Death Valley truly is the land of extremes. It is often cited as the hottest place on Earth and the driest place in the US, but it can still get some snow in the Winter! Death Valley’s landscapes are also extreme. Within an hour you can be transported through scenes that are so different that they feel like other planets – from sand dunes to colorful canyons, and eerie rock formations. I wanted to put together this guide of the best places to take photos in Death Valley National Park to help you decide where to stop when you visit!
Please note: although this isn’t an official itinerary, if you visit these spots in the order presented here they do make a nice day-long road trip.
Know Before You Go
There are some important things you need to take into consideration before you visit Death Valley.
First of all, I am not kidding when I say it is one of the hottest and driest places on the planet. I visited for one day in May and it was easily over 105º during most of my trip, without a cloud in the sky. Cars overheat all of the time, and in that kind of weather you need lots of access to drinking water. PLEASE, try to avoid visiting from late Spring into early Fall. I would recommend visiting between October and April, and even then it can get extremely hot. Check the weather before you go and plan accordingly!
Most of the park has little to no cell phone service. For personal safety, I would recommend traveling with a buddy.
There are quite a few places to stop to use the bathroom, but not as many places to get food and water. I would recommend stocking up on food, snacks, and drinks before you go. You just never know what you might encounter in the park, so please go prepared!
Trona Pinnacles
The Trona Pinnacles aren’t actually in Death Valley. They are about an hour away near the town of Trona, and if you are heading into Death Valley from the direction of LA and San Diego, they are worth a stop. You do need to drive along a dirt/gravel road for a few miles to get to them, so a 4-wheel-drive car is recommended but not required. I was able to visit in my 2-wheel-drive Prius and it made the trip no problem! Here are the directions that I used to get to the Pinnacles. The best view of the pinnacles is actually from a hill just before you turn left to head down to the main parking lot, which is pictured in the far left photo.
As a huge fan of science fiction movies and TV, I was delighted to learn that the Trona Pinnacles have been featured in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and Planet of The Apes (2001). Speaking of space, if you are into nighttime photography, the Trona Pinnacles are a great spot to take photos of the stars. The pinnacles were once at the bottom of a lake between 10,000 and 100,00 years ago, which explains their ancient, otherworldly appeal.
Mesquite Sand Dunes
I am going to be brutally honest here, the Mesquite Sand Dunes are not as cool as they look in photos. Ahh! Please don’t get mad at me! Like so many other optimistic photographers on the way to Death Valley, I was really excited to take photos of these dunes.
Here is what Instagram doesn’t show you: the sand Dunes are very small and COVERED in unsightly shrubs unless you are willing to hike 30-40 minutes out into the dunes. If I had known that beforehand, I would have planned accordingly and worn proper hiking attire. I would consider myself in good shape, but hiking up and down sand dunes in 90 degrees was not something I was excited to do, especially with a pretty packed itinerary. I only hiked 10 minutes into the dunes to get these photos, and I used quite a bit of photoshop to get rid of bushes that littered the two photos on the right. Are they still cool? Absolutely. Just manage your expectations a bit, or be prepared to hike for 40 minutes over shifting sands in the heat.
Zabriskie Point
Zabriskie Point was unexpectedly one of my favorite stops on my most recent trip to Death Valley. It is very easy to access – the “hike” to the overlook point is less than a quarter mile of paved road. It is entirely uphill, but it is such a short walk and the scenery is so mind-blowing that you don’t even notice that it’s hard.
The landscape surrounding the Zabriskie Point overlook is seriously striking. It is best photographed at sunrise, as that is the time of day when the light best illuminates the many colorful rock layers of this area. I captured these photos at sunset and still l loved how they turned out. There is a short trail that starts just before the observation deck on the right, which I would highly recommend checking out. Having a person interact with the landscape here really adds a sense of scale to the background!
Badwater Basin Salt Flats
Time for another controversial opinion – the salt flats at the Badwater Basin are my least favorite place I have visited in Death Valley. Most lists of the best places to take photos in Death Valley rave about this spot, but there are some things that those blogs don’t tell you. Just like the Mesquite Sand Dunes, you need to walk quite a bit to get to any actually photogenic salt flats. If I had to guess, I would say the salt flats are probably the most highly-trafficked area in the park, and that foot traffic means that you have to walk at least 20 minutes out to find perfect salt polygons, or at a minimum, salt that isn’t covered in dirt.
I want to clarify here, I do not mind a 20 minute walk. I have done much crazier things for photos before. (Hiking in a bathrobe, anyone?) The walk out is completely flat, which does help. Where I ran into trouble is that both times I have visited, I haven’t had time to make the walk out before the sun has set. Sunset truly is the best time to capture the salt flats, but I have yet to time it perfectly. Also, I never felt comfortable walking back alone and in the dark, with no cell phone service. I captured these photos about 10 minutes into the salt flats.
To give the salt flats some credit, it’s pretty neat that they are the lowest point in North America. They are 282 feet below sea level. There is even a little sign behind the parking lot that designates where sea level is, which is cool! Also, if you are lucky enough to capture the salt flats after some rain, you will be treated to quite the gorgeous scene.
Artist’s Palette
Here it is: the best place to take photos in all of Death Valley. (In my humble opinion, of course!) The Artist’s Palette is like nothing you have ever seen before. To reach it, turn off onto Artist’s Drive. It is a 9-mile long EXTREMELY winding but gorgeous strip of road, and the actual Artist’s palette is about 5 miles in. You really can’t miss it, and it has it’s own parking lot, so you don’t need to pull off to the side of the road. If you hike just a little bit from the parking lot, you get much better views of all of the colors. You do not need to walk far at all.
If you are going to take photos here, I would recommend visiting at blue hour (just after sunset) or maybe don’t visit at all. The colors are very pretty, but direct sunlight and even golden hour completely washes them out on camera. I realize that this makes is tough to see both the Artist’s Palette and the salt flats at their best, but in that case I would either prioritize getting to the Artist’s Palette at blue hour or visit for more than one day.
Bonus: Along the Road
If you are looking for one of those photos where you stand in the middle of the road and look cinematic, Death Valley has plenty of places to stop! The photo on the far left was taken on Artist’s Drive (see above). There aren’t any specific locations I can recommend, you will just know a perfect photo spot when you see it. This is another reason why it helps to bring a buddy with you when visiting – you have an extra set of eyes to spot incredible photo ops as you go!
Bonus: The Night Sky
To be completely transparent with you, I have never taken any long-exposure nighttime photos of the sky. I do know that Death Valley is the largest designated dark sky park in the US, so avid nighttime star photographers from all over the country gather here.
If you are someone who is interested in this kind of photography, Death Valley National park recommends three locations: Harmony Borax Works, Badwater Basin and the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. The above photo was taken at Zabriskie Point.
