Death Valley is one of the most extreme environments in the world. With the hottest recorded temperatures in the world, the limited (and sometimes complete lack of) yearly rain, and a location next to the Sierra Nevada Mountain range and the Mojave Desert – it’s unique. So what exactly is there to do there? You may be imagining a desolate wasteland, and you’d be partly right, but there are so many interesting and surprising things to do in Death Valley. Some highlights include visiting the lowest point in North America, hiking through sand dunes and exploring abandoned borax mines. Continue reading to find out more!
Fun Facts About Death Valley
Death Valley National Park boasts the hottest, driest and lowest National Park in the U.S.
The hottest temperature in the world on record was 134 F, recorded in 1913. Death Valley actually is home of 4 of the top 5 hottest days on record, including the most recent in 2020.
Badwater Basin is also the lowest elevation in North America.
Lastly, the park receives minimal amounts of rainfall each year (generally under 2 inches) and has even experienced years with no rain at all. The mountains that surround Death Valley prevent the rain from reaching the valley.
Death Valley is also a baby of a National Park. It is one of the most recent National Parks. Death Valley National Park was added in 1994 after it was upgraded from National Monument status. It is the biggest National Park in the U.S. outside of Alaska.
And for you Star Wars fans, Death Valley is the filming location for several Star Wars scenes. Read on to find where you can see real life “starships” flying across the park.
Favorite Things to do in Death Valley National Park
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
Time: 30 minutes – 2 hours
This was by far the most fun we had in the park. These dunes are huge. And deceptively spread out – so be careful how far into them you walk as you’ll have to walk back out. Enjoy time climbing and sliding all over these dunes. Spending time here was a ton of fun, we even went back the next day. Consider going here at the end of the day when things are cooling off, you’ll have more fun once the sun starts to set and things start to cool off.
There are other dunes in the park as well. Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are by far the easiest to get to. However, just know that because of that, they are often crowded so you may not get those pictures of the beautiful untouched dunes without walking a ways out.
If you have kiddos traveling with you, big or small, consider bringing a sled or snowboard to try your hand at sandboarding.
Devils Golf Course
Time: 20 minutes
This was one of the coolest natural things we have ever seen and we think this is one of the most unique things to do in Death Valley. At Devils Golf Course, you’ll find jagged rocks poking up out of the ground. However, it’s not all rock and dirt. In those protrusions, you’ll find salt. And if you’re really quiet, you’ll hear the salt heating up and making a PING sound within these jagged rocks. You’ll also occasionally find white balls of salt sticking out of the rocks.
However, be careful walking around on this very uneven golf course. You’re welcome to do it but if you fall you will wind up all scraped up from the jagged edges. DeathValley is a great place to visit for the whole family. However, this may be one of the places you want to skip if you’re traveling with a real little kiddo who doesn’t follow directions well.
Badwater Basin Salt Flats
Time: 45 minutes
Giant salt flats as far as the eye can see and dry land far below sea level – how awesome is that! This is one of the top things to do in Death Valley. Badwater Basin is the lowest point at 282 feet below sea level. You can look up at a cliff nearby and spot the sea level sign to see exactly how far below sea level you are.
However, the real excitement here is getting to wander on the salt flats. The salt flats closest to the parking lot are really trampled as you can walk on them. So you won’t see those cool cracked edges of the salt that you imagine from pictures you’ve seen. To see that, you need to walk a long way out! And this shouldn’t be done in extreme heat. That’s why most people visit first thing in the morning.
And yes, that is real salt (you betcha we tasted it). Even if you don’t walk all the way out onto the pristine parts of the flats, we encourage you to find some spaces where people haven’t tramped to see the salt ridges and crystallization happening on the flats.
Artists Drive and Artists Palette
Time: 2 hours
This one way drive is a beautiful thing to do in Death Valley on your way back from Badwater Basin. This is a fun curvy driving loop that will take you to Artists Palette. However, There are so many cool things to see along this drive so take your time and enjoy it all.
Artists Palette is the main stopping point along the drive. It is a badland like landscape with so many colors. You’ll find the standard red, yellow and orange. However, here you’ll also see the rarer purple, green and blue. You can see the overview of the landscape from the viewing area. However, make sure you hop out and walk up into a few crevices to see even more colors.
Many people recommend doing this drive around sunset to get more intense color. However, we think it looked better in full sun as you were able to distinguish the different colors in that lighting. Whereas at sunset the reds and oranges of this area are really popping.
