5 Reasons to go to the Hottest Place in the World

Why spend a night or two in the hottest place in the world, at the hottest time of the year? That's a fairly good question. Now that I have, here are my five reasons why you should.

The road to Death Valley

You are forced to relax

Let’s get this straight. During summer, the average high temperature is 116 degrees fahrenheit. That’s not funny. It is so hot outside, that anything longer than two minutes becomes ridiculously uncomfortable.  They say you can fry eggs on the road. You could cook a roast pig for a family of ten along with some crispy fries, never mind breakfast. This means, you will want to either be inside in air-conditioning, or inside a swimming pool. Usually on a holiday break, or road trip, the temptation is to run around and see everything you can because you’re probably only going to be there once in a lifetime (ask me I know), but in Death Valley, unless you’re in your car, you want to be reading a book in the air-conditioning with your feet on ice.

Furnace Creek Lodge

You make the most of your time

Because it’s so hot, even swimming is a fairly warm affair. You will find that you keep swimming to the early hours of the morning (before 8am) or late evening (after 8pm) because everything in-between is too hot. This leaves a full day to relax, sleep, eat and plan a drive around. Star gazing is recommended at night, from the car or course, so to schedule this in either arrive at your accommodation early enough to settle in, charge your phones and get your bearings, otherwise schedule it and plan for the second night. 

The landscape

You can get a tan in ten minutes

No jokes. Forget lying in the sun for an hour, rotating like a lamb on the spit. Five minutes for the front, five minutes for the back, dip into the swimming pool to put out the fire and you’re done. Just a note of caution, a cold shower will not cool you down after your hot swim because there is no cold water in those pipes. You would need to go and buy cold water from the shop, which is probably how they fund the Death Valley Ranger conservationists. 

The shop at Furnace Creek Lodge

Everything else will seem cool

The deserts of Nevada and Arizona are close neighbours of California’s Death Valley and have sizzling reputations as well. You could be in Iceland in comparison. Okay, slight exaggeration, but even the 100 - 107 degrees fahrenheit didn’t have quite the same effect. I could handle about 20 minutes outside in Nevada before dehydrating and starting to feel my eyeballs melting, but Death Valley’s dry heat had me begging for relief after about five minutes. I think. I sort of lost consciousness after four and a half.

The temperature in Furnace Creek

You become a child again

There’s a reason so many star wars movies have been shot in this location. It’s large and dry and the land is covered in little rocks. Cars begin to look like moon buggies and you start to feel like you may actually be from another planet. It’s a playground for science fiction fans. There is a lot of driving between mountain ranges, salt pans and bare land. You can almost see the old ghost towns, cowboys and wagons from past days and when the sun starts to set on the red mountains and the sand dunes, another whole set of feature films start playing on your mind. 

It's just what your imagination needs.

Badwater Basin

A visit to Death Valley really was a highlight in the list of favourite and most adventurous places to visit. I don't know that I would have ever purposefully planned it, and I'm glad that my fiancé suggested it. If you like things that are a little different, give it a go, it's beautiful and astonishing. Don't forget to pass by the lowest point in North America on your way out. Badwater Basin.