Palm Springs is easy to love, and just as easy to never leave. But some of the best things in this part of California sit a short drive up the hill, in the high desert where the air is drier, the skies are darker, and the roadside gets a lot stranger. Here are eight day trips from Palm Springs, all within about an hour of downtown.
Meet 100+ Rescued Animals in Morongo Valley (20 minutes)
Kaleidoscope Desert Sanctuary is a 7.5-acre art and animal rescue in Morongo Valley, about 20 minutes from Palm Springs. Over 100 rescued residents live here, a zebra, mini horses, mini cows, emus, goats, pigs and giant tortoises among them, and they roam the grounds alongside a living collection of desert art. It is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and every ticket goes to their care.
The Sanctuary Tour runs daily at 10 AM, plus 12 PM on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays, about 90 minutes for $65. The Day Pass runs 12 to 6 PM for $165 and packs in the guided tour, a Gamelatron sound session, the pool and the hot tub. Visits are 18 and up. Book at kaleidoscopedesert.com/visit.
Walk the Boardwalk at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve (20 minutes)
Just down the road in Morongo Valley, this preserve protects a rare desert oasis of cottonwoods and willows fed by year-round water. A wooden boardwalk loops through the marsh, and it is one of the best birding spots in Southern California. Easy, shady, and a real surprise in the middle of the desert.
Tour Cabot’s Pueblo Museum (20 minutes)
In Desert Hot Springs, homesteader Cabot Yerxa spent decades hand building a sprawling four-story pueblo out of salvaged and found materials. The guided tours through its rooms are a window into early desert life and one very determined imagination.
Find the River at Whitewater Preserve (30 minutes)
Tucked into a canyon off Interstate 10, Whitewater Preserve has something you do not expect in the desert: a river. Trails head into the canyon and up toward the Pacific Crest Trail, and the picnic area under the cottonwoods is a cool place to spend a warm afternoon.
Ride Into Pioneertown (45 minutes)
Built in the 1940s as a live-in Old West movie set, Pioneertown still has its Mane Street of wooden storefronts. Walk it in the late afternoon, then stay for dinner and a show at Pappy and Harriet’s, the high desert’s most famous roadhouse.
Lie Down for a Sound Bath
The high desert is the sound bath capital of California. The Integratron in Landers, about an hour from Palm Springs, is a white wooden dome built for sound. Closer in, the Gamelatron Sound Experience at Kaleidoscope Desert Sanctuary is a full hour of robotic gamelan, fifteen bronze gongs played by mechanical mallets, on the hour from 1 to 7 PM for $65.
Drive Into Joshua Tree National Park (1 hour)
The park’s west entrance is about an hour from Palm Springs. Even a short loop past Hidden Valley and the boulder piles around it is worth the drive. Bring more water than you think you need and start early when it is warm.
See the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum (1 hour)
Ten acres of large sculptures built from junk and found objects by the late artist Noah Purifoy, just outside the town of Joshua Tree. It is free, open to wander, and like nothing else in the desert.
Putting the Day Together
A good loop: the animals in Morongo Valley in the morning, Pioneertown in the afternoon, and dinner at Pappy and Harriet’s before driving back down the hill. Tours, day passes, the Gamelatron and the Evening Tour + Swim (Thursday through Saturday at 6 PM, drinks and snacks included, $95) are all at kaleidoscopedesert.com/visit. Every visit is 18 and up.
