Hi - Quick question. We are going to be in SD in September, and want to meet up with a friend who will be at an offsite in Palm Springs. Is there a town midway between SD and PS where we could meet in for an afternoon coffee/stroll, or is it really just desert and nothing inbetween? We are hoping for a stopping point about 1.5 hours from SD. We don't want to drive all the way out to Palm Springs. Thanks for any suggestions.

you could meet up in julian if you want a scenic area.

Julian looks cute, and I'll see if it works for my friend. But we might need to be a bit closer to Palm Springs (as they will need to go back up to LA that night...) I looked on a map and saw a place called Warner Springs which seems to be the next town up the road. What's that like?

You could meet in Temecula, though that's a bit closer to San Diego than Palm Springs. You could visit the wineries there.

I don't think there's much to see in Warner Springs, and Julian seems to be a bit out of the way.

I second Temecula. If you don't want to do the wineries you could stroll the gift shops and antiquing in Old Town.

A very nice overlooked town that is in between LA and Palm Springs is Redlands. In my opinion, it has more character than Temecula's Old Town. Redland's downtown area has several antique shops and good restaurants. Also, Wednesday evenings there are free concerts in the Redlands Bowl and Thursday evenings a market street fair. It is almost exactly a 1.5 hour drive from San Diego and about an hour to Los Angeles and 45 minutes to Palm Springs.

thanks for these suggestions

Idyllwild! It would be a winding road getting there, but it would be worth it. Idyllwild is about equal distance from San Diego to Palm Springs, and a bit out of the way from a straight ride down I-15. Just do a search for Idyllwild, Ca, online. I think the 74 off Interstate 15 is the quickest route. I used to live in Banning (20 minutes from Palm Springs), and Idyllwild was a wonderful experience. It would take a about an hour by car from Banning.

Idyllwild would also be my choice. Several cute places to eat, or take a picnic and go eat outdoors somewhere. We've often gone up for lunch with family. there a a bunch of litlle galleries there as well.

Temecula and Hemet would both work too. Lots of eating choices in Temecula, but not so scenic...it is big box store central!

Hemet is an old farming town. Not really what I'd call scenic, but plenty of places to eat and stroll. We usually allow about 1.5 hours from Coronado.