Scotty's Castle will partially reopen for walking tours starting in December, Death Valley National Park / Kurt Repanshek

Editor's note: This recasts to stress the entire castle is not back to normal tours, but rather reservation-only guided tours.

Scotty's Castle, in Death Valley National Park, is partially reopening for guided walking tours on select Saturdays and Sundays, starting December 7, 2024, and lasting through March 23, 2025. 

There remains much to be done before the entire estate is reopen to the public as it was before the October 2015 flood washed through the site. The ranger-led "reservation-only" tours take visitors on walks to areas where they can learn about the flood and the ongoing construction.

The Spanish Mission style villa has a fascinating history and has largely been closed to the public following devastating flooding in 2015. Just as recovery efforts began to deal with the flood damage, a fire broke out in the visitor center in 2021. It's been a marathon recovery effort ever since. 

“The patient is not dead. In fact, while closed indefinitely ... we are actively working to get it back on its feet again," Superintendent Reynolds said back in 2016. "We’re estimating that there’s $50 million in damage to the roads and Scotty’s Castle infrastructure. By order of magnitude, it's certainly the costliest flood in the history of Death Valley and many times the magnitude of any recent flood.

"Much of the infrastructure at the castle was in severe deferred maintenance. A lot of backlogged challenges with trying to maintain a historic site, very costly, and competing for limited dollars," said Superintendent Reynolds. "And this was pre-flood. Now, it’s going to get fixed right. The water system, for example, is completely destroyed, every bit of it. When you put it back, you don’t put back an 80-year-old crumbling water system. You put in a new one that works well, with adequate capacity, and meets state standards, and all of the things that we were struggling with before."

So, it's sorta like rebuilding an old house after you just meant to add a room, then ended up taking things down to the studs, then figuring, heck, let's put in new studs since we're already here with the walls taken out. What we'll end up with, as park users, is a Scotty's Castle that is better prepared to fascinate visitors for decades to come. 

Oh yes, about that fascinating history. 

The villa was built starting in 1922 by a wealthy Chicago financier named Albert Mussey Johnson. He'd been lured to Death Valley, by a charming swindler named Walter Scott, who'd sold Johnson on investing in a non-existent gold mine in Grapevine Canyon in 1904. OVer the years, Johnson seemed to have convinced himself that even though the mine had proven to be a fraud, Scott may have found a trace of gold somewhere out there in the desert. Johnson also discovered a love affair with Death Valley, and had become unlikely friends with Scott, and decided to build a winter home on land he'd purchased. This became the mansion Johnson initially called Death Valley Ranch, but which was referred to as Scotty's Castle by locals who thought Scott owned the place. 

For the tours, visitors will be able to tour areas previously closed, but only with a ranger present. It's expected tickets will sell out quickly. Sign up here.