The Best Time to Visit Palm Springs
Month-by-month weather, crowds and prices
Palm Springs Spots Editors · Published Aug 31, 2026 · Updated Aug 31, 2026
Palm Springs has four genuinely different seasons in terms of price and comfort, and picking the right one matters more here than in most destinations.
Palm Springs weather is simple: almost always sunny, almost never wet, and the only variable that matters is temperature. Everything else — hotel rates, restaurant waits, whether you can hike at noon — follows from that.
Month by month
January and February: highs in the high 60s to mid 70s, nights in the 40s. Perfect days, cold evenings, heated-pool territory. Modernism Week in February is the busiest non-festival period of the year.
March and April: highs in the 80s to low 90s, warm nights. The best month for most people is March, and it is priced accordingly. The BNP Paribas Open takes March; Coachella and Stagecoach take April weekends. Rates spike hard on those dates.
May: highs in the mid 90s to low 100s. The last comfortable month and one of the best-value periods of the year.
June through September: 105-115F highs, nights above 85F. Hotel rates drop 40-60 percent. Perfectly viable if you plan around the heat, and the pools are empty.
October: the turn. Early October is still hot; by the end of the month it is beautiful and prices have not fully recovered. Arguably the best value-to-weather ratio of the year.
November and December: highs in the 70s, cool nights, holiday demand at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, and cheaper weeks between.
Rain and wind
Total annual rainfall is around 5 inches, mostly in winter. Summer monsoon storms in late July and August bring brief downpours and flash flooding in the washes. Wind is the underrated factor — the San Gorgonio Pass funnels it, and spring afternoons can be genuinely blustery, which matters for pool days and for the Aerial Tramway.
Choosing by trip type
Pool and design weekend: March, April, October, November. Hiking and Joshua Tree: November through March. Golf: November through April, or summer dawn rounds. Budget trip: June through September, or the first two weeks of December. Events: February for Modernism Week, April for the festivals, March for tennis.
Dates to know before you book
Modernism Week in February, the BNP Paribas Open across two weeks of March, Coachella across two April weekends, Stagecoach the following weekend, and Palm Springs Pride in November. On all of these, lodging runs at two to four times normal with minimum stays.
FAQ
- What is the best month to visit Palm Springs?
- March and April for weather and events, October and November for a similar climate with lower prices and fewer crowds.
- How hot does Palm Springs get in summer?
- Daytime highs of 105-115F from June through September, with overnight lows often staying above 85F.
- Is Palm Springs cheap in summer?
- Yes. Hotel rates typically fall 40-60 percent from June through September, and restaurants are walk-in.
- Does it rain in Palm Springs?
- Rarely — about 5 inches a year, mostly in winter, plus brief monsoon storms in late summer.
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