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Death Valley vs Joshua Tree Compared (Pros & Cons)
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👉 Jump to: Joshua Tree or Death Valley | Detailed Comparison | Final Verdict | FAQ
Having trouble choosing between Death Valley vs Joshua Tree? I was born and raised in Southern California, only a few hours from both desert national parks. As a local who’s explored the ins and outs of Death Valley and Joshua Tree, I’m here to help you decide which park is best for you.
Both California national parks represent the state’s quintessential desert beauty. But I’ll dive into the details like costs, things to do, hiking trails, and more to help you make a well-informed decision.
All right, let’s get right into comparing Death Valley vs Joshua Tree!
Which is Better Joshua Tree or Death Valley?
Death Valley National Park is best for avoiding crowds. The isolation of the park also makes it a prime spot for camping and stargazing.
Joshua Tree National Park is best for easy hiking trails and exploring the trendy nearby town. Cafes, shops, and a ghost town make Joshua Tree a top choice for a family vacation.
Advantages of Death Valley
- Remote location
- Quiet at night
- Amazing stargazing opportunities
- Near the Eastern Sierra Mountains
- Houses the lowest point in the U.S.
- Ghost town history
- One of the hottest locations in the world
Advantages of Joshua Tree
- Family-friendly hiking trails
- Wildlife spotting opportunities
- Top rock climbing routes
- Native American pictographs
- Close to other desert towns
- Trendy shops, restaurants, and dive bars
- Many house rentals in the area
Death Valley is Best For
- Backpackers
- Weekend getaways
- Backcountry campers
- Budget travelers
- Road trippers
Joshua Tree is Best For
- Families
- Rock Climbers
- “City cowboys”
- Luxury accommodation
- Romantic getaways
Joshua Tree vs Death Valley – Detailed Comparison
Below are the factors that may point you in the right direction when choosing one destination over the other. The winners of each category were picked by me, a California local, based on my experiences spending time in each national park.
Keep reading beyond the chart for a deeper breakdown of all the categories and both park’s differences.
| Feature/Category | Death Valley | Joshua Tree | 🏆 Winner |
| Cost & Budget | Affordable campsites, free attractions, pricey gas | Free attractions, BLM campsites, can sometimes find deals in different desert towns | Joshua Tree |
| Crowds | One of California’s most isolated national parks, uncrowded | Can get extremely busy, especially in the peak season | Death Valley |
| Things to Do | Hiking trails, camping, sand dunes, ghost towns, viewpoints | Hiking trails, rock climbing, saloons, ghost town, restaurants, shopping | Joshua Tree |
| Family Friendliness | Family-friendly trails, ghost towns, sand dunes | Family-friendly trails, easy rock climbing, gift shops, camping | Joshua Tree |
| Hiking Trails | Trails range from easy to challenging | Most trails are short and easy | Death Valley |
| Camping | Primitive campgrounds with a prime view of the starry night sky | Established national park campgrounds and free BLM campgrounds | Joshua Tree |
| Where to Stay | National park lodges, primitive campgrounds | Established national park campgrounds, hotels, motels, and house rentals | Joshua Tree |
| Location | Near mountain towns along the 395 Highway | Near other desert towns, close to I-10, 2 hours from Los Angeles | Tie |
| Public Transportation | No public transportation inside the national park | Public transportation buses around the different desert cities | Joshua Tree |
Cost & Budget
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
The biggest price tag attached to Death Valley National Park is the gasoline required to get there. Because the national park is so remote, gas can add up quickly on a road trip to the park.
Death Valley straddles both California and Nevada, however, and filling up on the Nevada side of the park may just save you a few dollars. Campgrounds in Death Valley are affordable, averaging $35 a night, and most of the attractions are free.
Joshua Tree offers affordability across the board. Sure, there are expensive accommodations and fine-dining restaurants in the desert town. But there’s also cost variability in J-Tree (as the locals call it) and the surrounding towns like Yucca Valley, Twentynine Palms, and Morongo Valley.
