Death Valley, CA

The only full-service sit-down restaurant inside the park, a two-story Old West saloon at The Ranch at Death Valley packed with antique guns, taxidermy, and movie posters. The menu runs steaks, ribs, salmon, and pasta with local beers and whiskey. It leans pricey and reviews are mixed, but it is the dinner option at Furnace Creek.

The dining room at Stovepipe Wells Village, serving steaks, pasta, and a well-regarded breakfast buffet under Old West decor. Locals and repeat visitors rate it better value than the Furnace Creek options. It shares a kitchen with the adjacent Badwater Saloon.

The livelier counterpart to the Toll Road Restaurant at Stovepipe Wells, a western-style bar serving pizza, bison burgers, elk chili, and cold draft beer. It is the casual, after-hike hangout on the park's west side. Same kitchen as next door, but with more of a saloon buzz.

A rustic restaurant on the far western edge of the park with a wide burger list, pizzas, and a surprisingly deep craft beer selection. The porch looks out over distant dunes and the Panamint Valley. It is the only real meal stop on the long western approach.

An offbeat little chili-and-beer joint in Beatty, the Nevada gateway town, with a wood-stove-heated outdoor patio and a fiercely loyal following. The chili is the whole point, served cheap with cold beer in a no-frills local hangout. It is the kind of place regulars treat as a clubhouse.

An old-fashioned diner on the highway through Beatty serving burgers, sandwiches, and classic breakfast fare at fair prices. It is the quick, friendly breakfast-and-lunch stop for anyone coming into the park from the Nevada side. Fast service and big portions are the reputation.

A barbecue spot on Beatty's main street turning out brisket, pulled pork, and a jalapeno mac and cheese that regulars rave about. It is the heartier sit-down option in town and a worthwhile detour if you are based on the Nevada side. Brisket-topped burgers are a local move.

A laid-back western bar in the middle of Beatty, walls and ceiling papered in signed dollar bills, serving pizza, burgers, and ribs alongside a long beer list. It is the town's social watering hole and a fun stop after a day in the park. Under newer management with a refreshed kitchen.

A walk up a golden-walled canyon into narrowing slots, ending at the red rock face of Red Cathedral. The first mile is gentle; the final push involves some rock scrambling. It connects to longer loops toward Zabriskie Point if you want more.

A narrows hike just above Stovepipe Wells where water-polished marble walls swirl with embedded rock fragments like a mosaic. Many people stop at the boulder jam about a mile up, but the canyon continues for those who scramble. The polished sections are the signature.

The park's high-summit hike, climbing through pinyon, juniper, and ancient bristlecone pines to the 11,049-foot top of the Panamints. From the summit you can see both Badwater Basin and Mount Whitney on a clear day. This is a serious, full-day strenuous effort.

A demanding climb from the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns through pinyon-juniper forest to a 360-degree summit over Death Valley and the Sierra. Shorter than Telescope Peak but still a real workout with a steep upper section. The high-country forest is a complete change from the valley.

An unmarked route off Badwater Road that leads into hidden slot canyons with arches, suspended boulders, and dark passages. The main wash is open and wide, but the slots branching off it are the reward for poking around. It is more exploration than marked hike.

A surprise year-round waterfall in a green riparian canyon near Panamint Springs, one of the only reliable waterfalls in the park. The lower falls are an easy walk; the route gets brushy and rocky as you near the water. A rare splash of green in the desert.

The flat walk out across the salt flats from the Badwater boardwalk into the heart of the lowest point in North America. Go far enough and the boardwalk crowds vanish, leaving polygon salt patterns in every direction. Nearly zero elevation, but the heat is the challenge.

A short boardwalk loop over a desert creek that is home to the endangered Death Valley pupfish found nowhere else. In late winter and spring you can watch the tiny fish darting in the shallows. The most accessible, easiest walk in the park.

The park's main hub, with strong exhibits on geology and human history, a relief map you light up by section, and rangers who give the real word on road and weather conditions. The big outdoor thermometer is the classic photo. This is where to start any first day.

