Furnace Creek Inn pool: a constant, chlorine-free 82 degrees
Death Valley & Amargosa Accommodations
Spring is the busiest season, especially during those weeks immediately following a splashy photo spread of desert wildflowers in the travel section of the LA Times. Accommodations at Furnace Creek will frequently sell out on Friday and Saturday nights. Stovepipe Wells less frequently but it does happen. One weekend the park is sure to fill to capacity—steer clear or book many months in advance—is during the Death Valley ‘49er Encampment in November. Otherwise, with fewer than a million visitors each year, most just passing through, Death Valley is still a place where silence and wind reign supreme.
See THE BOOK for detailed reviews and logistics, camping information, dining, shopping, history and recreation. Click establishment name to visit website.
* denotes special recommendation
-
Amargosa Valley
-
Death Valley Junction; 760-852-4441. At the haunted old Pacific Coast Borax headquarters, location for David Lynch’s Lost Highway Hotel, and venue for Marta Becket's famous seasonal opera.
-
At China Ranch, Tecopa; 760-852-4360. Eclectic two-room cottage-style B & B (and furnished tipi) in the heart of a date farm oasis.
-
-
Death Valley
-
Highway 190, Death Valley; 760-786-2345; 888-29-PARKS. Where in 1926 there were rocks and sand and borax there is now a mature North African-style oasis of deglet nour date palms, spring-fed runnels and shaded garden paths...
-
Highway 190, Death Valley; 760-786-2345; 888-29-PARKS. The family/budget option at the heart of the action at Furnace Creek. Small, upgraded Depression-era cabin units to spacious mid-century “parkside” motel rooms with sliding glass doors onto the lawn.
-
U.S. 190, Death Valley; 760-786-2387. Basic motel rooms and chlorinated well-water swimming pool near sand dunes and the site of an 1850 wagon-burning episode.
-
-
Panamint Basin
-
Highway 190, Panamint Valley; 775-482-7680. Friendly, hospitable, reasonably-priced, worn. Some love it, others run screaming. Renovations underway. Good road food, smoothies, microbrews, photo gallery, sunset porch, access to backroads...
-