Best Airport for Palm Desert
 

All

We are heading to Palm Desert for a long weekend in the Fall. I was going to start to look for airfare but am unsure as to which airport we should use. Any advice?

Palm Springs - PSP is very close; next best is Ontario (ONT.)

No Venice? ;)

The Palm Springs airport is 11 miles from Palm Desert.

Thanks. Direct flights to Palm Springs seem difficult to get from our airport so I am looking at LAX or Orange County or San Diego. I can go direct to all of these. Do any of these make more sense than any of the others? I recognize it will be a drive.

MichelleY, Venice is without the kids. This trip is with them.

A one-stop flight can easily end up being faster than a flight to LAX, SNA or SAN followed by bag claim, rental car shuttle, and a 2+ hour drive through southern California traffic.

>>Direct flights to Palm Springs seem difficult to get from our airport so I am looking at LAX or Orange County or San Diego.<<

I don't get your logic. Is it better to connect somewhere and arrive practically next door in Palm Springs . . . OR . . . fly non-stop and then have to drive HOURS to Palm Desert?

But if Palm Springs doesn't work, check Ontario.

The drives from LAX, SNA and SAN are not very interesting and could take much longer than you may realize. You could wind up in some really awful traffic on any of those freeways.

We flew into San Diego on Southwest and thought it was pretty and without much bad traffic. I believe it took about two and a half hours to drive to the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area. To some people that seems way too far, but to us Texans, it is nothing.

Ontario, it's a lot cheaper to fly into ONT. It's an easy airport.

Get your best rate if you can't fly into Palm Springs - at any of the SoCal airports - as they are all about 2 hours (Ontario might be the closest) - from Palm Springs/the greater Coachella Valley.

We drove it from SD 50 times when the in laws lived in Palm Desert - and except for occasional Sat traffic on I-60 - (off the 215) that goes through the Morena Valley (which can be the fastest w/o any unusual traffic) - pretty much every route is 2 hours.

And if you don't mind a few curves on a hillside - the drive over 79 - from Temecula - is beautiful.

You can also go through Julian which is a pretty mountain drive.

You don't really have to use the freeways - except from SD to Temecula - or from SD to the turnoff up to Julian, and except for morning (or evening)rush hour - no problemo.

If your only direct flights are into SNA, San Diego and LAX - I would pick SNA - the car rental is very easy at SNA and it is a much easier airport to get out of than LAX.

But check your car rental rates before buying the tickets - they can at times vary greatly between airports. I flew into Southern California often over the last 4 years from Texas to visit.