An odd question I freely admit. I’m a kiwi but have a great affection for the American South-west, particularly Utah and the Four Corners area.
However Australia has vast desert/dry scrub expanses as do China and Mongolia. The Rub-al-Kali of Saudi Arabia is famous. I read a book a while ago about an expedition through the Taklamakan Desert in China which was fascinating.
Any suggestions on deserts worth seeking out?
Well, what type of desert do you find most appealing/interesting? 
There are many different kinds of deserts. This site on deserts lists the different types and some of the more well known deserts of the world, with brief descriptions of each.
Apparently the Sahara may have been cause by human farming, much like the US Southwestern deserts.
If that’s so there may be all sorts of interesting archeology under it, just waiting to be dug up and explored.
(bolding mine)
Cite, please? :dubious:
I’m kind of fascinated by the tepui (flat-topped mountains) of South America, which are the remnants of high plateau caprock after most of the plateau got eroded away. Their steep, practically vertical sides and flat tops make them pretty weird in terms of geomorphology, and Angel Falls is such a high drop that the water all vaporizes before it reaches the ground. Weirder still is all the unique ecozones up on top with all kinds of species not found anywhere else (which is why Arthur Conan Doyle set The Lost World there). Weirdest of all is how they’re paradoxically called “wet desert” because soil nutrients are constantly washed off by all the rain they get up there. I guess they don’t count as real desert because of all the rain, but I just think that the phrase “wet desert” is nice and weird.
Um… it’s in the depths of my memory. Original source might have been National Geographic?
Google today gives me a quote from LA Times, but it’s not sourced. I’ll try to find something better.
Meanwhile, this article says global warming might make the Sahara a better place for people.
Edit- or were you asking about the Southwest? That’s all man made, it was an early version of the Dust Bowl.
I like the tiramisu at Biaggi’s! Wait, what? nm
Why, the “Desert” of Maine is the best! easy access to hotels, beaches, food!
I am a fan of the Thar desert in India, mostly for the coolness of the cultures and cities. Lots of camels, ladies with lots of jewelry and mirrors and veils, ancient forts, and desert ruins. Plus, nuclear bomb test sites! What’s not to love?
I have vacationed in Moab, Utah, convenient to both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. The route took me through Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. I absolutely adore the majesty and grandeur of the “Red Rock Country.”
Back home in southern California, I’m fond of the Imperial Valley, from Palm Springs to El Centro. The Salton Sea is no longer any fun to be near – “The Salton Sewer” is a better name – but the Yuha Desert is a lot of fun for amateur mineralogy. You can find the ancient “bar” of the Colorado River, before the bed shifted to the modern route, and that area is just sparkling with the rocks and pebbles that had, in long-ago times, washed down the river. There are also the “Yuha Geoglyphs” and the “Blythe Intaglios” – okay, not all that impressive, really, but still kind of cool.
Overall, I think my fave would be the Mojave National Preserve. It has a wide variety of habitats and wildlife, the largest Joshua Tree forest in the world, magnificent sand dunes, rugged mountain ranges, caves, lava tubes, and a unique history of human habitation. The one thing it lacks for me is a palm oasis…excellent examples of which can be found further south in either Joshua Tree NP or Anza Borrego.
Antarctica, because it has penguins.
I’ll freely admit to a bit of residential bias…but I happen to think the Oregon High Desert is about as fine a place as one can find. Partly, I suppose, it’s the odd juxtaposition; people do not generally think of “Oregon” and “desert” in the same sentence. However, the southeastern quarter of the great Oregon rectangle - an area larger than Vermont and New Hampshire combined - is just that…beautiful high lonesome wide-open desert spaces. And, geographically, one could logically include most of Idaho south of the Snake River and Nevada north of the I-80 corridor (i.e. north of the Great Basin proper), in which case the area becomes much larger.
Even Edward Abbey the penultimate desert rat never made it to the Oregon High Desert, or if he did, he never wrote about it. Toward the end of his life he expressed regret that he’d never got to float the Owyhee River - the region’s best-known wilderness stream. The OHD is somewhat more moist than most other deserts; the region averages about 12 inches of annual precipitation, the “official” upper limit for it to be rated a “desert”. A number of perennial rivers can be found there, forming rich riparian zones in the midst of all the sagebrush and basalt…besides the Owyhee (o-WYE-hee) there are the Malheur, Crooked, Deschutes, Silvies, and Donner und Blitzen (lovely name!) rivers, and if Idaho & Nevada are added one must also include the Jarbidge, the Malad, the Salmon (no not that Salmon River, but the little one in Nevada) the Martin and the Humboldt. A surprising amount of water for a desert, and that too helps to make it special.
The Oregon High Desert is truely one of the last, best places. Stop in, next time you’re in the country…I’d love to show you around.
SS
If you get back to the Four Corners area, I’d be delighted to return the favor.
chacoguy: Oh, yeah! Chaco! Man, that is one rough road getting in – we took our RV for a “shakedown cruise!” – but the dwellings were worth every jolt. Remarkable! My only regret is that we didn’t have time for me to climb up the cliff-top trail. I gotta get back there some day!
Not too awfully far away is “La Ventana,” a really nifty natural stone arch. Magnificent!
(Whew! The elevation! 7350 feet. I was gasping! Where’d all the air get to? I’m a sea-level boy!)
A visit to the Four Corners area is high on my bucket list. When I get there I’ll look ya up 
I’ve been to a bunch of deserts and they are all great in their own way. My local desert is the Mojave. I’ve been meaning to drive the Mojave Road one of these days. I’ve been to the outback in Australia, which was surprisingly lush the time of year I was there.
The Atacama is the most desolate desert ever.
I’ve been to Moab, the Great Basin, Eastern Oregon, the Imperial Valley and all the way down Baja to Cabo San Lucas.
Coolest desert I’ve been to is the Kalahari, 'cause the Okavango Delta disappears into it.
The southern regions of the Sahara (called the Sahel) have certainly expanded (and continue to do so) due to desertification caused by deforestation and farming.
I liked the Kalahari for the wildlife and the Okavango, as mentioned. The Namibian Desert is supposed to be pretty cool, also.
I’ve only spent time in the Sonoran. I spent a lot of time outdoors there (studied environmental science at the Biosphere 2), and found one of the most intoxicating, heady, absolutely magical things in my universe: the delicate scent of wet desert.
To those who have spent time in multiple deserts–how do their scents differ?
The Orgeon High Desert was the first place I thought of. It is my favorite desert.