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Best desert destinations in North America

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Death Valley National Park
Otherworldly Extremes and Silent Beauty
6.4
Badwater Basin lies 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America. Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range rises to 11,049 feet. The park is the largest in the contiguous United States. A record 134 degrees Fahrenheit was set in 1913, so summer visits need serious heat precautions.
Highlights:
  • 🎨 Explore colorful rock formations at Artists Palette
  • 🦶 Walk across the vast salt flats of Badwater Basin
  • 🌅 Watch sunrise from panoramic Zabriskie Point
Monument Valley
Iconic red sandstone vistas echo timeless horizons
8.5
A 17-mile dirt road loops past buttes that rise up to 1,000 feet above the valley floor. It requires an access fee. The Navajo Nation considers the valley sacred. John Ford filmed Westerns here, including Stagecoach in 1939. Mystery Valley and Hunts Mesa can be visited only on guided tours.
Highlights:
  • ✨ Stargaze at night, capture Milky Way overhead
  • 🏞️ Explore slot canyons on a guided tour
  • 🌅 Hike to sunrise over towering hoodoos
Arches National Park
A Desert Wonderland of Stone Arches
8.2
The longest arch here spans 290 feet, one of more than 2,000 sandstone arches in the park. No place on Earth has a higher density of natural arches. The park lies on the high desert of the Colorado Plateau. It became a national park in 1971 after decades as a national monument.
Highlights:
  • 🌉 Visit Double Arch and climb beneath its massive spans
  • 🥾 Explore Devils Garden Trail with multiple arches
  • 🧗‍♂️ Hike to Delicate Arch, the park’s iconic symbol
Joshua Tree National Park
Desert dunes meet starry night skies
8.7
Climbers come for thousands of named routes on short rock formations. The park spans the higher Mojave Desert and the lower Colorado Desert. It became a national park in 1994 and a Dark Sky Park in 2017. Joshua trees grow mostly in the cooler Mojave section.
Highlights:
  • ✨ Stargaze at Barker Dam's night sky
  • 🌅 Watch sunset from Keys View
  • 🌲 Hike through Hidden Valley Trail
Moab
Red rock canyons echo adventure seekers' dreams
9.1
Fewer than 5,400 people live in Moab, yet nearby Arches drew 1.46 million visitors in 2022. The Arches entrance is four miles north of town. Canyonlands is also close. A uranium boom in the 1950s grew the town by nearly 500 percent. Mountain bikers ride the Slickrock Trail.
Highlights:
  • 🚴‍♂️ Bike the Slickrock Trail through rugged desert terrain
  • 🗿 Explore Arches National Park's iconic rock formations
  • 🏜️ Climb Delicate Arch at sunrise for breathtaking views
Canyonlands National Park
Epic Canyons and Untamed Wilderness
8.3
Silence and wide red views fill Island in the Sky, a mesa between the Colorado and Green rivers. The White Rim lies about 1,200 feet below the mesa. The rivers run another 1,000 feet lower. The park covers 527 square miles. The Maze is its least accessible district.
Highlights:
  • 🥾 Hike the easy trail to Grand View Point overlook
  • 🚗 Drive scenic Grand View Point Road and stops
  • 🌅 Watch sunrise at Mesa Arch for breathtaking views
Sedona
Red Rocks, Vortexes and Starry Skies
7.5
John J. Thompson became the first European-American settler in Oak Creek Canyon in 1876. Sedona's post office opened in 1902. Its pink sandstone, from the Permian Schnebly Hill Formation, glows at sunrise and sunset. Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock are famous landmarks. More than sixty Hollywood productions were filmed here.
Highlights:
  • 🚙 Take a scenic jeep tour through rugged canyons
  • 🌅 Experience sunrise at Airport Mesa vortex viewpoint
  • 🏜️ Hike to Cathedral Rock for breathtaking red rock views
Baja California Sur
Desert meets ocean adventure land
8.2
Loreto was the peninsula's capital until heavy rains destroyed the town in 1828. The capital then moved to La Paz. The state gets under eight inches of rain a year. Cardón cacti, the world's largest cactus species, can reach 49 feet. Grey whales come to breed along the coast.
Highlights:
  • 🏖️ Relax on the pristine beaches of Playa Balandra
  • 🐋 Watch grey whales breach near the lagoons of Magdalena Bay
  • 🦈 Swim alongside whale sharks in the Bay of La Paz
Great Basin National Park
Ancient trees, caves and starry skies
7.8
A bristlecone pine here was at least 5,000 years old when it was cut down in 1964. Groves still grow near Wheeler Peak, which rises to 13,063 feet. Lehman Caves run about two miles. The park has some of the darkest night skies in the contiguous United States.
Highlights:
  • 🌌 Stargaze under one of America’s darkest skies
  • 🕳️ Explore the stunning Lehman Caves with a guided tour
  • 🥾 Hike to the summit of Wheeler Peak
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