Dante’s View
Time: 15 minutes
Drive up the fun curvy swervey road to the tippy top of the mountain range that borders the Badwater Basin. You’ll have great views of the southern portion of the park from here. This drive is definitely worth it. The view here is amazing. It’s also much colder here because of the elevation, so pack accordingly.
We visited during “fire season” in California so the views were pretty obstructed at times. However, we drove to Dante’s View in the early morning and we able to get clear views.
Zabriskie Point
Time: 30 minutes
Zabriskie Point is another super accessible viewpoint. It’s almost like they know you don’t want to walk in high temperatures (well played park designers). After a short and steep paved path from the parking lot you’ll get sweeping views of the colorful badlands. These are what Death Valley is famous for. You can see the panoramic scene from the viewpoint or get up close and personal wandering through the rock formations on a hike.
Twenty Mule Team Canyon Drive
Time: 15 minutes
The Twenty Mule Team Canyon Drive will take you through similar badlands to what you’ll see at Zabriskie Point. Plus, the drive is super fun, with twists and turns. And the views are great. This drive is along a one way, narrow, dirt road. However, you can do it in any vehicle.
Stargazing
Time: 30 minutes
You’d be missing a great opportunity if you failed to enjoy stargazing in this park. Death Valley National Park is designated and International Dark Sky Park because of its wide open spaces and lack of light pollution. During the peak season, you can join a ranger led night-sky program to get your own personal tour of the sky. However, if you don’t want to follow a schedule you can enjoy the sky on your own. Simply find a wide open spot to stop away from the main roads. You’ll see great views of the Milky Way here. Enjoy!
Other Things to do in Death Valley National Park
Golden Canyon Hike
Time: 2 hours
The Golden Canyon hike is one of the best hikes in Death Valley. It’s an easy hike to do, as long as you do it in the morning before the sun gets too hot. This hike will take you through the beautiful golden badlands. If you complete the entire hike, you can walk all the way to Zabriskie Point. Or you can just wander into the canyon far enough to enjoy the views and then walk back out.
While this hike was beautiful, we found it confusing. The trail is not well marked and you just have to use your common sense and follow the widest paths. However, it really made me nervous hiking this as I kept thinking we were going to get lost.
Mosaic Canyon
Time: 2 hours
This hike takes you through another fun canyon in Death Valley. It is a cool geological feature in the park. You can reach here by driving along a well groomed dirt road. Once here, you can choose to hike the full 4 miles or just walk a bit into the canyon to get a good view of the fun rocks.
Ubehebe Crater
Time: 15 minutes (without hiking)
Have you seen a volcanic crater? Did you know you can see one in Death Valley? We didn’t. So we drove out to the crater to see it. This crater is a mystery as to when it was created. You can drive up to the viewing area and have a great view into it. Or you can choose to hike around the crater or even down into it.
Honestly, it was less impressive than I thought it would be. But we really enjoyed saying that we’ve visited Ubehebe (oo-beh-heh-bee) Crater. I mean how fun is that name! The drive was over an hour each way and there weren’t many things to see on the way there. It’s definitely a fun thing to see but not something we would recommend if you’re short on time.
Salt Creek Interpretive Trail
Time: 20 minutes
While the creek isn’t here year round, you’ll definitely want to stop here if you visit Death Valley in spring. This short boardwalk is home of a mini-oasis in the park and the spawning grounds for the Salt Creek Pupfish. You should definitely try to spot one of these unique desert critters if you’re here during breeding season.
Harmony Borax Works Interpretive Trail
Time: 20 minutes
This is probably the one thing to do in Death Valley that will teach you the most about the history of the park. The interpretive trail walks you through the history of the borax mining operation in the park. While it isn’t the best thing to do in Death Valley, it is a short stop that is easy to make. Plus it will give you some context for other things you’ll see in Death Valley.
Father Crowley Vista
Time: until you see a plane or get bored trying
Father Crowley Vista is a mountain top scenic point that looks out over Rainbow Canyon. While we didn’t think the vista was that great, the real treat here is the Star Wars reenactments. Okay, so they aren’t Star Wars reenactments, they are low altitude training flights from the US military, but we can pretend. If you are lucky enough to see a training flight flying through the canyon, you’ll really feel like you’re a part of the Star Wars franchise. Flight times are not announced – the military does like their privacy – but they are pretty regular, so you may get lucky. The ranger we met said your best bet is to visit in the mid-morning.
