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Photo by Johnwayne Stroud, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Palm Springs
United States · North America
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Palm Springs
Tap a month for its page
- JanJPalm Springs in January: good, busy
- FebFPalm Springs in February: good, busy
- MarMPalm Springs in March: good, busy
- AprAPalm Springs in April: sweet spot
- MayMPalm Springs in May: avoid
- JunJPalm Springs in June: avoid
- JulJPalm Springs in July: avoid
- AugAPalm Springs in August: avoid
- SepSPalm Springs in September: avoid
- OctOPalm Springs in October: sweet spot
- NovNPalm Springs in November: good
- DecDPalm Springs in December: good
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
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Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Flights from
Flights
Your city is a guess from your time zone. Choose your city
Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights and fares.
Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
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Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Things to do in Palm Springs
- Palm Springs Aerial Tramway The one thing to do in Palm Springs if you only have a limited amount of time…
- Morongo Casino Resort & Spa Casino in California
- Palm Springs International Film Festival Held the first two weeks of January.
- Palm Springs Air Museum Nice place to go to if you have half a day to spare.
- Palm Springs Art Museum Founded in 1933, the museum hosts special exhibits and work from its permanent…
- Agua Caliente Cultural Museum The history and culture of the Agua Caliente Tribe is on display.
Tours and tickets in Palm Springs
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Palm Springs), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Month by month
No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 19° | 4d | 38% | 8.8h | goodbusy | busier than usual |
| Feb | 21° | 3d | 36% | 9.5h | goodbusy | busier than usual |
| Mar | 24° | 2d | 35% | 10.9h | goodbusy | busier than usual |
| Apr | 30° | 0d | 26% | 12.3h | sweet spot | 30C max, 0 rainy days |
| May | 33° | 0d | 26% | 13.3h | avoid | extreme heat: 12 days over 35C |
| Jun | 39° | 0d | 20% | 13.7h | avoid | extreme heat: 26 days over 35C |
| Jul | 42° | 0d | 21% | 13.6h | avoid | extreme heat: 31 days over 35C |
| Aug | 41° | 0d | 24% | 12.6h | avoid | extreme heat: 30 days over 35C |
| Sep | 37° | 1d | 26% | 11.6h | avoid | extreme heat: 20 days over 35C |
| Oct | 31° | 0d | 23% | 10.8h | sweet spot | 31C max, 0 rainy days |
| Nov | 24° | 1d | 28% | 9.6h | good | 24C max, 1 rainy day |
| Dec | 20° | 2d | 34% | 8.4h | good | 20C max, 2 rainy days |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Palm Springs, 5 km from the city centre: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Palm Springs's August days now average 41.1°C, 3.0°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 7 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 18.3° | 20.0° | 22.8° | 27.4° | 31.7° | 37.1° | 39.3° | 38.1° | 34.5° | 28.8° | 22.1° | 17.8° |
| 2017–26 | 19.1° | 20.9° | 24.4° | 29.7° | 33.1° | 38.8° | 41.9° | 41.1° | 36.9° | 31.1° | 24.0° | 19.7° |
| Change | +0.8° | +0.9° | +1.6° | +2.3° | +1.4° | +1.7° | +2.6° | +3.0° | +2.3° | +2.3° | +2.0° | +2.0° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
How far Palm Springs is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from San Francisco
- from Seattle
- from Vancouver
- from Mexico City
- from Chicago
- from Toronto
- from Miami
- from New York
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Palm Springs, flying or not.
Before you go
Type A and B plugs at 120 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the United states dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise normal security precautions. Everything for United States: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay work almost everywhere, though a few small places take cash only. Keep some $1 and $5 notes for tips; Venmo and PayPal are for locals.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Expected: 15–20% in sit-down restaurants (18–20% is standard in New York) and 10–20% for taxi, Uber and Lyft drivers. Large groups may find it already on the bill.
Getting around Palm Springs
- Apps — Rides: Lyft, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: Text messages (SMS), WhatsApp. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and some other cities you can also book a driverless Waymo in its own app.
