Death Valley National Park Itinerary: 1, 3 & 5-Day Plans

Start in the dark. Arrive at Zabriskie Point about 30 minutes before sunrise to secure parking, then watch the light come up over the golden badlands and Manly Beacon. This is the park's most photographed view and the reason the day begins here rather than at the visitor center. When the color fades, drop into Furnace Creek, pay the entrance fee at a kiosk or the visitor center (card only, no cash), and pick up a paper map, because your phone will not work for most of what follows.

Harmony Borax Works is the warm-up: a 0.4-mile interpretive loop through the ruins of the 1880s borax processing operation that put Death Valley on the map. Then drive south on Badwater Road for 17 miles to Badwater Basin, 282 feet below sea level. Walk the paved boardwalk out over the white salt polygons, then keep going onto the flats themselves for unobstructed mountain views in every direction, with Telescope Peak across the valley. The round trip is about a mile, and the lowest-elevation marker sign is the photo everyone takes.

On the way back north, turn onto Artist's Drive, the one-way scenic loop through the painted hills. It is a drive, not a hike, which is what your legs want by early afternoon. Finish with an easy evening: dinner in Furnace Creek, then back out to the dark. Death Valley at night is its own attraction, and the ranger-led night programs and the sky itself are the free second half of a one-day visit.

Yesterday you stood at the bottom. Today you look down on it. Dante's View sits 5,575 feet above Badwater, and the panorama takes in the whole salt floor you walked across on Day 1. Go early: the light is best, the air is coolest, and the road is paved all the way, so it is accessible year-round. The turnoff is on the highway east of Furnace Creek, toward Death Valley Junction, which is the closest thing to a town on that side of the park.

Come back down for the day's hike. Golden Canyon is the park's signature walk: striped badland walls that narrow toward Red Cathedral, a natural amphitheater of red rock at the end. The self-guided stops along the way explain the old road, the mud, and the minerals that give the canyon its color, and they link below. Carry water; there is none on any trail in the park, and the canyon holds heat once the sun is on it.

If you want to use the Furnace Creek hub properly, this is the day to stop at the visitor center for road conditions and the night program schedule. Zabriskie Point, which you saw at sunrise yesterday, also works at sunset, and it sits above the far end of the badlands you just walked through.

Leave Furnace Creek and drive northwest to Stovepipe Wells, the park's other hub, with a restaurant and 24-hour gas. Mosaic Canyon is the morning: a walk up narrows of smooth, polished rock that opens and closes around you. Do it before the heat builds, because the canyon is the more exposed of the two walks.

The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are the afternoon and evening. Wander out onto the ripples with no set route, then stay for sunset, when the low light throws every ridge into relief and the sand goes from white to gold. The dunes are also one of the park's best night-sky spots, and there is no light to speak of at Stovepipe Wells once the sun is gone. Download offline maps before you leave Furnace Creek; you will not have service out here.

This is the day that surprises people who think of Death Valley as flat and hot. Wildrose Peak is the park's alpine hike, a climb through the Panamint Range to a summit with 360-degree views across the desert to the Sierra Nevada. It is the strong-hiker day of the trip; save it for people comfortable with a real climb, and pick a different day if you are here in December to February, when the peak is often snow-covered.

The approach is up the road from Emigrant. Lower Wildrose Road is rough gravel but passable, and there is nothing along it, so fuel up at Stovepipe Wells and carry more water than feels reasonable. Trails here have zero water sources, and evaporation is extreme even in the cool months. If you would rather keep the high country to a drive, the Panamint side still delivers the contrast: sagebrush and pinyon instead of salt. The western exit toward Lone Pine and the Sierra starts from this side of the park, which matters if you are leaving the park that way rather than back east.

Drive north on the last morning to Ubehebe Crater, the volcanic end of the park, and walk the rim loop. It is the farthest of the major features from Furnace Creek and the least visited of the five days, which is why it is Day 5 and not Day 2. Bonnie Clare Road, which continues past the crater toward Nevada, is closed from flood damage, so the crater is an out-and-back from the main road, not a through route.

Leave the park east over Daylight Pass to Beatty, the gateway town on the Nevada side, with beds, fuel, and food. Titus Canyon Road, the one-way backcountry drive that drops into the park from the Beatty side, is temporarily open in 2026 but closes October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027 for repairs, so confirm the road status at nps.gov/deva before you plan the day around it. Darwin Falls Road stays closed through summer 2027 as well. If a day earlier in the trip was lost to weather or heat, this is the flexible day to spend on what you missed.