How to Add a Death Valley Day Trip to Your Vegas Vacation
- Eric Beuning
- Feb 22
- 15 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Las Vegas might be known as “Sin City” but the thing I love most about it is its proximity to tons of great outdoor adventure destinations like Death Valley. However, there are a few devils in the details. Timing matters, you’ll need to pick up some supplies, and it helps to plan an itinerary of what you can realistically see in one day.
Not to worry, I’ll break that all down for you, using my most recent Death Valley day trip as a guide.
Best Time of Year to Visit Death Valley
Winter and early spring are by far the best times to visit Death Valley. Even by mid-March, the daytime temperatures can rocket into the upper 80s and beyond.
Yet in December through February, the daytime high only climbs into the 70s. During this same time, Vegas temps are usually 10 degrees lower, in the comfortable 60s.
For me, flying in from Minnesota, this was a downright treat. I went from -23 wearing a parka, to 77 degrees wearing shorts and a tank top.
The Possibility of Early April
If you’re the kind of person who’s comfortable with dry heat in the upper 80s and 90s, April in Death Valley brings the chance of catching a wildflower bloom. Usually, there needs to be a little rain a week or two before, but in the right places, it’s like standing in the middle of a Van Goh painting.
The Day Before Death Valley
Vegas is known for its easy-pouring policies, and people getting drunk. However, “Hangover” and “Death Valley” are terms that go together as well as “Grandfather” and “Erotic Back Massage.”
I’m a sobriety advocate, so I don’t drink alcohol at all. If you want to have a few adult beverages in Vegas the day before, I recommend keeping it light and then hitting the electrolytes hard before bed. Hydration is very important.
I would also recommend choosing a starch-rich meal the night before. Greasy burritos and refried beans are a bad idea, as Death Valley has very few good bathrooms.
How to Get to Death Valley From Las Vegas
When it comes to traveling to Death Valley from Vegas your only real options are to sign on with a packaged tour or rent a car and drive yourself.
Death Valley Tours
There are a few different outfitters offering tours that will take you from popular casinos on the strip to Death Valley. Unfortunately, they’re very expensive, costing over $250 a person or more. They start painfully early in the morning and make tons of stops that drag the entire adventure out into what amounts to a 14-to-15-hour day.
If you’re a tour bus type of person, this is an option. You’ll even get a tour guide to help explain some interesting tidbits along the way.
The Rental Car Option
Honestly, the rental option is the best way to explore Death Valley on your own terms while using Vegas as a home base. You get to leave at a reasonable time in the morning. You can stop when you want to and see the things that you find the most interesting.
The cost can vary, and you need to be savvy about it. The rental car is the most expensive and technical thing. Here’s the best way I’ve found to work it for any Vegas-based adventure.
Wait to reserve your vehicle until about 7 to 10 days before your trip. Rental car agencies in Vegas fluctuate their pricing based on popularity. Bigger vehicles like half ton and three-quarter-ton pickup trucks tend to crash in price per day a week at a time. Whereas convertibles, sports cars and luxury vehicles that people rent to look cool cruising the strip only go up in price. A full-size truck also comes with an optional 4-wheel drive, which might come in handy.
So, I reserved a three-quarter-ton pickup truck for a paltry $26 a day. Leaving me plenty of room in the budget to easily afford the extra insurance and roadside maintenance package.
Yes, I only got 18 MPG, but when you break the fuel price difference down with a mid-size SUV or sedan getting 24 MPG, it’s not a deal breaker. I’m comfortable driving a big truck, but if you’re not, there’s no shame in renting an SUV or springing for a fun convertible to let you drive Death Valley with the top down.
I think it’s best to reserve the rental car for a full 24 hours. Most rental agencies have after-hours drop-off, and this will spare you having to rush back or worry about facing additional fees.
Rental Car Pro Tip:
I found that Discover Cars network of rental cars had the best access, pricing and availability for Las Vegas rental cars.
The Best Route from Vegas to Death Valley
The best route from Vegas to Death Valley is on Nevada Highway 160 through the town of Pahrump. GPS and Google Maps will offer you a bunch of different routes. Some of these will remind you of Wes Craven movies and Alien invasion flicks.
The best way to keep GPS from recalculating you into the middle of a horror movie is to first tell it to get you from your car rental place in Vegas to Pahrump, Nevada. This is the only substantial town in the area to pick up supplies and the safest, most efficient travel route on 160.
NOTE: If you ask GPS to take you from Vegas to Death Valley directly, it will likely give you one of the other two routes, which are desolate, without supplies and potentially problematic.
Once you get to Pahrump, you can pick up your supplies at stores like Walmart, Albertsons, or the various convenience stores in town.