A small free museum at The Ranch at Death Valley with mining-history exhibits indoors and a yard of stagecoaches, locomotives, and old equipment outside. It is the best quick history stop in Furnace Creek, especially the outdoor machinery. A rainy-or-roasting-day diversion close to the lodges.

The world's lowest golf course at 214 feet below sea level, an 18-hole layout framed by date palms with the Panamints behind. The novelty of the elevation and the oasis setting outweigh the occasionally rough greens. A genuinely unusual round you cannot play anywhere else.

An outdoor sculpture park on the edge of the Rhyolite ghost town, anchored by a ghostly life-size 'Last Supper' in shrouded plaster. Seven large works sit starkly against the open desert, equal parts eerie and whimsical. Free, quick, and unlike anything else near the park.

The ruins of a boomtown that peaked around 1905, including a crumbling bank, a train depot, and a house built from glass bottles. It sits just outside the park near Beatty and is free to wander. Best photographed in the long light of early morning or evening.

The lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level, a vast field of hexagonal salt polygons stretching to the mountains. A boardwalk leads to the flats, but the surreal cracked-salt patterns start once you walk past the crowds. Look up the cliff behind the lot for the small 'Sea Level' sign.

An overlook above golden, wrinkled badlands that glow at first light, with Manly Beacon rising in the middle distance. It is a short paved walk up from the lot, which is why it draws a sunrise crowd. The same eroded mudstone is the launch point for the Golden Canyon hikes below.

The park's most accessible dune field, rolling sand right off the highway a few miles east of Stovepipe Wells. Walk in far enough and the footprints disappear, leaving ripple patterns and sharp shadows at low sun. It is also one of the best places in the park to be after dark for the stars.

A mountaintop overlook more than 5,000 feet above the valley floor, staring straight down at Badwater Basin and across to the snow-capped Panamints. The air up here runs much cooler than the valley, so it is a relief on hot days. A short paved path extends the view in both directions.

The most concentrated splash of color on the one-way Artist's Drive, where mineral deposits stain the hills in pinks, greens, and purples. You can see most of it from the pullout, but unmarked paths let you wander into the formations. The whole drive is a scenic loop off Badwater Road.

An immense field of jagged rock-salt spires eroded into knife-edged clumps, reached by a short gravel road off Badwater Road. If you stand still on a hot day you can hear faint pops and pings as the salt crystals expand. It is a stop-and-look more than a walk.

A 600-foot-deep volcanic crater at the north end of the park, born from a steam explosion and ringed by colorful ash layers. A rim trail loops around the edge with views down into the bowl and over to the smaller Little Hebe Crater. It is a long drive out, so pair it with a trip toward the Racetrack.

An overlook on the western edge of the park gazing into Rainbow Canyon and across Panamint Valley. Historically nicknamed Star Wars Canyon for the military jets that once flew below the rim. A short high-clearance spur road leads to an even better viewpoint past the main lot.

The ruins of an 1880s borax refinery just north of Furnace Creek, with a restored 20-mule-team wagon and interpretive signs. A short flat loop tells the story of how borax was hauled 165 miles out of the valley. A low ridge blocks resort lights, making it a quiet stargazing spot too.

A one-way unpaved loop that winds through soft, folded badlands near Zabriskie Point, with tight turns and miniature golden canyons. It is a short, low-traffic drive that feels far more remote than it is. The borax-bearing mudstone here is what the old mule teams worked.

A 35-foot rock span arching over a canyon off Badwater Road, reached by a short uphill walk on gravel. Past the bridge the canyon continues to dry waterfall pour-offs worth poking into. It is a quick, family-doable detour that gets you off the pavement.

Ten beehive-shaped stone kilns from 1877, among the best-preserved in the West, set high in the Panamint pinyon forest. Step inside one and the acoustics and faint smell of old charcoal are the draw. The elevation means cooler air and a very different landscape from the valley floor.