Visitors to Death Valley National Park can once again walk the grounds of Scotty's Castle this fall, more than a decade after a catastrophic flash flood tore through the historic estate and left it largely closed to the public. The castle itself remains off-limits, but three types of ranger-led and private tours are set to run outside the Spanish-Mediterranean villa from October 2026 through April 2027.
The 2015 flood, which struck when roughly a year's worth of rain fell on the area in a matter of hours, caused an estimated $47 million in damage to the site, according to the Sacramento Bee. The National Park Service offers a more granular picture of that October 18, 2015 storm, reporting that Scotty's Castle received 2¾ inches of rain in five hours and that rain and hail fell on Grapevine Canyon's slopes. A flash flood surged toward the castle at an estimated peak flow of 3,200 cubic feet per second, according to the National Park Service. Grapevine Canyon typically sees less than three inches of rain in an entire year.
A Second Disaster Slowed an Already Long Recovery
Just as crews made headway on flood repairs, a fire in April 2021 destroyed the site's 1922 garage and long shed building, which had served as the visitor center, further delaying reopening. The Sacramento Bee notes the fire set back both the castle and the surrounding area, while Sierra Wave Media reported at the time that flood restoration work was 37 percent complete when the blaze broke out. The NPS investigation into the fire was inconclusive.
The National Park Service says repairs cost about $66 million, spread across multiple phased federal infrastructure projects. Park managers reportedly had to split the repairs into separate projects to secure long-term funding.
What the New Grounds Tours Actually Include
The road to Scotty's Castle has been closed for years, and the castle remains off-limits to the public, but the newly available tours let visitors explore the grounds outside the building only. The National Park Service offers tours on select Sundays from January 4 through March 29, 2026. Tickets cost $35 per person plus a processing fee.
Private walking tours are also offered. Separately, the park service has run Ranger-guided Flood Recovery Walking Tours that cap attendance at 20 people and require tickets purchased at least 48 hours ahead, with proceeds also funding site preservation, according to the National Park Service.
Hantavirus Complicates the Castle's Reopening
Mice in the area tested positive for hantavirus, and interior portions of the castle require biohazard disinfection.
The Odd Friendship Behind an Unfinished Villa
Scotty's Castle owes its existence to an unlikely partnership. A wealthy Chicago insurance executive, Albert Mussey Johnson, built the estate for himself and his wife on their ranch in northern Death Valley after being conned into investing in a fake gold mine by prospector Walter “Death Valley Scotty” Scott, according to the National Park Service. Johnson went ahead with construction anyway, having found that the dry desert climate dramatically improved his health after a youth train crash. The red-roofed Spanish-Mediterranean retreat was built during the 1920s. A federal land survey revealed Johnson had mistakenly been building on government land, and construction halted in 1931 and never restarted. The National Park Service acquired Scotty's Castle in 1970.
The castle's long, disaster-punctuated closure is far from unique within the park. Storm damage has also affected other roads in Death Valley. For now, walking the grounds where a con man's tall tale accidentally produced one of the desert's grandest follies is the closest most visitors will get — the castle doors themselves stay locked until the hantavirus cleanup and years of federal funding finally catch up with the damage.
