9 Best Things to Do in Palm Springs

Mount San Jacinto provides a beautiful backdrop to Palm Springs, with its peak soaring at over 10,800 ft. Riding the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, just 15 minutes from downtown, will bring you to the Mountain Station at an elevation of 8,516 ft. The largest rotating tramcar in the world, it travels for more than 2.5 miles for a 10-minute journey along the spectacular cliffs of Chino Canyon.

After disembarking, you’ll find observation decks, 2 restaurants, a natural history museum, a gift shop, and access to the 54 miles of scenic hiking trails in the unspoiled wilderness of Mount San Jacinto State Park.

The Palm Springs Air Museum is a must-visit for anyone interested in aviation history. You don’t have to be a hardcore military history buff to enjoy it and it’s fun for all ages – there’s a kids’ area where little ones can sit in a cockpit. The extensive collection of World War II planes includes everything from the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star to the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

Passionate docents happily share the stories behind each, including the fighter plane Ben Affleck’s character flew in the movie Pearl Harbor (2001). In addition to the vast collection of planes, there are flight simulators, vintage automobiles, documentary screenings, a gift shop, and a café.

Moorten Botanical Garden is a historic landmark in Palm Springs and one of the world’s great places for cacti lovers that opened back in 1938. A top Palm Springs attraction, the vast collection of cacti, flowers, and the desert tortoise is viewed among scenic nature trails and is sure to impress.

The garden includes 3,000 examples of desert cacti and other desert plants from the Mojave and Sonora deserts, Baja California, Colorado, Texas, South America, and South Africa. It’s a family business that has run for generations and visitors can take a self-guided tour with knowledgeable family members at hand who staff the garden to answer questions.

VillageFest livens up the already vibrant heart of downtown Palm Springs even more. It covers 3 blocks with entertainment, roaming artists, and vendors selling everything from arts and crafts to fresh local produce. Most of the unique shops in the area stay open late during the street fair, adding even more to the fun.

There are activities for the kids and food stalls for purchasing everything from BBQ and tacos to kettle corn. The peak season, from November through April, when the weather is especially pleasant, draws more than 200 vendors. When combined with vacations it becomes even more impressive, with Halloween bringing a zombie walk and trick-or-treating while Christmas transforms it into a festive winter wonderland, minus the snow.

The Palm Springs Art Museum is the only major art museum between Los Angeles and Phoenix. Established in 1938, it features a vast permanent collection with works from the 19^th- through 21^st-century. These cover contemporary California art, Native American, classic western, European modern, Mexican art, and more.

The institution also hosts a museum store with unique items, 2 outdoor sculpture gardens, a bistro and wine bar, and the Annenberg Theater. The theater sits on the lower level and offers an eclectic program of jazz, Broadway, cabaret, dance, opera, and classical performances, as well as talks with speakers from the entertainment industry.

Joshua Tree National Park is an ideal day trip from Palm Springs, with its southern entrance less than an hour’s drive away. It looks as if it’s an entirely different planet, home to bizarrely shaped plants and trees like the namesake Joshua tree, each of which seems to have its own unique personality. It’s also filled with ginormous boulders and rock formations that rise hundreds of feet into the sky, drawing climbers from across the globe.

As you travel into the park, you might think you’ve entered a movie set for a sci-fi movie. In addition to climbers, it attracts numerous artists, photographers, nature lovers, botanists, and hikers. After dark, it becomes a stargazer’s paradise, with brilliant night skies.

A Desert Adventures Jeep Tour will allow you to discover popular sights and hidden treasures throughout the Coachella Valley. This outfitter specializes in eco-tours that include the Mecca Hills, Agua Caliente Indian Canyon, Joshua Tree National Park, and the San Andres Fault Line. The fault line tours provide a unique glimpse of the famous fault – the place where the North American and Pacific tectonic plates touch.

The expert guides are extremely knowledgeable about the desert’s environment, history and wildlife, and can provide visitors with exclusive access to neighborhoods of the fault line through the 840-acre Metate Ranch, which includes a mining camp and recreated Cahuilla village.

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum is a culture and history museum that focuses on the Coachella Valley’s Cahuilla people. While it’s small, it is jam-packed with a fascinating and extensive collection of Native American artifacts, photos, and more, providing an interesting look into the history of the region’s early population.

The inspiration for its design includes traditions like pottery, basket weaving, and elements uncovered in the natural desert landscape. It reflects the tribe’s ongoing commitment to the Agua Caliente people and their values.