Palm Springs has a pedestrian-friendly downtown. Visitors can enjoy the palm tree-lined streets along Palm Canyon Drive and Indian Canyon Drive. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Palm Springs, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — 911 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
- Hospitals near Palm Springsa search on Google Maps
- Pharmacies near Palm Springsa search on Google Maps
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (50)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa/getting-help
- omny.info
- omny.info/fares
- clippercard.com/contactless-payments
- clippercard.com/pay-with-phone
- mtc.ca.gov/news/starting-wednesday-bart-riders-can-tap-bank-cards
- sfcta.org/blogs/next-generation-clipper-tap-pay-here
- metro.net/fares/how-to-pay
- transitchicago.com/howto/pay-for-your-fare
- info.myorca.com/contactless
- miamidade.gov/global/service.page?Mduid_service=ser1565197498854306
- mbta.com/fares/charlie/tap-ride
- holocard.net/for-visitors
- holocard.net/help
- sdmts.com/fares/pronto-ways-pay
- ridepronto.com
- norta.com/ride-with-us/how-to-pay
- norta.com/ride-with-us/how-to-pay/fares
- norta.com/ride-with-us/how-to-pay/lepass
- capmetro.org/fares
- wmata.com/fares
- wmata.com/pay/tap-ride-go.html
- muni.org/Departments/transit/PeopleMover/Pages/FaresandPasses.aspx
- uber.com/global/en/cities/new-york
- lyft.com/rider/cities/new-york-ny
- waymo.com/faq
- visittheusa.com/travel-trade/faq
- nyctourism.com/tipping-sales-tax
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/United_States
- infobip.com/blog/most-popular-messaging-apps-by-country
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- visitphilly.com/things-to-do/attractions/septa
- lvmonorail.com/ticket-information
- lvmonorail.com/frequently-asked-questions
- apps.apple.com/us/app/ridertc/id909691507
- lasvegasnevada.gov/News/Blog/Detail/your-guide-to-exploring-las-vegas-bus-it-bike-it-or-share-it
- visitlasvegas.com/plan/getting-here-and-around/maps
- visitlasvegas.com/experience/post/getting-around-vegas
- visitlasvegas.com/experience/post/vegas-on-budget
- wegotransit.com/buy/fare-information
- wegotransit.com/wego-now-accepts-credit-card-mobile-wallet-contactless-payment
- wegotransit.com/ride/transit-services/airport
- trimet.org/fares
- trimet.org/schedules/maxredline.htm
- rtd-denver.com/fares-passes/fares
- rtd-denver.com/fares-passes/tap-n-ride
- app.rtd-denver.com/en-US/route/A/schedule
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/09PAYMENT290526C6588B796E664822A2BD0DEB6452CAD4.PDF
Palm Springs in pictures
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Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Steve Shook from Moscow, Idaho, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Steve Shook from Moscow, Idaho, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Giorgio Galeotti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Hadriwa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Palm Springs is like
Palm Springs is a resort city in the California desert. It became a destination during the 1950s and 1960s when Hollywood movie stars flocked there in droves. Nowadays, the area offers entertainment for all ages, although the most common demographics consists of retirees. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Palm Springs Air Museum, 745 N Gene Autry Tr. Nice place to go to if you have half a day to spare. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Tramway Rd. Sep to late May: first tram up Mon-Fri 10AM, Sat Sun hols 8AM, last tram up 8PM and down 9:45PM; late May to Aug: Mon–Thu first tram up 10AM, Fri-Sun hols 8AM… More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Palm Springs International Airport (PSP IATA), 3400 E Tahquitz Canyon Way. In the heart of Palm Springs. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Palm Springs, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Palm Springs
Also in United States
- Anchorage best Apr, May, Jun
- Asheville best Apr, Sep, Oct
- Aspen best Mar, Apr, Jun
- Austin best Feb, May, Oct
- Boston best Aug, Sep, Oct
- Charleston best Mar, Apr, Oct
- Chicago best May, Jun, Sep
- Denver best Apr, Sep, Oct
- Jackson Hole best Mar, Aug, Sep
- Juneau best Jun
- Key West best Mar, Apr, May
- Lake Tahoe best Mar, May, Oct
- Las Vegas best Jan, Feb, Apr
- Los Angeles best Jan, Apr, Oct
- Martha's Vineyard best May, Aug, Oct
- Maui best May, Sep, Oct
- Miami best Jan, Feb, Mar
- Nashville best May, Sep, Oct
- New Orleans best Mar, Apr, May
- New York best May, Jul, Oct
- Oahu best May, Sep, Oct
- Orlando best Mar, Apr, Oct
- Park City best Feb, Mar, Jun
- Philadelphia best Apr, May, Sep
- Portland best May, Aug, Sep
- Portland best May, Jul, Aug
- San Antonio best Mar, Apr, Oct
- San Diego best Apr, May, Sep
- San Francisco best May, Oct, Nov
- Santa Fe best Apr, Sep, Oct
- Savannah best Feb, Apr, Oct
- Scottsdale best Jan, Mar, Oct
- Seattle best Apr, May, Jul
- Tampa best Mar, Apr, Oct
- The Grand Canyon best May, Sep, Oct
- Washington DC best Apr, May, Oct
- Yellowstone best Jul, Aug, Sep
- Yosemite best Aug, Sep, Oct
- Zion best Apr, May, Sep
Nearby
- Victoria Canada · 1,720 km
- Vancouver Canada · 1,795 km
- Calgary Canada · 1,925 km
- Guadalajara Mexico · 1,955 km
Kind of place
Palm Springs is in United States, North America. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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