You can then ask GPS or Google Maps to take you from Pahrump to Death Valley. The route it to your next turn-off in the town of Death Valley Junction has some very fun dips in it that are reminiscent of a county fair roller coaster.
Death Valley Day Trip Supplies
Having enough drinking water is the top priority for any Death Valley day trip from Las Vegas. Of course, it’s not enough to simply pick up a few water bottles at a vending machine, to let them boil in the hot desert sun. You need to keep them cold, and unless you checked a hard-sided cooler with your luggage, you’ll need to use one of the following hacks.
Ice Bottles from a Vegas Freezer
One of my favorite travel hacks is to save sports drink bottles. After a good rinse, I fill them halfway with water and prop them at an angle in a freezer. After a solid 24 hours, they’re rock hard, yet the heavy-duty sports drink bottle plastic won’t crack.
Then I top them up with fresh water, to give me something cold to drink all day. If I don’t have a cooler, I wrap the bottles in groups of three inside white towels, which you can temporarily borrow from the hotel.
Of course, this only works if you have a room with a quality freezer or some type of kitchenette. A typical mini fridge usually won’t freeze them rock solid.
Lunch Pack & Peas
This is an old trick that my lady reinvented at our stop at the Pahrump, Nevada Walmart on my way to Death Valley. We needed to keep some water bottles and sandwich ingredients cold for the day.
So, we bought a quality collapsible lunch cooler, like you’d send your kid’s school lunch in. Then we bought a cheap bag of frozen peas, for $1.25, and used it to keep everything else cold.
It’s cheaper than a bag of ice and not as sloppy. You could bring your own soft-sided collapsible lunch cooler from home or buy one to bring back with you. The peas are easy enough to throw away.
Death Valley Food
When we went to Death Valley, we bought the stuff to make our own sandwiches, which I think is the best way to go. I’ve been to a dozen National Parks and almost all of them have horribly expensive, low-quality food options.
So, I was staggered to find that Death Valley’s visitor center in the middle of the park actually has quality fresh sandwiches and water at reasonable prices. Still, they were in limited supply, and I wouldn’t count on them 100% being there if you’re visiting Death Valley from Vegas in the summer.
Clothing, Footwear & Sunscreen
Sunscreen is always a good idea when visiting Death Valley. Even in February I still got a little pink on the top of my bald head, ears, and the tip of my nose after a full day in the sun.
A hat, and lightweight, light-colored clothes are also wise. Just keep in mind that this is the desert, and if you’re staying until sunset or beyond, the temperature will plummet rapidly as twilight approaches. So, keep a hooded sweatshirt or a light jacket in the car.
Hiking boots or rugged cross-trainer shoes are also a good idea. Other than the roads, and the salt flats of Badwater Basin, most of Death Valley is some type of sharp, loose gravel.
Gum
Driving from Las Vegas to Death Valley is an elevation difference of 2,283 feet, which is enough to make your ears pop driving there and back. Chewing gum from Pahrump to Badwater Basin and vice versa will help with this.
Itinerary Day Trip to Death Valley
When renting a car and driving from Las Vegas to Death Valley, you can’t see everything, but you can see most of the highlights. The trick is to put them in the right order and to avoid some unnecessary side hikes.
Most rental car agencies don’t let you check out a vehicle until 7:00 am at the earliest. Assuming you’re there at 7:01 and you attack your Walmart supply stop like a Navy Seal strike team, you’re likely not going to get to the Death Valley Park entrance until 9:30-10:00 am.
Park Entrance
The park entrance at Death Valley is different than any other National Park I’ve been to. It’s just a kiosk on the side of the road where you can buy a day pass for $30. I have an America the Beautiful annual pass, but the only place to buy that is if you drive to the Visitor’s Center. If you just drive into the park without a pass, the rangers will eventually slap you with a ticket, which will need to be ironed out with the rental car agency.
There are pit toilets here, but as the first stop on a desolate road, they’re used heavily. I think my lady would agree that it might be best to hold it.
Dante’s Overlook (Optional)
This is one of the classic vistas of Death Valley National Park, and it’s the first side road you’ll come across a few hundred feet from the entry kiosk. This road is brutal and driving up and back with a little time to look around will eat up an hour of your day.
The view is iconic. When you get there, you’ll probably realize you’ve seen it before. I think if you’re going to spend multiple days at Death Valley, it’s worth the dusty, bumpy drive up. If you only have a single day from Vegas, I’d skip it.
Zabriskie Point
This is the next stop on the road into Death Valley and is well worth it. The pit toilets here are usually in a better state.
The walk-up is nicely paved, but a little steep. There are convenient little concrete benches to catch your breath and snap a few background picks.
Zabriskie Point is a classic badlands geology reminiscent of what you’ll find in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Yet with its own shade of yellow and gold.
