Amargosa Opera House & Hotel

Well no TV, water was either piping hot or stone cold in the shower, not sure but the place looked like it had some , flooding issues, plug in bedroom not working, beds were comfy though!!

Marta Becket’s Amargosa Opera House and Hotel ＜3 A dusty time capsule in Death Valley. After serendipitously stumbling upon it as an abandoned hotel in 1967 when she got a flat tyre next to it, the building became Marta’s raison d’etre. A painter and ballerina from New York, she fixed up the hotel and turned the adjoining social hall into her opera house and stage. Painting floor to ceiling murals of an eternal audience (including nuns and ladies of the night), Marta lived out the rest of her life performing on this stage whether anyone other than her painted patrons came to watch or not. Once a thriving mining town turned ghost town, the Amargosa and the surrounding area of Death Valley Junction is halted at a moment in time. No gas stations, no restaurants, no neighbours, no one at the hotel’s front desk after hours, no other guests other than us. Just stillness, air thick with past emotion, inhabitable heat in limited air con and doors that opened on their own. (Also an immersive experience through the lingering smell of sulphur from the dilapidating plumbing - part of its charm). We were told Marta boarded off half of the hotel following the advice of a psychic after complaints about the hotel’s heavily spirited and paranormal activity (cue presence of orbs in several of our pics). A pearl in a vast sea of sand, the Amargosa serves as a love letter to Marta’s unwavering and eternal devotion to the arts.

The property is really rundown and the water smells funny, but it was close to Death Valley

Unique historical property Do not expect 5 stars but if you are interested in a historic stay this is for you Don’t miss the free tour some mornings

The staff is very friendly. The hotel is better inside than outside. It was fun to be in a kind of "hotel California "