One Epic Day in Joshua Tree National Park: First Timer’s Itinerary
If you’re looking for the best one day in Joshua Tree National Park itinerary you have come to the right place! Joshua Tree is a great national park to visit as a day trip from nearby cities including Palm Springs, Los Angeles, or San Diego, CA. The park is well known for the famous Joshua Trees as well as various rock structures in the park. I’ve rounded up the perfect itinerary to make the most of your visit! Continue reading for everything you need to know.
One Day Joshua Tree National Park Itinerary
I visited Joshua Tree National Park as part of a national park road trip from Las Vegas if you are looking for a full week long trip. We also visited Death Valley National Park, Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park. See below how we spent our one day in Joshua Tree National Park!
- Utilize the west entrance and stop at Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center
- Start exploring the park via Park Boulevard and enjoy the scenic drive
- Hike the short Creosote Trail and check out the Joshua Trees
- Skull Rock Trail
- Split Rock Trail
- Cholla Cactus Garden (my personal favorite spot!)
- Twenty-Nine Palms for Dinner
- Return for stargazing in the park (optional)
Continue reading to learn more about each of my recommended stops!
Basic Information – Joshua Tree National Park
- Physical Address: 74485 National Park Drive Twenty-nine Palms, CA 9227
- Hours: Open 24 hours a day, year-round
- Visitor Centers: Three within the park
- Joshua Tree Visitor Center: Near west entrance; Hours: 7:30 AM to 5 PM
- Cottonwood Visitor Center: Near south entrance; Hours: 8:30 AM to 4 PM
- Black Rock Nature Center: Near Black Rock Canyon Campground; Hours: 8 AM to 4 PM
- Entrance Fee: $30 per vehicle (valid for 7 consecutive days)
- Joshua Tree Annual Pass: $55
- America the Beautiful Park Pass: $80
Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center
I recommend starting your trip from the west entrance of Joshua Tree and making your first stop the Joshua Tree Visitor Center, located in downtown Twenty-Nine Palms, just outside the park entrance. This visitor center has educational exhibits, a small gift shop, and park rangers available for questions. Don’t forget to pick up a map while you are there!
Before entering the park, we also stopped at a few of the other nearby shops. We picked up a couple of souvenirs include a Christmas ornament which is something I collect from each place I travel! There are also a couple nearby restaurants if you need to grab a quick bite to eat before heading into the park. I would recommend Crossroads Cafe, Joshua Tree Coffee Company, or JT’s Country Kitchen.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: There are no gas stations, restaurants, or hotels within the park. Make sure you bring any food and water you will need and have a full tank of gas before heading into the park!
Drive Park Boulevard
Once you’ve checked out the visitor center, it’s time to enter the park! Head towards the west entrance and make sure to stop and take a picture by the sign before you enter. Continue the scenic drive along Park Boulevard taking in the scenery around you.
Park Boulevard runs from the west entrance to the north entrance and is approximately 30 miles. It can be driven in about 45 minutes, without any stops. However, I recommend making several stops along your drive to see many of the highlights in the park!
Creosote Trail
The first place I recommend stopping is to hike the Creosote Trail to see some of the Joshua Trees up close! It is a short 0.5-mile out and back trail which also connects to several other trails if you have more time to spend. Other trails include Bigfoot Trail, Panorama Trail, Samuelson West Trail. However, I recommend a quick stop here and continue along Park Boulevard to the next stop.
Skull Rock
The next place I recommend stopping along Park Boulevard is Skull Rock! I would argue this is a must do if you are visiting Joshua Tree. There is a 1.7 mile loop you can hike here, but you don’t have to complete the hike to see skull rock. You can see Skull Rock from the parking area, and it is only a short walk to reach the rock structure. This was such a cool place to see!
Split Rock
Another popular rock structure to see in Joshua Tree National Park is Split Rock. This is another rock that can be viewed from the parking lot, but there is a 2-mile loop hike that can be completed. This trail is also off Park Boulevard, but there is a short gravel road to the parking lot. We had no issues reaching the parking lot, but this is something to be aware of.
Cholla Cactus Garden
This was one of my favorite spots in the park! This is the only place in the park I recommend stopping that isn’t on Park Boulevard. The Cholla Cactus Garden is off of Pinto Basin Road and I highly recommend making the drive to the cactus garden! This is as far south as I would recommend going into the park for a one day itinerary.
There is a 0.25 mile loop trail that you can walk through the cactus garden. This area is much different than the north section of the park with less Joshua Trees and tons of Cholla Cactuses. This is as far south as I would recommend exploring if you only have one day in Joshua Tree.
Once you’ve finished exploring the Cholla Cactus Garden I recommend driving the rest of Park Boulevard and exiting Joshua Tree using the north entrance to the park. After we left the park, we headed into Twenty Nine Palms and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites.
Dinner in Twenty Nine Palms
We wanted a quick dinner option so we decided to try out Mexican Street Tacos. This is a very casual spot, and we thought the food was ok. It was great for a quick meal and it served the purpose of having a quick dinner before we headed back into the park. However, I would consider also looking into other options in the area as well.
Stargazing at Night
If you are visiting Joshua Tree National Park as a day trip, you might want to skip this activity. However, if you are planning to stay near the park I highly recommend going back into Joshua Tree for stargazing at night!
We drove back into the park using the north entrance and pulled off in a parking area to check out the sky. It was extremely dark in the park which is perfect for star gazing.
I recommend bringing a head lamp with a red light if you want to have some type of light. Make sure you take your time and give your eyes plenty of time to adjust to the darkness so you can really take in the night sky. Once you’ve enjoyed the stars you can head back to your hotel and get some sleep!
Ready to visit Joshua Tree National Park?
Joshua Tree National Park is a great park to visit even if you only have 1 day. I hope you have found this one day Joshua Tree National Park itinerary and it gives you some ideas of where to visit in the park. If you found this blog post hopeful, please share it or save it to Pinterest to refer back to later.
Looking for other National Parks to visit?
The information above was accurate at the time of publishing to the best of the author’s knowledge. Information will be verified and updated periodically. If you are planning to visit this park, I recommend verifying the most current information with the National Park Service website.
