Top Palm Springs Outdoor Activities

Soar over Palm Springs on the Aerial Tramway for spectacular views of the desert. Ascending to 5,783 feet (1,790 meters), the tram transports you to the San Jacinto Mountains. View unspoiled wilderness, including mountain spires and Ponderosa pine trees, during your ascent. Disembark and explore the area around Mountain Station, which includes a cocktail lounge, restaurant and observation deck. Hike, snowshoe or cross-country ski on the trails in the Mt. San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness Area around Mountain Station.

Explore the geology around California’s legendary San Andreas fault during a Jeep tour from Palm Desert. See a desert oasis fed by an underground spring as your naturalist guide describes how the Native American Cahuilla tribe used the desert's plants for food, medicine, and shelter. Marvel at steep-walled canyons and tall twisted rock mountains, and learn about the plant and animal life of the area. Choose from a morning or afternoon tour that includes light snacks, and bottled water.

Soak up some sun with this self-guided driving tour of Palm Springs, where movie stars and other big-time celebs have flocked for almost a hundred years to get away from it all. Visit architectural marvels left behind by these eccentric stars, like the opulent Liberace House. Stop outside the gates of Frank Sinatra’s old estate and hear some wild tales about Ol’ Blue Eyes’ time in Palm Springs. And so much more! Plus, this driving tour of Palm Springs will take you to the serene Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve, a desert gem rich in natural beauty. After booking, you can check your email before downloading the Tour Guide App by Action, enter your unique password, and access your tour. The preceding steps require good internet/wifi access. New, extra validity — now, it’s yours for an entire year! Use multiple times over multiple trips! This is not an entrance ticket to attractions along the route. Check opening hours before your visit.

Goodbye glitz of Palm Springs, hello simpler days. With this tour, you’ll leave behind modernity for a true eco-adventure, hopping on a mule-drawn covered wagon through the Sonoran Desert. With a naturalist leading your way, explore the vast landscapes of the Coachella Valley, returning to the ranch for music, yard games, BBQ, dancing, campfire marshmallows, and desert views under the stars.

Explore the uncanny landscape of Joshua Tree National Park with a tour from Palm Desert, near Palm Springs. Enjoy the comfort of an air-conditioned vehicle as you navigate soaring granite formations and groves of the park’s famously spiky trees, and capture unforgettable images of terrain. Trace a gentle trail into the rocks at Hidden Valley and Keys View, watch for the park’s reclusive wildlife, and experience the unique beauty of one America’s most remarkable national parks.

This sunrise hike in the San Jacinto Mountains has a beautiful resting stop with stunning views of the Coachella Valley. Here, your guide will lead you through a grounding meditation to help set your intention for the day. Before you get there, you'll watch the sunrise over Indian Canyons and enjoy the nature in Oswitz Canyon. This hike and meditation will help you feel refreshed, relaxed, and connected to the Earth and universe

Explore Joshua Tree in a unique and interactive way when you book this exciting guide-designed scavenger hunt. Talk to locals about fun subjects, go on a hunt for art and local stories, and make new memories with your team. Every game turns out different—a co-creation between you and your interactive host. For families, kids do well on adult-led teams.

Southern California’s Joshua Tree National Park can be a bit intimidating to take on all on your own; however, this Joshua Tree National Park Self-Driving Audio Tour lets you explore the park in your own vehicle while navigating the area with a tour that leads the way. Just download the app on your smartphone, launch the app when you get the park, and follow the recommended route and speed limit.

Opt for this Palm Springs windmill tour, and try something a little different from your typical celebrity homes or San Andreas Fault tours you’d usually do in Palm Springs. This self-driving windmill tour allows you to explore the evolution of wind turbines on a private wind farm from the comfort of your own vehicle. The tour allows you to exit at each stop and guides you with a curated video.

Get an introduction to the fun sport of archery in the beautiful setting of Coyote Dry Lake Bed in Joshua Tree. To start, we’ll set you up with a beginner bow and a bucket of arrows to shoot from any distance you choose. We’ll instruct you in the proper form to aim and shoot. When you are ready, you can move up to a more advanced bow and heavier arrows.

At nearly 800,000 acres, Joshua Tree is nearly impossible to take in on foot, and the best views are far off the paved path. Touring the park via 4x4, you’ll get to ride deep into the rugged backcountry, nabbing enviable views of the Mojave Desert, the sacred Joshua trees, wild rock formations, and more, making the most of your precious time in this incredible national park.

Pack seeing three South Palm Spring neighborhoods into just one morning with this South Palm Springs Architecture, History, and Bike Tour. Although your bike rental isn't included, you can bring your own bike for ultimate comfort along the way or get a discount to rent a bike nearby. You'll explore Deepwell Estates, Twin Palms, and Indian Canyons while your guide tells you the history of the area.