Fast food in Joshua Tree town is cheap. You can find BLM land to camp on for free near Twentynine Palms, and free attractions like hiking and Pioneertown Ghost Town contribute to its affordability.
👉 Pro Tip: The entrance fee for both parks is $35 per vehicle. You can purchase an annual park pass online for only $80 for unlimited park entrance for a whole year.
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
Crowds
🏆 Winner: Death Valley
Death Valley takes the cake for the fewest crowds. Its remote location, reputation as a hostile desert, and extreme summer temperatures deter many vacationers. But in reality, the remoteness of the national park enhances its charm.
Feel truly lost in nature while hiking through the crowd-less national park. I’ve even been to Death Valley during the dead of winter (the peak season to visit Death Valley) and barely saw anyone else.
Joshua Tree, on the other hand, is one of the most popular California national parks. There are crowds year-round due to the ideal weather. To avoid crowds in Joshua Tree, I recommend exploring the park during sunrise when most other tourists are still in bed.
🏆 Winner: Death Valley
Things to Do
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
With so many things to do in Joshua Tree National Park, it’s hard to devote just one day to the desert park. Joshua Tree has substantially more to do than Death Valley in terms of town activities.
There are fun dive bars in all the desert cities surrounding Joshua Tree National Park. The Red Dog Saloon and the Spaghetti Western Saloon are good places to start. There are also fun hiking trails, some of the top rock climbing routes in California, funky vintage stores, and cafes in Joshua Tree.
There are loads of fun things to do in Death Valley but most of the activities revolve around nature and the outdoors. Activities like hiking, camping, and visiting lookout points are most common. There are also several ghost towns in the area, but most are abandoned.
The Joshua Tree ghost town, in contrast, is an active town with a cowboy film museum, shops, and saloons.
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
Family Friendliness
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
Both Joshua Tree and Death Valley have fun family-friendly activities. Joshua Tree, however, has slightly more activities for the whole family. These include easier hikes and simple bouldering routes. Joshua Tree even has a ghost town complete with a live cowboy show, the “Mane Street Stampede” every 2nd and 4th Saturday at 1 pm.
The Joshua Tree Outdoor Museum encapsulates the spirit of the desert in its outdoor sculptures. The Station is a fun J-Tree shop with vintage kiddie rides out back. You can pot your very own cactus at Cactus Mart in Morongo Valley.
Family-friendly activities in Death Valley include a desert horseback ride through the park via Furnace Creek Stables and stargazing.
Wandering one of many abandoned mining ghost towns is a must. Explore the primitive ghost towns of Ballarat, Greenwater, or Leadfield near Death Valley for a spooky desert excursion the whole family is sure to remember.
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
Hiking Trails
🏆 Winner: Death Valley
Both Death Valley and Joshua Tree have extensive hiking trails. Trails in both parks should only be attempted in the non-summer months, however, to avoid overheating.
My favorite Joshua Tree trails include the Barker Dam Trail and Ryan Mountain. Barker Dam is only 1.1 miles long and brings hikers past a seasonal dam and to Native American pictographs. Ryan Mountain is a nearly 3-mile hike to one of the tallest peaks in the park.
Death Valley takes the trophy in this category thanks to its variety of uncrowded trails. Sure, the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and Badwater Basin receive copious crowds year-round, but many other Death Valley trails are typically empty.
Some of these include Mosaic Canyon Trail, Desolation Canyon Trail, and Mount Perry. Telescope Peak is the highest mountain in the park, one of the top hikes in California, and is the only proper mountain climb of the two national parks.
🏆 Winner: Death Valley
Camping
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
You can almost always find a camp spot at an established campground in Death Valley, or hike with your tent to a backcountry site. Furnace Creek Campground is one of the most popular established sites and the primitive Homestake Campground is open year-round.
Joshua Tree hosts some of the best camping in California. Camping in Joshua Tree National Park is highly coveted. I’ve never encountered an empty campground inside the park. Camp right in between famous Joshua Tree boulders for a true desert experience at campgrounds like Indian Cove and Jumbo Rocks.
