in the park, rising in smooth, rippled waves near Stovepipe Wells. Early morning, before the wind and footprints, the sand holds clean ripple patterns and the low sun rakes across the crests. It is a great place to feel small.
- Distance and difficulty: No set trail. The tallest dune is about a mile in, moderate in soft sand. Plan 1 to 2 hours and bring water.
- Best time of day: Sunrise for ripples and cooler sand, or sunset for shadows.
5. Take In Dante’s View
From over 5,000 feet, Dante’s View looks straight down on Badwater Basin and across to 11,000-foot Telescope Peak. Seeing the lowest and highest points in the park in one sweep drives home just how much vertical relief Death Valley packs in. It is also noticeably cooler up here in summer.
- Logistics: Paved road with a steep, narrow final stretch not suited to large vehicles or trailers. Sunrise and sunset are spectacular.
6. Hike Golden Canyon to Gower Gulch
This is the best easy-to-moderate hike near Furnace Creek. Golden Canyon winds up through golden badlands beneath the Red Cathedral formation, and you can loop it through Gower Gulch and back. It connects to the base of Zabriskie Point if you want a longer day.
- Distance and difficulty: About 3 miles for the Golden Canyon and Gower Gulch loop, moderate. Carry plenty of water and skip it in summer heat.
7. Start at Furnace Creek
Furnace Creek is the hub of the park, with the main visitor center, fuel, food, lodging, and the lowest golf course on Earth. The visitor center is the place to check road conditions, get the latest on heat and closures, and orient yourself before heading out.
8. Drive to Father Crowley Vista
On the park’s west side along Highway 190, Father Crowley Vista overlooks Rainbow Canyon, a colorful gorge sometimes used by military jets for low-altitude training. It is a worthwhile stop if you are entering or leaving from the west, with views over volcanic badlands.
9. See the Racetrack Playa
The Racetrack is the park’s famous mystery: a dry lakebed where rocks leave long trails across the mud, pushed by thin sheets of ice and wind. Standing among the sailing stones in this remote basin is one of the most memorable things you can do in Death Valley.
- Access: A 27-mile washboard road that requires a high-clearance 4WD vehicle and is brutal on tires. Carry two full-size spares, plenty of water, and let someone know your plan. This is not a casual side trip.
- Etiquette: Never move the rocks or drive on the playa. The tracks are fragile and damage lasts for years.
10. Look Into Ubehebe Crater
This half-mile-wide volcanic crater in the north of the park was blasted out by a steam explosion a few thousand years ago. You can peer in from the rim or hike down into it, and it pairs naturally with a Racetrack trip since it sits near that road’s start.
- Distance and difficulty: The rim view is easy. Hiking to the bottom and back is short but strenuous on loose cinders.
11. Visit Mosaic Canyon
Near Stovepipe Wells, Mosaic Canyon is a slot canyon with smooth, polished marble walls and a mosaic-like rock you can run your hand along. The narrows early in the hike are the highlight, and it is one of the better short canyon walks in the park.
- Distance and difficulty: About 1.4 miles round trip to the first narrows, easy to moderate, with some scrambling if you go farther. The access road is graded dirt.
12. Drive Twenty Mule Team Canyon
This short, one-way dirt road winds through soft, undulating badlands named for the mule teams that once hauled borax out of the valley. It is an easy, scenic detour off Highway 190 near Zabriskie Point and feels worlds away from the pavement.
- Access: Graded dirt, usually fine for most cars when dry. Skip it after rain.
13. Visit the Harmony Borax Works
Just outside Furnace Creek, this short interpretive trail tells the story of borax mining and the famous twenty-mule teams that gave the valley its early fame. It is a quick, easy stop that adds real history to a landscape that can feel purely geologic.
14. Hike to Natural Bridge
Off Badwater Road, a short hike up a canyon leads to a large natural rock bridge spanning the wash. It is a quick leg-stretcher that combines well with Badwater and Artists Drive on a south-end loop.
- Distance and difficulty: About 1 to 2 miles round trip, easy to moderate, on a gravel canyon floor. The access road is rough dirt.
15. Summit Telescope Peak
For a complete contrast to the salt flats, climb Telescope Peak, the highest point in the park at 11,049 feet. From the top you can see both Badwater Basin and, on clear days, Mount Whitney. This is a serious, high-elevation hike for fit, prepared hikers.
- Distance and difficulty: About 14 miles round trip with roughly 3,000 feet of gain, strenuous. Snow and ice linger into late spring, so check conditions and the access road to Mahogany Flat.
