Going to be in Palm Desert for the last 2 weeks in October. Any suggestions for day trips? Is San Diego for the day too far? Thanks.

The Joshua Tree National Park makes a perfect day trip from Palm Desert. We visited there a couple of years ago and were overwhelmed by the beauty of the park and the interesting plants, animals, etc who inhabit it. Enjoy!

It's about a two and a half hour drive to San Diego, maybe a bit more depending on route and traffic. It could be done in a day, but it would be a really long day and you wouldn't have time to see much in San Diego. I'd recommend staying overnight.

xxxxx:

Joshua Tree = great suggestion. The park is HUGE, beautiful.

San Diego is an easy day trip. I go there and back for meetings all the time in a one day turnaround. But spending the night is worth considering. A good mid-week value might be the Hilton Gardens at Carlsbad Blvd/Palomar Airport Road, Carlsbad, right across from the Pacific.

A couple other suggestions.

Big Bear Lake. You could go up the back way through Yucca Valley. Pretty drive. Once up there, hiking, some small shops, restaurants, boating, etc. Also, I think the Oktoberfest is going on until the end of the month.

Temecula. Wine country, several wineries. About an hour and fifteen minutes from Palm Desert via Hwy 74 to Hwy 79. Very pretty scenic highway over the Santa Rosa Mountains.

Desert Hills Factory Stores, Cabezon. HUGE factory outlet, lots of big names there, if shopping is your bag.

Enjoy.

PS L

If you go to San Diego, consider taking the Palms to Pines Hwy. Pretty drive though it takes longer. You can take the tram to the top of Mt. San Jaquinto to Idyllwild. Joshua Tree is great and there is a good discount mall at Cabazon. Big Bear is just down the 10 freeway and then up the big hill. Pretty, pretty mountain lake--very different from Palm Springs.

I would recommend the back way to Big Bear (Hwy 62 to Old Woman Springs road to hwy 18) rather than going down I-10. Better road (less mountain driving), less congested.