I recommend keeping your morning stop short, as Zabriskie Point is arguably the best place in the park for sunset photos. So, the wise move is to circle back at the end of the day when the western sunset over the distant mountains is majestic and the shadows in the surrounding gulleys are otherworldly.
Badwater Basin
The turn-off to Badwater Basin is just a few miles after Zabriskie Point. I recommend driving all the way down, past the other roadside vistas and attractions to Badwater Basin, and working your way back. I think this is the most efficient route.
Parking is limited, and there is this misperception that you have to turn into the lot at the first entrance. I recommend driving down to the second entrance where you have a better chance of finding a spot while everyone else is in line at the first or finding a better place to pull onto the side of the road without having to parallel park.
If you look up on the cliff face at the parking lot, you’ll find a white rectangle noting sea level.
The salt flat of Badwater Basin is typically flat. My feet were tired of being in boots, so I walked out barefoot, to feel the grainy salt on my toes, but I would still walk out in boots or shoes.
The vista from the middle of the salt flat makes you feel like you’re on another planet. If a purple scorpion alien with tentacles climbed over the mountain and started shooting its eye beams, you’d think “Well I should’ve seen that coming!”
Natural Bridge Canyon (Optional)
As you backtrack on Badwater Road, Natural Bridge Canyon is the next natural stop. If you’re going to explore Death Valley for multiple days, it’s worth stopping. But it’s a long bumpy drive to the trailhead, and I think there are far more interesting canyons in the park that are more deserving of your time on a day trip.
Devil’s Golf Course (Not Worth Stopping)
This is a geological aberration in the salt flats of Badwater Basin. The name alone has surely tricked dozens of golf enthusiasts who hoped to find a unique driving range.
However, it’s another interesting place to enjoy the sunset with funky shadows. However, on a day trip, in the middle of the day, it’s only really worth visiting if you have a fetish for extreme tripping hazards.
Artist’s Palette
Death Valley's Artists Palette Drive is truly a one-way road that runs south to north. Which is easier to access as you come back from Badwater Basin. It has a 25-foot length restriction that is legit. Don't go trying to tow a trailer through it or you will get hung up in the switchbacks and dips on the north side.
Early on you'll probably run into a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road. People walking up the hill will give you the impression that you've reached Artist Palette. It’s just a hill with a nice view. The hike is steeper than it looks, and I don't think the vista alone is truly worth the effort.
The actual parking lot for Artists Palette is farther ahead, down a side road. It's another mile or two from the fools-gold-stop and is properly marked, with very limited parking. So, I would wave happily to those people in hopes of saving space at the real thing!
Golden Canyon (Optional)
Golden Canyon is one of the best hikes in Death Valley, but it's hard to justify spending a lot of time there on a short day trip from Las Vegas.
It's usually very crowded, parking is tricky, and you have to hike a full mile to get to the good stuff. Red Cathedral is about 1.5 miles in, making 3 miles there and back. Then there is an even longer option that will take you to the backside of Zabriskie Point.
If you have a second day in the works, I would absolutely dedicate an entire morning to fully exploring Golden Canyon. On a day trip, I think you’ll get more bang for your buck timewise by driving to Mosaic Canyon.
Furnace Creek Visitors Center
This is the main visitor center in Death Valley, and it has the best bathrooms on the eastern side of the park. This is where you can buy an America the Beautiful Pass. They have good prices on bottled water and fresh sandwiches. It’s tempting to want to fill your personal water bottle here from the public sinks and water fountains, but I would opt for the $1.25 water bottles.
The Devil’s Cornfield (Not Worth Stopping)
I honestly think this is just a marketing ploy put together by the National Park Service. They’re really just some low-lying desert bushes that grow in clumps like harvested broom corn. I think somebody twenty years ago made this up as an attraction just in hopes of getting people to stop, so it would decrease congestion in the parking lots of the park’s popular attractions.
Harmony Borax Works (Not Worth Stopping)
Considering the limited time of a Death Valley day trip from Vegas I don’t think the Borax works is worth a stop. They used to mine borax in Death Valley back in the day. So, someone decided to make it a historic stop on an otherwise bleak stretch of road. Unless you have fond memories of your grandmother washing laundry with borax soap, I don’t think it’s worth a stop.
Mosaic Canyon
Mosaic Canyon is my favorite hike to include in a Death Valley day trip from Vegas. It's more than a half-hour drive from Golden Canyon, but I think it's the better alternative.
I recommend driving straight there after visiting Badwater Basin and using the facilities at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center. You can always hit the lesser attractions you’ll drive past on your way back
The extremely bumpy road up to the trailhead will shake you more than James Bond's martini, but it’s worth it. Parking is also limited, and the wise move is to have someone pop out to be your spotter. This will spare you a 97-point turn like the Chevy Silverado in front of me was forced to endure.
