s_rk

My husband and I have a wedding to go to in Los Angeles in mid-January and were thinking of making it a bigger trip once we're already flying out west from New York. We probably have about five days before we need to be in LA and were thinking of flying to Palm Springs, maybe spending a day or two there (especially interested in the mid-century architecture), and then heading out to Joshua Tree. How many days would you recommend in Palm Springs and Joshua Tree? Should we try to add in another stop as well before driving to LA (maybe Anza Borrego), or will that be too rushed? Any scenic drive recommendations to get us back to LA?
Thanks!

hopingtotravel

Last February we spent some days in Palm Springs, and Dana Point, and about 4 hours in Joshua Tree. Note: if you to go over to the ocean, there are about 3 routes to pick from, so you could go one way and come back another. One year we did drive through Anza Borrego and Julian to San Diego.

You should be able to find my trip report by either clicking on my name, or putting one of those place names in the search feature.

Echnaton

We have been to all mentioned places in January, and here are my impressions:

- Palm Springs is mainly a place to hang around the hotel pool and in bars. For seeing the architecture, a day will be sufficient.

- Joshua Tree is somewhat overrated IMO, at least when the joshua trees are not blooming (and they won't in January). The park is not particularly scenic, and you will have soaked up the scenery (roundwashed rocks and joshua trees) within a few hours.

- Anza Borrego is a bit more diverse and very attractive if you like activities like quad driving, 4-wheel-offroad drives through box canyons etc. There are a few nice resorts right in the center of the park and you can combine hiking, scenic drives, relaxing at the pool, dining etc.

From Anza Borrego, the drive to Julian is very scenic (a total different world after the barren desert), and Julian is a cute town. From Julian, you may head northwards through the mountains until you reach I-15 (or you drive further westwards to Carlsbad and then the I-5).

I hope this was helpful.

wetwillie05

PSMODCOM {http://psmodcom.org/}has a very nice self guided tour map of Palm Springs Pos-modern buildings for $5. Stay in one of the uber-cool and hip boutique motels if you can. EG: http://www.orbitin.com/hideaway.html

Joshua Tree is NOT boring! The trees, (like wierd spirit-men) and the amazing rock formations, the desolation, quiet and the overwhelming star show at night make it a favorite of many, many people (remember U2?) A coupla nights there will energize and restore you.

Anza-Borrego is like that too, but with and even more varied topography. Don't miss a dip on one of the many natural hot springs. http://www.totalescape.com/active/leisure/hotsp.html

If you can stay in a camper or a tent a night or two in each place, you will never forget it.
Cheers, Bill
VWsurfari.com

MBnancy

Palm Springs is loaded with things to do, you'll have to make time for the swimming pool!

Take the Tram to the top of Mt. San Jacinto:

http://www.pstramway.com/

The Living Desert:

http://www.livingdesert.org/

The Indian Canyons:

http://www.indian-canyons.com/

Thursday night Villagefest downtown:

http://www.palmspringsvillagefest.com/

Palm Springs Follies:

http://www.psfollies.com/

PS Art Museum:

http://www.psmuseum.org/index.php

Palm Springs Home Tours:

http://www.palmspringstours.net/

We like staying at the Chase Hotel, one block from Palm Canyon Drive, the shops and restaurants:

http://www.chasehotelpalmsprings.com/

s_rk

thanks so much for all the advice. as it stands, we've decided to limit ourselves to staying in palm springs and joshua tree, so that we can have a relaxing and not overpacked trip. in palm springs (and the general vicinity) we're definitely planning on doing the ps modern tour which gets rave reviews, going out to indian canyons, and the living dessert. in joshua tree, well, we'd like to hike and just have time to relax and enjoy the dessert. we arrive in ps sunday afternoon, and have to drive to los angeles fri morning for wedding festivities. at this point, we're just trying to decide if we should do 3 nights in palm springs and 2 in joshua tree (driving out to jt wed afternoon, so kind of like a day and a half there), or 4 in ps and 1 in jt (driving out to joshua tree thurs morning and spending just that night so we would essentially have one full day). any thoughts? also, we're planning on staying at the horizon in ps which seems like the kind of place wetwillie05 described, and then the desert lily just outside jt national park.
thanks again!

babylon

you can easily drive back and forth to Joshua Tree for a day trip from PS. We stayed in a great little hotel that was like staying at a house party. (OLD RANCH INN) It was a few blocks from the main street. Palm Springs Follies was fun, and you'll finds lots to do. Unless you have a reason to do so, i wouldn't recommend staying at Joshua Tree.

nanabee

Joshua Tree is an interesting place to visit but it's really a place where you'd maybe spend just a few hours. I would not stay overnight. It's within a few miles of Yucca Valley where the hotels are located. YV is not a place you want to spend very much time in.

JohnH

Joshua Tree is magical at in the late afternoon and early morning. The colors and shodows are beautiful. During midday it can look a bit like lots of "dirt and rocks", especially if you're just driving through. I would suggest spending at least one night at one of the motels in 29 Palms, just outside the park, so that you can experience it during these times.

s_rk

we decided to go with the two nights, which guarantees us a full day in jt. we might not get there until late afternoon/evening on wed, so we could still have that day primarily in palm springs, but we thought it would be nice to be able to really experience the desert for a bit, sunset to sunrise. we're from nyc, and we're going to end up in la anyway at the end of the trip, so we don't really need a vacation that focuses heavily on "city" activities - getting to enjoy nature (especially environments so different from our own) is really more of a priority. it sounded to us like the people who really enjoyed the park the most were the ones who didn't just do a drive-by, so to speak, but rather, gave it a bit more time. we've decided to stay here, which is really close to the park and looks really cute: http://www.thedesertlily.com/
i'm already getting excited about the possibility of toasting up some marshmallows outside under all those stars . . .

basingstoke2

MBNancy is spot on about there being lots to do in Palm Springs. We were there for 5 days and had a great time. Never got to the pool and we don't do bars or play golf. Like hopingtotravel, I have a trip report with a good bit of detail that can be found in the same way. The Living Desert and Indian Canyons were marvelous - the only architecture you will see is nature's, but what magnificent architecture it is.