Dante’s View in Death Valley National Park
Death Valley is full of mountain ridges and the valleys in-between them, which means lots of opportunities for jaw-dropping views. One of the most undeniably stunning is Dante’s View, and it’s not very far out of the way from all the park’s most popular attractions either.
CONTENTS
Where is Dante’s View?
Located inside Death Valley National Park, Dante’s View is 25 miles south of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center on a mountaintop 5,575 feet above the famous Badwater Basin. The drive takes around 40 minutes from the Visitor Center, which I know feels like a lot for 25 miles, but more on that in the next section.
The closest major city is Las Vegas, a 2.5 hour drive away, and Los Angeles is a 5 hour drive away.
How to Get to Dante’s View
Because Death Valley is so large and the attractions are spread out, this national park does not offer any kind of shuttle service during peak season like some other parks do. That means you’ll need to drive yourself around, and this is probably the most driving we’ve done in a national park so far, as we racked up 410 miles just from driving around inside the park over 3-4 days.
Roads to most of the popular attractions in Death Valley are paved, including the one to Dante’s View, but not all of them are. We rented a hybrid SUV through Turo for this trip, and although we didn’t end up needing the 4x4 capabilities since we stuck to the most popular attractions for our first visit to the park, we were very happy to be in an SUV and not a sedan because the roads in Death Valley that are not paved are rough.
Speaking of rough roads, you should keep a close eye on road closures in the park before your trip, because they happen fairly often due to the need for constant repairs in this unforgiving landscape. Do NOT rely on Google Maps to steer clear of road closures, and in fact, you probably shouldn’t rely on the app at all because there is very little service of any kind in Death Valley. We recommend picking up a free paper map at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to help you get around.
Assuming the roads are open, we highly recommend making the trip up to Dante’s View. Even though it’s right above Badwater Basin, the only way to get up to it is by driving all the way around the end of the mountain range the viewpoint sits on, which when departing from Badwater Basin takes about 1 hour (40 miles). I feel like we made it in around 40 minutes heading down though. It may sound like a lot but it is quite a scenic drive, especially once you get onto Dante’s View Road, aka Furnace Creek Wash Road.
The reason why it takes so long to get up to the viewpoint is because of the winding road up the mountain once you turn off the main road. Leaving from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, the first 12 miles only take 17 minutes on the main road, but then you get to the turn-off to go up the mountain and the remaining 13 miles take 23 minutes as you climb, climb, climb in elevation. You’ll be climbing over 1 mile in elevation in a very short amount of time, although it still didn’t feel as bad as the road we took to get into the heart of Sequoia National Park (because that one had a million switchbacks).
Keep your eyes peeled along the drive too for remnants of old mines and, if you visit in the spring, wildflowers. This road up to Dante’s View is one of the best places to see wildflowers in Death Valley National Park.
At the viewpoint, there is a decently sized, paved parking lot that was nearly empty when we visited, so parking shouldn’t be a problem. Large vehicles like RVs or cars towing camper trailers cannot make it up the road, so there’s plenty of space for regular cars. That’s just another reason for taking an SUV to Death Valley over any other type of car.
Best Time to Visit Dante’s View
The first thing you have to consider when timing your visit to Death Valley is what month you will be visiting, because the heat there is no joke. This is a topic that I recently realized deserves its own separate blog article because there are many factors to consider, but until we’re able to write that, here’s the basic information we’ve come up with so far…
The coolest month in Death Valley is December, when the average high is 65°F (18°C) and the average low is 39°F (4°C). The hottest month is July, when the average high is 116°F (47°C) and the average low is 88°F (31°C). The most popular month to visit Death Valley is March, when the average high temperature is 82°F (28°C) and the average low is 55°F (13°C), so it’s a nice middle ground, especially for us Southern Californians who really struggle in cold weather.
But that brings us to the next point you should consider: how crowded it will be. Looking at the numbers from 2022-2024, the most popular months to visit Death Valley are:
March, with an average of 169,589 visitors. (That’s 5,471 people per day.)
April, averaging 131,909 visitors. (4,397 per day)
February, averaging 126,383 visitors. (4,514 per day)
In contrast, the least popular months to visit Death Valley are:
October, with an average of 49,285 visitors. (That’s 1,590 per day.)
September, averaging 56,802 visitors. (1,893 per day)
August, averaging 67,267 visitors. (2,170 per day)
If you’d like to be notified when we release our separate blog article with all the detailed information to determine the best month to visit Death Valley, just sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of this webpage.
The best time of day to visit Dante's View is just about anytime, actually. Thanks to its higher elevation, Dante’s View is likely to be about 10°F cooler than the rest of the park, which means that it could still be rather hot, but not as hot as the attractions and hikes at lower elevations. The biggest issue to consider if you’re driving up there in the afternoon is your car overheating (a VERY serious concern in the summertime).
A lot of visitors say Dante’s View a wonderful place for sunrise, sunset, and stargazing, but keep in mind that there are some switchbacks with steep drop-offs at the top of the mountain as you arrive and depart Dante’s View, so navigating them in the dark might be scary because Death Valley has ZERO street lights. We visited Dante’s View about 2 hours before sunset and it was absolutely lovely. If you plan to hike along the adjacent mountain ridge, before 10am and close to sunset are the best times to visit in the hotter months.