Right from the get-go the Mosaic Canyon is a visual feast, you expect from a slot canyon. You can hike a mile into the canyon and every footstep feels like you’re in another world. It rewards you with the slot canyon experience right from the get-go, whereas other canyons in Death Valley make you work for it.
The first three-quarters of a mile is a traditional slot canyon. Then it opens up for another half mile or so until it narrows into a slot canyon for another mile or so until it essentially ends.
Mosaic Canyon Geology
Mosaic Canyon is arguably the best place in Death Valley to have a hands-on experience with the park’s erosion geology.
The smooth, layered sedimentary rock is a 700-million-year-old marble that was created during Earth’s Cryogenian Era. When most of the Earth was covered in ice, and the only life was microbial. Trillions upon trillions of microscopic organisms absorbed calcium and other minerals from the seawater and laid down layers of sediment that became limestone and eventually hardened marble.
Then there’s breccia, which is eroded bits of angular rock, all cemented together by fine grain sediment. It’s essentially debris from past erosion that’s in the process of lithification as it turns to stone.
Mesquite Sand Dunes
When it comes to sunset and sunrise photos Mesquite Sand Dunes is on par with Zabriskie Point. It’s also close to Mosaic Canyon, so if you spend a little too much time hiking there, you can rush to the dunes to get a great sunset experience.
The question is how hard do you want to work for it? Hiking across sand dunes is even more exhausting than running on a beach. The dunes closest to the parking lot are cool and all, but their desert majesty has been pounded out of them by the footsteps of a million tourists before you.
If you want to experience the vast majesty of desert sand dunes with a Lawerence of Arabia vibe, you have to hike deep into them. You can even see the unspoiled areas from a distance, as they’re taller and cleaner looking. Expect it to take you a solid half hour or more to get there, and you’re going to sweat for it.
Making a Sand Dunes Sunset Plan
There are a few things to account for if you choose Mesquite Sand Dunes for your Death Valley sunset experience. For starters, the desert will get cold fast! So, if you’re going to hike out to the unspoiled parts of the dunes, wrap a hoodie around your waist.
Death Valley is a “Dark Sky Area” and you’ll be dealing with a lot of inky blackness on narrow desert roads clogged with other tourists. When you add in the lights of oncoming traffic, you end up with uncomfortable stress at the end of an otherwise magical day.
Instead, I recommend hiking deep into the unspoiled part of the dunes with a blanket, hoodie, and water. Enjoy the sunset and then lay on the blanket for an hour watching the stars come to life. This will give traffic time to clear out and burn an amazing visual experience into your memory.
The Scorpion Problem
Scorpions come out at night. So, if you’re going to hike into the unspoiled dunes, I would bring a $10 UV flashlight, which will cause them to glow on your walk back.
The Drive Back to Las Vegas from Death Valley
There are a few things to keep in mind about the drive back from Death Valley to Vegas.
GPS & Dark Roads
There’s a lot of inky blackness in the drive back to Vegas from Death Valley, and GPS is spotty in all the places where you need it most. So, take some mental notes on the way out to backtrack safely.
Gas & Supplies
Just like on the way in, the best place to stop for supplies is Pahrump. However, it’s a little too far out to top off the tank. If you need gas, Pahrump has the friendliest prices.
Unfortunately, car rental places in Vegas are extremely strict about you returning the car with a 100% full tank. They charge you $10 to $15 a gallon if the tank isn’t plump full.
So, it’s best to do your final top-off in the town of Enterprise on the outskirts of Vegas, just before you get on Interstate 15. The interstate and the Vegas strip can have insane traffic in the evenings, and I would rather pay for a couple extra milliliters of fuel, than having to pull on and off that mess.
Other Things to See In Death Valley
Everything in Death Valley west of Mosaic Canyon tends to be too hiking-intensive to fit into a day trip from Vegas. Other attractions, resorts, and horseback riding opportunities are well worth adding to a multi-day Death Valley experience.
The Best One-Day Itinerary
I think the following is the best itinerary for a single-day trip from Vegas to Death Valley.
Pay at the park entrance kiosk.
View Zabriskie Point.
Drive to Badwater Basin and hike a mile onto salt flats.
Tour Artist’s Palette Drive, making the correct stop.
Stop at Furnace Creek Visitors Center for supplies, souvenirs, and good bathrooms.
Drive to Mosaic Canyon and a mile in.
Hike deep into Mesquite Sand Dunes for sunset photos and star gazing.
Alternative sunset experience at Zabriskie Point.
You can find more of my National Parks travel guides and information about Las Vegas at Eric Beuning's Author Page.
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