Things to do in Death Valley With a High Clearance Vehicle
The Racetrack
Not an actual racetrack. Instead you’ll drive 3.5 hours (2.5 hours from Ubehebe Crater), one way, to see rocks in the middle of the desert. So why would you make this drive? Because the rocks sail across the desert on their own! YUP. A great mystery of the world. But you can see the tracks they leave behind as they sail over the mud.
Darwin Falls
Darwin Falls is a sight to see. A waterfall in the driest National Park in the country. This waterfall runs year round in a tiny little oasis. There is a short 2-mile hike to get there and back.
Eureka Dunes
This is said to be the best sand dunes in Death Valley National Park. Much like visiting The Racetrack, this will require a good half day of driving time alone. However, you’ll be rewarded with virtually untouched dunes. What’s more? These dunes are reported to sing.
Aguereberry Point
This is the Dantes View for those with high clearance vehicles. Aguereberry Point is the tallest peak in the park that you can drive to and has 360 degree views of some of the best parts of the park.
Things We’d Skip in Death Valley
Eureka Mine
Time: 30 minutes
This stop is just plain depressing. While you may think you want to explore the history of the park by visiting these old mines, this area has very little in the way of learning. Instead, it consists of lots of discarded equipment and abandoned houses. It was a real bummer for us.
Scotty’s Castle
Time: 1 hour tours
Scotty’s Castle is basically a big mansion that is 100 years old. You can take guided tours of the house which is now owned and operated by the park.
However, Scotty’s Castle was damaged in a flood and is currently closed for renovations. Plans are to open in 2022 or later. Maybe we’ll move this out of the Things to Skip section once it reopens because it does look pretty cool from the outside.
Charcoal Kilns
Time: 2 hours
After a 1 hour drive from Stovepipe Wells, you’ll find yourself standing among towering two story charcoal kilns. These 10 kilns were built in the 1876 for the mining operations in the area. We didn’t think this was worth the long drive. While you can drive most of the way there with a car and hike the rest of the way in, you’ll need a high clearance vehicle to get to the main parking lot.
Natural Bridge Trail
Time: 45 minutes
This is a short 2-mile hike to a natural stone bridge between two canyon walls. The walls of the canyon are really high so it’s one of the few hikes in Death Valley that has shade most of the day. The natural bridge is the pinnacle of this hike. However, there are some really cool dry waterfall beds to explore as well. This is a fun thing to do in Death Valley for a multi-day visit. However, if you’re expecting arches similar to those in Arches National Park, you’ll be disappointed. While we do recommend this in our 2-day Death Valley itinerary, it isn’t a must-visit.
Tips for Planning Your Day in Death Valley
Death Valley is very hot. Therefore you really want to organize the things to do in Death Valley accordingly. Hiking should be done early in the morning. We planned our days so that all of our hikes were done by 10 AM.
Also, try to organize your day so that all of the things to do in Death Valley that are short quick stops are stuck in the middle of the day. This way, you’ll be able to enjoy these short stops and then cool off quickly in the AC as you drive to your next stop.
Death Valley has some great places to visit for sunrise and sunset. However, if you plan to do this, you’ll have to choose the best spots and fit them into your itinerary just right. The most popular spots are Zabriskie Point, Badwater Basin, Dantes View and Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.
How Long Should You Stay in Death Valley
Death Valley is HUGE, it is the largest National Park in the continental U.S. Therefore, it is really hard to see all that the park has to offer in one day. However, Death Valley also has very few easily accessible stops. Therefore, unless you are visiting with a 4WD vehicle and can access all the roads, you can literally see everything accessible to you in two days. We did. Honestly, I think 1.5 days would have been best as we were a little bored by the second day visiting some of the farther afield destinations (like Eureka Mines).
Quick Death Valley Planning Tips
- Where to Stay: IN THE PARK – Furnace Creek is the most central place
- Where to Eat: Badwater Saloon in Stovepipe Wells and picnic lunches
- What to Budget: $30 for admission (or your American the Beautiful annual parks pass)
- When to Visit: mid-October through mid-April
- Best Advice we can Give: fill up your gas tank before arriving in the park and avoid getting gas in Furnace Creek
Overall, Death Valley was one of the more unique places we’ve visited. However, there were definitely some highlights in Death Valley and there are some things that we’d skip. So hopefully our honest opinion on these things to do in Death Valley will help you plan your very own vacation to this park. Please leave any comments or questions below and we’d be happy to help!