16. Stargaze Under Dark Skies
Death Valley is a certified International Dark Sky Park, and its remoteness and dry air make for some of the best stargazing in the country. On a moonless night the Milky Way is brilliant. Badwater, the dunes, and Harmony Borax Works are all good dark-sky spots.
17. Tour Scotty’s Castle If Available
Scotty’s Castle is an elaborate 1920s villa in the park’s far north with a colorful history tied to a con man named Death Valley Scotty. It has been closed to general access since a 2015 flood, with years of repair still underway, but the park has begun offering limited ticketed flood-recovery tours by reservation. Check availability before counting on it.
18. Walk the Salt Creek Boardwalk
This easy boardwalk follows a rare desert stream that is home to the endemic Salt Creek pupfish, a tiny survivor found nowhere else on Earth. In late winter and spring you can often watch the pupfish dart through the shallows. It is a fascinating, low-effort stop.
- Distance and difficulty: A flat boardwalk loop under a mile, easy, off a short dirt road north of Furnace Creek.
19. Drive to Aguereberry Point
A quieter alternative to Dante’s View, Aguereberry Point sits high in the Panamint Range with a sweeping view over the valley, usually with almost no one around. The dirt access road off Emigrant Canyon Road is usually passable for high-clearance vehicles when dry.
20. Explore the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns
High in the Panamint Range, a row of ten beehive-shaped stone kilns from the 1870s stands remarkably intact. Built to make charcoal for mining, they are an unexpected piece of industrial history at cool elevation, and a good stop on the way toward Telescope Peak.
21. Time a Wildflower Bloom
In years with the right winter rains, Death Valley produces a desert wildflower bloom that carpets the valley floor and alluvial fans in gold and purple. A widespread bloom is rare and impossible to schedule, but if one is happening when you visit, drop your plans and chase it.
22. Visit the Devil’s Golf Course
Just off Badwater Road, the Devil’s Golf Course is a field of jagged, ankle-twisting salt crystals so sharp the early surveyors said only the devil could play golf on it. Step out carefully, get close, and on a quiet day you can actually hear the salt crackling as it expands.
- Access: A short, washboard dirt road to a small lot. Wear sturdy shoes and watch your step.
23. Photograph the Badlands at Golden Hour
Death Valley is a photographer’s park, and the badlands around Zabriskie Point and the nearby ridgelines are where the magic happens at first and last light. A short walk along the ridges above Zabriskie opens up cleaner compositions away from the crowded overlook.
24. Hike to Darwin Falls
Near the west side town of Panamint Springs, Darwin Falls is the park’s surprise: an actual year-round waterfall and a green, spring-fed oasis in the desert. It is a welcome contrast to the salt and stone, and a reminder of how precious water is out here.
- Distance and difficulty: About 2 miles round trip, easy to moderate, with some rock-hopping near the falls. The access road is dirt and usually fine when dry.
- Etiquette: This is a sensitive water source, so stay out of the pools and tread lightly.
25. Drive the Park and Take It In
Death Valley is enormous, larger than some states, and some of its best moments come simply from driving its empty highways between sights. The scale of the place reveals itself through the windshield, so build in time to pull over, get out, and just stand in the silence.
Planning Your Visit to Death Valley National Park
Getting There
The park straddles the California and Nevada line, about 2 hours from Las Vegas and 4.5 to 5 hours from Los Angeles. Furnace Creek is the central hub. Fill your tank before entering and carry extra water, since services inside the park are limited and far apart.
Fees
The private vehicle entrance fee is $30 and is good for seven days. There is no staffed entrance gate, so pay at a self-service kiosk, the visitor center, or online before you arrive.
Best Time to Visit
November through March is the ideal window, with comfortable days and cool nights. Spring can bring wildflowers. Summer, roughly June through August, is genuinely dangerous, with temperatures regularly topping 120 degrees and heat-related deaths most years. If you must visit in summer, stay near your air-conditioned vehicle, hike only at dawn, and never attempt low-elevation trails in the heat.
How Many Days Do You Need?
Two full days covers the paved highlights from Badwater to Zabriskie. Three or more days lets you add the remote north, like Ubehebe and the Racetrack, and the high country of the Panamints without rushing the long drives.
2026 Conditions to Know
Summer heat remains the park’s biggest hazard, so plan around it. Flash floods can damage and close backcountry dirt roads with little warning, so always check current road conditions at the visitor center before driving to remote spots like the Racetrack. Scotty’s Castle is still closed to general access, with limited recovery tours by reservation only. Always confirm current closures and conditions before you go.
For lodging, maps, and a full itinerary, see our complete Death Valley National Park guide.
What to Bring to Death Valley
Gear we recommend for Death Valley. Affiliate links support our work at no cost to you.
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