Explore Palm Springs and Indian Canyons by bike and on foot during a half-day tour from downtown Palm Springs. With guide, bike rental, and snacks included, it’s easy to discover one of southern California’s most scenic city and desert landscapes. You'll ride through Palm Springs on a 10-mile (17-km) loop to Indian Canyons, then hike in the canyon at a leisurely pace suitable for reasonably active people.

Our guides are experienced and knowledgeable and will take you on a journey through our sky. Learn to find north and the location of our seasonal triangles, constellations and planets. Using high-powered laser pointers, we will provide you an entertaining and scholastic experience, with stories about ancient civilizations, Greek mythology, and the evolution of the Cosmos. Our telescopes are operated with a keypad and are as easy to use as sending a text. Telescopes are pre-programmed with our object list for the night. Pressing one button on the keypad moves the telescope to the next object. We regularly view the following types and classes of objects: Galaxies, Nebulae, Star Clusters, Double and Binary Stars, Planets, Earth’s Moon, Globular Clusters, Comets, and more. Depending on timing, the International Space Station (ISS) and Starlink trains can be seen passing overhead.

To truly see Joshua Tree National Park and feel the Mojave Desert’s magic—artists and visionaries flock here, after all—travel in the footsteps of a local guide and naturalist. On this private tour, you’ll follow what feels like an expert friend, discussing flora, fauna, geology, history, and more of this vast, wondrous, storied park. Totally customizable to your group, you’ll go beyond the guidebooks, leaving the park with connection and appreciation.

Take a break from the heat on a visit to Palm Springs’ Escape Rooms. Work as a team to find clues, solve puzzles, and use logic to complete your mission, playing at a time that suits you with regular game slots available throughout the day. Enjoy an immersive, private experience for you and your party, ideal for families, bachelor parties, or corporate groups.

The unsinkable Titanic is going down – but, you heard the captain mention a hidden lifeboat over dinner. This unique Titanic-themed escape room is a great way to break out of your normal routine. Enjoy an exciting night out with friends or family, solving this exciting game, at Palm Springs’ largest escape room.

Take a leisurely bike ride in the desert. This guided mountain bike tour will take you down a gentle grade along the San Andreas Fault where the Mojave Desert transitions into the Colorado Desert. Enjoy beautiful views of the desert landscape as you pedal along the paved path. The tour concludes with a rest stop at a date farm where you can try a date shake.

This beautiful tour takes us through some of the most prominent and old neighborhoods in Palm Springs of a bygone era of celebrities of yesteryear and a few even of today. Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Clark Gable, Liberace, Marilyn Monroe, are just a few of the incredible homes included in this lovely ride back in time. Water and snacks are included. Any kind of peanut allergies or any other restrictions please let us know. E-bikes available upon request with an upgrade fee.

Learn about California's geology and desert wilderness on a half-day Jeep/SUV tour to the San Andreas Fault. Drive through the Coachella Valley to the fault zone while hearing from your guide about native plant and animal life, local history, the Salton Sea, and earthquakes. Depending on your preference, you can take a nature walk in the desert or stay in the vehicle. Includes guide, transportation, and light refreshments.

The San Andreas Fault is one of the world’s best-known fault lines—and this small-group tour will help you discover it up close. Pick between morning and afternoon start times, make your own way to the Indio departure point, and set off via open-air Jeep. You’ll discover the region’s dramatic scenery, will learn about desert habitats and the local Cahuilla people, will visit a desert oasis, and much more.

Long a Hollywood hangout and celebrity playground, Palm Springs has decades of secrets to uncover. With this smartphone-led scavenger hunt, you’ll get away from the crowds and go on your own quest across the city, solving clues, trivia-style riddles, and more, visiting the most iconic spots in town. Play at your pace—maybe you’ll even catch sight of a star.

We start this experience with a beautiful desert nature walk at one of the hidden gems inside the JT national park. The trail we visit offers a 1.4 mile loop, friendly for all age ranges/activity levels. Designed to activate the mind and body, the landscape offers the ideal space to discuss the local flora, fauna, geology, geography, as well as, the elemental energies and how they converge in Joshua Tree creating a natural energetic vortex. After our walk, we will exit the park and caravan roughly 10 mins to our second destination, an authentic Native American Medicine Wheel. Allowing time to relax the mind we start the session by establishing personal intentions with Cacao, followed by the charging powers of sound vibrations to further connect with our intentions. Using a variety of instruments/sound frequencies designed to heighten the meditative state. A safe space to fully immerse in the healing qualities of sound, therapeutic properties of nature and the abundance of the moment.