Palm Springs & Joshua Tree

A desert resort town below the San Jacinto Mountains, two hours east of Los Angeles: mid-century modern houses and hotels, pools, palm-lined Palm Canyon Drive, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, whose rotating cars climb nearly 1,800 m to pine forest at 2,600 m (shut for maintenance from early September to mid-October), and the palm oases of the Indian Canyons on Agua Caliente Cahuilla land. Joshua Tree National Park, an hour to the north-east, is where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet: its namesake trees, the boulder piles of Hidden Valley and Skull Rock, the Cholla Cactus Garden, Keys View and some of southern California's darkest skies; entry is US$30 a car, with no nonresident surcharge. October to April is the season; from June to September days pass 40 °C. The Coachella festival fills the valley on two weekends in April.

Highlights

• Aerial Tramway to Mount San Jacinto
• Joshua Tree's Hidden Valley and Skull Rock
• Sunset at Keys View
• Cholla Cactus Garden
• Stargazing in Joshua Tree
• Mid-century modern architecture
• The Indian Canyons' palm oases

Things to do

• Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the mountain stationMorning · 3h
• Joshua Tree: Hidden Valley, Barker Dam and Skull RockMorning · 5h
• Cholla Cactus GardenAfternoon · 1h
• Sunset at Keys ViewEvening · 1h 30m
• Stargazing in Joshua TreeEvening · 2h
• Indian Canyons' palm oasis trailsMorning · 2h 30m
• Mid-century modern architecture drive and Palm Canyon DriveAfternoon · 2h 30m
• Palm Springs Art MuseumAfternoon · 1h 30m

Tours & tickets

When to go

Best time: October – April

• Coachella, Indio — The Coachella music festival takes over the Empire Polo Club at Indio, 40 minutes from Palm Springs, on two weekends in April, followed by the Stagecoach country festival. Rooms across the valley sell out and treble in price, and I-10 from Los Angeles jams.