There are also plenty of options outside of the park like Joshua Tree RV & Campground and Little Pioneertown RV. Check out the free iOverlander app to find free BLM land like the Sunfair Dry Lakebed to camp for free near J-Tree.
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
Where to Stay
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
There are so many places to stay in Joshua Tree. The rental industry is currently experiencing its heyday (against local preference) and rentals can be found in the high desert localities to suit every need.
I recommend spending at least two nights in Joshua Tree for the best of both worlds. Spend one night inside the park camping under the stars. Then stay in a trendy Airstream trailer or at the iconic Pioneertown Motel on the second night for a true J-Tree experience.
Deciding where to stay in Death Valley is pretty straightforward thought a bit more limted. Death Valley has plenty of established campgrounds and dispersed camping but hotels are few and far between.
There are a few national park lodges like The Inn at Death Valley but no rentals or other hotels on the California side of the park. The closest Nevada town to the park with hotels is Beatty, 40 miles from Furnace Creek.
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
Location
🏆 Winner: Tie
Both national parks are in prime desert locations. While Death Valley may seem incredibly remote at first glance, it’s actually situated perfectly in between desert towns and small Sierra Nevada Mountain towns like Lone Pine and Bishop.
Death Valley is also the gateway to other charming California mountain towns like Mammoth, June Lake, and Lee Vining.
Joshua Tree is about 2 hours from Los Angeles and 1 hour and 45 minutes from Palm Springs. It’s near other fun desert cities like Morongo Valley, Yucca Valley, and Twentynine Palms.
🏆 Winner: Tie
Public Transportation
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
Once you’re inside Death Valley, that’s it. There’s no public transportation available and the only way to get to navigate the park is with your own vehicle. Death Valley is spread out and almost impossible to tackle even on a bike.
Joshua Tree, on the other hand, does have public transportation but in between the desert cities and not inside the national park.
Joshua Tree is easier to explore without your own vehicle if you have a bicycle. J-Tree’s Basin Transit goes from the Morongo Basin to the Twentynine Palms Post Exchange, with stops at the Yucca Valley Transit Center, Park Ave, and Walmart along the way.
🏆 Winner: Joshua Tree
Final Verdict – Joshua Tree vs Death Valley
Death Valley National Park is better for national park visitors who prioritize a quiet escape into nature. The stargazing opportunities are out of this world, and the hiking trails range from easy to hard and are suited for all fitness levels.
Joshua Tree National Park is best for families who prefer a blend of both nature and city excursions. Most of the hiking trails are easy enough for the whole family. The nearby desert towns have fun vintage and record stores. Joshua Tree National Park is also best for rock climbers, given that the park houses some of the top routes in the state.
FAQs About Death Valley vs Joshua Tree
Why is Joshua Tree so popular?
Joshua Tree is popular because it houses the largest concentration of Joshua Trees in the world. It’s also a top rock climbing location and has trendy, hipster dive bars and restaurants.
Why is Death Valley so popular?
Death Valley is popular worldwide for being one of the hottest locations on Earth. It’s also famous for housing the lowest point in the United States, Badwater Basin, which sits at 282 feet below sea level.
Which is better for families, Death Valley or Joshua Tree?
Joshua Tree is better for families than Death Valley. While both national parks are extremely family-friendly, Joshua Tree National Park ultimately has more attractions geared toward kids. There’s so much to do for families in Joshua Tree from an operating ghost town to desert art museums and easy cactus hiking trails.
Which is better for backpackers, Death Valley or Joshua Tree?
Death Valley National Park is better for backpackers. There are many different trails ranging from 10 miles to 26 miles in the park. Death Valley hiking trails can also be combined with the nearby Sierra Nevada trails for epic long-distance backpacking.
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That’s it for my helpful guide on Death Valley vs Joshua Tree. Let me know which is your favorite park in the comments! And also check out my guide comparing Yosemite vs Sequoia to help you decide between two other epic California national parks!