Cost to Visit Dante’s View in Death Valley National Park
There is an entrance fee to go into Death Valley National Park, but there is no additional fee to go to Dante’s View past that. While there are a number of options for entrance fees to Death Valley, the most popular is a private vehicle entry, which costs $30 and covers everyone in that vehicle for 7 days.
We use the America the Beautiful Pass, which is essentially an annual pass that includes entry into all the U.S. national parks for 1 year, and costs $80.
To learn about all the options for entrance fees to Death Valley National Park, including senior and student discounts, check out this page on the NPS website. It’s on our list to write another blog article explaining all the different entrance options, so if that’s something you’d like us to prioritize then let us know in a comment on our YouTube video.
Our Experience
Dante’s View got its name from borax miners in Death Valley in the late 1800’s because it reminded them of the circles of Hell in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. The ironic thing is that, to me at least, the view is divine (haha). I suppose it would feel very different though if I were there to try to mine the land 💀
We visited Dante’s View on day 3 of our 4 day trip to Death Valley National Park, so it was the final evening of our trip. We had visited Badwater Basin in the afternoon of day 2, and us being the people who are always looking for ways to get up higher for incredible views, we were excited to get to a spot over a mile above the salt flat to see it from a different perspective.
As you start your journey driving on the 190 to go to Dante’s View, use your paper map from the Visitor Center and keep your eyes peeled for the turn-off. The signs pointing you towards the attractions in Death Valley are a bit small, considering your GPS probably won’t work to tell you when to turn and the road you’re turning onto is unassuming and feels just a little bit like it could turn into an off-roading adventure at any moment.
Driving the road up to Dante’s View was quite lovely and interesting though, because there’s a surprising amount of differing textures and plant life on the mountains. Specks of yellow seem to fly by on either side of the road in the spring, which are the wildflowers that are eye-catching in real life but difficult to capture on video while moving. You’ll definitely know when you’re almost to the viewpoint because the grade suddenly increases dramatically and there are moments when it looks like you’re on a ramp about to take off into the sky in your car (but it’s really just a mild hairpin turn). Then, like magic, you’re rewarded with a breathtaking view.
We were fortunate enough to visit while Lake Manly was making an appearance down in Badwater Basin, so I think that made the view that much more spectacular. There is a ridge that you can do a short hike on for what might be an even better view (see photo above), but since I (Phoebe) am still recovering from a back injury, we stayed at the paved viewpoint at the parking lot. There are a few informational signs about the ancient rivers that once flowed into Badwater Basin to create Lake Manly, the usually pristine air quality of the park, and how you can lower your own impact on light pollution to help preserve dark sky areas like Death Valley.
From up this high above Lake Manly, you can really see the nature of wild rivers, how they are not just one solid, straight line, but are instead a collection of tons of small streams merging themselves into one body. As someone who lives a 5-minute walk from the very sad, often dry, paved-in LA River, the sight of water left alone in its wild form is strangely healing.
One of my favorite details from the views up at Dante’s View is to look down and see the path leading out onto Badwater Basin from its own parking lot directly below. You can’t see the parking lot, only the strip of the white walkway heading to/from it, which I think is better. It looks like an art piece, really, with gentle colors and the sky reflected in Lake Manly. That’s one of my favorite photos from the whole trip 😊
We spent about 20 minutes at the actual viewpoint before starting our drive back down and around the mountain to catch sunset at Badwater Basin. Sunset would have been gorgeous up at Dante’s View too, but we wanted to take advantage of the reflections on Lake Manly from ground level, which did not disappoint! I’m actually really glad that we had the experience of going to Badwater Basin both before and after our visit to Dante’s View, because it gave us a greater appreciation for what we were looking at in both locations.
Our Verdict
Dante’s View actually started out lower on our list of attractions to see because it felt further out of the way, but it ended up being one of our favorite places in Death Valley National Park. I’m glad that we went to see Badwater Basin, then went up to Dante’s View, and then went back down to Badwater Basin, because it gave us a whole new appreciation for just how massive and beautifully wild the salt flat is, especially while Lake Manly was there. The drive to Dante’s View is scenic and felt far more lush than its surroundings, with all its wildflowers in the spring. It is 100% worth the drive up there!
Quick Reference Guide
What | |
Where | Death Valley National Park, Central California |
How to Get There | No public transport to or within Death Valley National Park By car, 5 hours from Los Angeles, 2.5 hours from Las Vegas, or 40 minutes south of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. All roads to get to Dante’s View are paved. |
Time Commitment | Plan to spend 15-30 minutes at the actual viewpoint + more if you want to hike the adjacent mountain ridge. |
Cost | Entry fee to Death Valley only (typically $30). No additional cost to visit Dante’s View. |
Reservation Info | No reservations or tickets are offered for attractions in Death Valley. A decently sized paved parking lot is available at the viewpoint and is first-come-first-serve. |
Our Verdict | One of our favorite spots in Death Valley National Park! It feels a bit out of the way “just for a viewpoint” but it is 100% worth it and the drive is beautiful too! |
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