Palm Springs and Joshua Tree Self-Guided Driving Audio Tours

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Our Palm Springs audio tour begins in the parking lot of the Palm Springs Visitor Center, located at 2901 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs, CA 92262. If you’re not there already, you should head there now. Important Note: While Palm Springs is home to many historic celebrity homes, most are hidden behind walls or fences. The tour is over 25+ miles long per tour, with more than 35+ audio stories per tour, and takes about 2-3 hours per tour to complete. New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.

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2. In just a moment, we’ll have the option to take a detour to see the Kaufmann and Liberace Houses, two of Palm Springs’ most famous homes. The detour takes about five minutes, and I’d recommend it if you’re not in a rush. To visit the houses, turn right onto West Vista Chino ahead. Otherwise, continue straight to skip the detour.

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3. The Kaufmann Desert House is on our right, beyond that white gate. It’s considered one of the finest examples of mid-century modern architecture in the US! Businessman Edgar Kaufmann owned a successful department store in Pittsburgh. And he absolutely loved architecture. He even had famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright create a home he called Fallingwater in Pennsylvania. So when he decided to build a vacation home here in Palm Springs, he knew he wanted to hire the best. He contracted architect Richard Neutra for the job. Neutra was famous for designing open and adaptable houses with a distinctly modern appearance. And he put all his skills to use for the Kaufmann House.

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4. We’re driving through the Movie Colony, the neighborhood where many of Hollywood’s darlings moved in the 1900s. Frank Sinatra had a home here. Dinah Shore. Cary Grant. David O. Selznick. Jack Benny. Tony Curtis. They all lived here. The neighborhood owes much of its allure to El Mirador Hotel, which opened in 1928. It had an Olympic-size swimming pool, tennis courts, stables, and a bell tower that became a Palm Springs landmark. In the early days of Hollywood, movie stars would flock to that hotel for a bit of peace and quiet out here in the desert. And once they came here, many didn’t want to leave! So they contracted famous architects like Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, and Donald Wexler to build them permanent houses here.

   10 min

5. Once we pass the next intersection, find a spot to pull over and park. Then get out and look for the colorful sculptures peeking out from behind the trees on the corner of East Granvia Valmonte and North Arquilla Road. It’ll be on our right.

   10 min

6. Here, 450 stars honor larger than life figures in Palm Springs history. But they honor more than movie stars. Humanitarians, architects, artists, soldiers, athletes, and city pioneers are all over this walk! If they made a contribution to Palm Springs in some way, they get a star!

   10 min

7. We’re going to leave downtown Palm Springs now to see more of Coachella Valley. Does that name sound familiar? It should! This valley is home to the world-renowned Coachella Music Festival. But there’s so much more to it than that!

   10 min

8. In 1939, the United States Corps of Engineers sought out space to build an Army Air Corps landing field. The country was on the brink of war, and they needed space for training more soldiers. Coachella Valley had pretty good weather almost all year round, and the mountains shielded the area from strong winds. It was perfect! After the war, it soon became a civilian airport.

   10 min

9. Sinatra passed away in 1998. He was buried with: A bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey, a zippo lighter, a pack of Camel cigarettes, and… 10 dimes. Okay, the first few make sense, but what’s with the dimes? Those go back to December of 1963.

   10 min

10. Just ahead is the Willis Palm Trailhead. This moderately strenuous 4-mile hike takes about three hours and climbs 500 feet of elevation along the way. But on the loop, you can see birds, desert wildlife, and desert wildflowers if you’re visiting during the spring!

    10 min

11. Pushawalla Palms trail is coming up on our right. This is right at the bottom of the Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve, but it actually goes in the opposite direction. It’s a moderate 4.5-mile hike with an elevation gain of 700 feet. But oh the views! You’ll be walking on the ridge of the San Andreas Fault, and you’ll see those palm tree oases where the water is bubbling up from way down deep in the Earth! There are groves and groves of palm trees! It takes around three hours to complete.

    10 min

12. We’ve reached the Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve! This magical place is home to plentiful walking trails, wildlife, and lush scenery. Officials are renovating a lot of this preserve at the moment after a storm hit it pretty hard, so the visitor center is closed until further notice. But the trails are open from sunrise to sunset!

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Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 55 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Palm Springs

• Its from-price is 84% below the median of the 14 day trips we list in Palm Springs.
• Its length is typical for the group.
• By number of reviews it ranks 7 of 14.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Palm Springs

Palm Springs, in California's Coachella Valley, is a desert resort of mid-century modern design, palm-lined streets and the San Jacinto Mountains.

Palm Springs lies in the Colorado Desert of southern California, at the foot of the steep San Jacinto Mountains, a resort that drew film stars and golfers from the 1930s. Mid-century modern houses and motels by architects such as Richard Neutra and Albert Frey give the town its look, and Palm Canyon Drive is lined with shops, galleries and cafés. The Palm Springs Art Museum shows modern and Western art.

Top-ranked sights in Palm Springs: Joshua Tree National Park, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Mt. San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness.

See all 141 experiences in Palm Springs