One Day in Death Valley National Park

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I took a long weekend and visited Death Valley National Park and Joshua Tree National Park with my best friend. We flew in and out of Las Vegas. For a quick overview of the whole trip itinerary, you can read about that on this post: 5-Day Itinerary for Visiting Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks in One Trip.

How Many Days Do You Need In Death Valley National Park?

One day in Death Valley National Park is enough to see all the main highlights. I did a lot of research before this trip and some people said one day was enough in the park and some said they recommended 3+ days so I really wasn’t sure. But based on the stops that I really wanted to see, it looked like one day was enough.

We left some wiggle room so we could go back Saturday morning if we wanted to, but we honestly felt like one day was enough. We flew into Vegas, picked up a rental car and stopped at Target for a cooler, water and snacks/food. Then we drove to Pahrump, which took about an hour.

That night, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express – it was modern, updated and the staff was friendly. I definitely recommend staying here. We were able to walk next door for some yummy Mexican food at El Jefe – great food and margaritas. Then we stayed up way too late catching up and laughing.

Here’s how we spent the next day – One Day in Death Valley National Park:

First Thing’s First: We woke up early since we were on Central Time, ate breakfast at the hotel and ran to Wal-Mart to grab a few things we’d forgotten. Oh – and a very important stop – coffee! The hotel has coffee but one of my favorite things to do when I travel is try local coffee shops.

We stopped at Java Junkies and I got the largest coffee I’ve ever seen in my life – it was a 32oz iced caramel latte, lol! It was delish! Cindy got one of the frappes and loved it too. Then we hit the road.

If you drove straight to the park, it would take about an hour but of course, we had to stop and take pictures. The scenery was incredible and the roads were desolate so that definitely lent itself to some great snapshots!

Hitting the Park: We came in through the East side of the park so our first stop was Zabriskie Point – and it blew our minds. The landscape is incredible. So many rock colors and formations. Also, since we were there so early, there weren’t many people.

Next up was the Furnace Creek Visitor’s Center. I get stamps at all the parks in my National Park Passport – it makes the visits even more fun to collect the stamps. I highly suggest grabbing one if you don’t have one already, this one is similar to mine. This is the spot with the temperature sign outside, which is a can’t-miss photo op.

Then we followed Highway 190 over to Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes. I’ve been to all the sand dunes national parks and in comparison, I’ll be honest, this wasn’t anything like those so if you’re short on time, you could skip this stop. But it was beautiful none-the-less and we did see a lizard there so that was fun!

We decided to go over to the Stovepipe Wells General Store to check it out and eat our lunch. We had picked up pre-made salads and sandwiches during our Target stop before we left Vegas and had some chips, fruit, cheese, etc that we could snack on. One thing I highly recommend is to either pack an electrolyte drink like Propel or Gatorade or bring some packets to add to water bottles – that’s what we did. We got some Drip Drop packets at Wal-Mart. I’d never had them before, but the Fruit Punch was so good! Not too sweet. It was a necessity after sweating in the heat so much.

The heat had really picked up so after lunch, we decided to swing back by the Furnace Creek Visitor’s Center to see what the reading was on the sign and it had risen to 103 on April 28th! We used the bathroom and the cell service – it’s one of the few places in the park that you receive cell service – and then we headed to Badwater Basin.

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the US at 282ft below sea level – and it’s contrasted by being next to Telescope Peak, which is 11,049ft. The salt is brownish – not the white you see in pictures – maybe it varies at different times of the year. We had to taste it though, haha – it tastes just like a chunk of salt tastes!

Next was the famed Artist’s Drive and the highlight is Artist’s Palette. The colors really are as vibrant and colorful as you see in pictures. And it is stun.ning! I think this was my favorite part of the park. Unfortunately, we were exhausted from the heat or I would have spent more time exploring that area, but do not miss this part of the park!

Our final stop in the park was Twenty Mule Canyon Team Road. It was so fun! It’s definitely bumpy, we didn’t have 4WD but we did have a small SUV – anything close to the ground will likely bottom out. But it twists and turns and around every corner is another beautiful view. It was a great way to end our day in the park!

End of the Day: We drove the hour back to Pahrump – which flies by because the scenery is incredible. But we were exhausted and starving so we decided to try Chatthai Bistro – it was great! I had the Stir Fried Thai Sweet Basil and loved it! Cindy had a fried rice of some sort and it was good but mine was better. Definitely recommend this place though!

We hit the hay early at the Holiday Inn so we could head South early the next day to see Joshua Tree National Park. It was a great day and I didn’t feel like I missed anything. If you have more time, there’s more to see or you could spend more time in some areas but if you just want to hit the highlights, one day is all you need.

For help planning your trip and read more details about the entire trip, you can check out this post – Long Weekend Trip to Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks. You can also see more pics, videos and stores on my Instagram under highlights. If you haven’t been to Death Valley, I can’t recommend it enough!