The Oasis at Death Valley

We stayed 2 nights at Fiddler's Campground, which is part of the Ranch at Death Valley, which is part of the Oasis. We would recommend staying there versus the National Park campgrounds that we saw. It is dry camping, $22 a night, but you have access to the facilities at the Ranch, which includes the Olympic sized warm spring fed pool - gorgeous. Only steps from our campsite was the Golf Course Cafe (expensive but great hamburgers) where you can use the Ranch's good WIFI. There is no cell service in the park so that was a life saver for us. The lower number campsites, particularly 4 - 8 have shade from the pine trees that separate the campsite from the golf course. We LOVED the park itself and would go back again.

Most of the sites have plenty of shade because they are separated by large trees and bushes. The sites are small and close together and despite the trees there is little privacy. There is one row of sites at the edge of the campground that has no trees, but these sites are a bit larger. Because they are at the side of the campground where the prevailing winds come in, you do not want to be camping there when there are high winds.

The RV park has a lot of permanent residents and, despite the tall trees, looks like a run down trailer park. I will not go into any details and I am all for people choosing their own lifestyle, but I would say that mixing permanent residents with travelers and putting them side by side is not a good idea. In our opinion, camping here was not worth the money we spent on it.

The facilities have seen better days. Some parts are new and work seems underway to upgrade it, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make the place look decent again. The central part of the resort looks very nice, but towards the perimeter it quickly degrades. The swimming pool is nice and looks very clean. The showers and toilets next to it are older and, even though reasonably clean, not very well maintained. These are the only public showers on the resort grounds, so I guess most campers shower in their RV.

The tennis courts and other sports grounds next to the swimming pool are new and very nice. Campers in the RV park have free use of all the facilities.

There is a large general store and a few bars and restaurants. The food there is reasonable, but too expensive.

The staff is very friendly and tries to help out whenever they can.

The RV park is in walking distance of the visitors center and conveniently located for visiting Death Valley.

The wifi is reasonable and we had fairly decent 3G coverage through USA Comnet. While on the wifi, a few websites refused service because the IP range was blacklisted. Apparently some folks here in the park do naughty things on the internet.

If I would visit this region again, I would camp at the NPS owned Furnace Creek Campground behind the visitor center, which has a large number of spacious sites (both full and partial hookup). If you want to use the facilities on the resort from there, you can buy a pass for a small fee.

Campground is closed as facility is under construction