The Inn at Death Valley

Built in 1927 by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, The Inn at Death Valley sprawls across a low hill at the mouth of Furnace Creek Wash, looking west over Death Valley to the Panamint Mountains. Los Angeles architect Albert C. Martin and landscape architect Daniel Hull gave it red tile roofs, stucco walls, archways, arcades and a tower inspired by the Spanish missions of the California coast, while its lower levels, built of local stone, seem to rise out of the desert itself. Once known as the Furnace Creek Inn, it is one of the two hotels of The Oasis at Death Valley, operated by Xanterra Travel Collection, and a AAA Four Diamond member of Historic Hotels of America. The Inn's wings wrap around the Oasis Gardens, where date palms shade spring-fed pools and flowing water. The historic tiled pool, fed by natural springs, stays at around 87°F, with cabanas for midday shade. Inn guests also have a sauna, an exercise room, two pickleball courts and a tennis court, and massages and body treatments are given in the spa's treatment rooms. Inside, the lobby, lounge and bar have been refurbished, and a library looks out across the valley. Rooms in the hillside lodge vary with their position. Standard and Deluxe King rooms look over the gardens, the desert or the Panamint Mountains, and Deluxe Kings add a decorative fireplace. Standard Hillside rooms have no view, one-bedroom suites add a living room, and the stone-walled Pool Bungalow sits steps from the pool. All have shower-only bathrooms. Below the lodge, in the shade of the garden palms, 22 casitas offer more space and privacy. The Inn is open year-round. Summer temperatures in Death Valley can exceed 120°F, and the Inn Terrace is used weather permitting.