El Portal Motel

The El Portal Motel in Beatty is a great place to stay when visiting nearby Death Valley National Park, the eastern entrance only being about 10 miles away. Quite a few travelers appear to make this their base either going to or coming from Death Valley. The El Portal is your old school mom and pop motel likely dating back to the 1960s or early 1970s. It's a relatively small establishment having maybe 20 - 25 rooms. My wife and I stayed here for one night in August 2023 while on vacation and on our way to visit Death Valley National Park the next day. It's a very well-kept motel. It has a swimming pool in the back and an awesome old-style motel sign out front that is lit up after dark. Great for some excellent photos. The experience here harkens back to the classic days of road travel across the desert back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. The rooms are retro, but spacious and well kept. The facilities (shower, sink, toilet) were all in good shape and functioned well. The air conditioner kept the room nice and cool all night long. Check-in was easy and friendly. The price was also reasonable for this little town being the gateway to Death Valley. Oh, and there is a nice little motel kitty named Mittens you'll likely meet when either checking in at the front office or somewhere around the property during your stay. She is really sweet and enjoys being petted. Beatty also features a number of stray burros that roam the streets, some of which are friendly. For eats, Beatty has a Subway, Denny's and a couple of other local dining establishments. All in all, a good stopover through the barren desert of southeast Nevada. Nothing fancy - just good, simple and clean accommodations that won't break the bank. We would certainly stay here again should we find ourselves in this area in the future.

This is such a cute motel. Mittens, the owner, greeted us before we even got out of the car. She showed us inside to the office where a lovely human helped with check in. The room was a bit outdated, but what matters is that it was VERY clean. The beds were comfy, and Mittens was waiting outside the room in the morning to make sure everything was satisfactory. She even came inside for a minute (we left the door open while she was inside) to make sure the beds were comfy. There's a weird little ghost town, just outside of town, on the same road as the motel. And there's wild donkeys just hanging out. The motel also only about eight miles from Death Valley National Park.

Could've used more cat friends, but maybe Mittens only wants human employees

Room was meticulously maintained, suggesting owner pride and attention to detail. In contrast to big chain offerings: Plumbing worked, bathtub drained properly, toilet seat was not loose; caulking was smooth without blobs; wall paint done smoothly without nicks or patches; lots of towels; towel bars mounted solidly without evidence of patching where others had pulled loose; no high-traffic wear in the carpet; clean, even the baseboards; microwave did not smell like yesterday's pizza. We are experienced travelers who DO notice!

This is a basic motel but it completely met our needs during our time there. The employees were truly helpful and checked in with us to make sure everything was going well. The room was clean. The location is close to some good restaurants and is an excellent jumping off point for exploring Death Valley and nearby sites. Watch for burros on the road as you leave town!

Our neighours were noisy one night but the motel employees came by to check on us afterward which was great.

The room was more spacious than expected and it was furnished with all the amenities one needs or expects - such as TV, Microwave, small fridge, good wi fi, hair dryer, sitting chairs, table, desk, and dresser - and the nightly cost was on the order of 1/6 the cost or less of accommodations in the nearby National Park. A great bargain.

Nothing serious but some aspects of the facility could use some maintenance and servicing.

Price We stayed in a large double room (family of 4) and had no issues at all. Rooms are a good size with aircon which was on for our arrival where it was a baking 47c. Room was very clean and we found the beds comfy. Fridge was handy to cool our drinks for the following days road trip! TV and decent free WiFi to keep entertained before bed. Pool open from 8am to 9pm, great way to start and end your day. For the price its amazing!!

Only minor thing we could think of was lots of leaves in the pool from the tree, just needs a quick daily clean.

Comfortable, great location, pleasant staff, quiet, clean. The staff was very friendly and helpful. There is a nice cat named mittens that stops by if you want, and some very tame wild burros came through and allowed themselves to be petted. So over all, it was an excellent experience.

I don't know. It is a modest motel, not a fancy place. So I can't say there was anything I didn't like. Completely met my expectations.

It’s the nearest motel gateway to the Death Valley National Park. And it is squeaky nice, old motel, the room and the beds are clean! You can smell the freshly washed cleanliness of the bed linens.

Noises from the other neighboring room. Update: on our first night Room #6 are making so much noise, it's like they're having a major renovation in there, we chose that part of the bed because it is where the TV was located, at first we were not bothered with the noises our room neighbor was making until 9pm because we were still awake but their noises continued until we fell asleep and we were snapped out from our sleep every 5-10 mins because of the noises and hard dropping of something in there until late midnight. So we on our second night we transferred to the other bed on the side of the motel's office where it was finally nice and quiet and were able to get a good night sleep.

This is a motel, nothing fancy. We had a 3 queen room. It was clean, had a fridge with a freezer, a microwave, a single cup coffee maker. It had a little table(family of 4 played cards) and each bed had a nightstand. More than enough towels for everyone and soap and shampoo as well as extra washcloths for your face as well as one use cloth makeup removers. Everything was clean, the room was warm, and the pillows perfect.

I'm not sure there was anything I didn't like. Maybe the decor could be updated a little with brighter colors and comforters, but honestly, this room was perfect for our stay. We needed a place to sleep while visiting the national park.

We arrived very late, past usual check in. They had our room cooled down and prepared for us when we arrived. The location was perfect, a decent ways from any large city and very close to Death Valley. The room was a bit dated, but fit us all comfortably (5 people)

The shower head was very low which made showers difficult. The beds were a little worn.