Cabot's Pueblo Museum: Tour Choices, Tickets & Desert Hot Springs Visit

What you are visiting

Cabot's Pueblo Museum preserves the home and museum built by Cabot Yerxa in Desert Hot Springs. He began the pueblo in 1941, using recovered materials from around the valley, including dismantled cabins and reused lumber. The resulting building has four stories and 35 rooms.

The visit brings together the structure, Yerxa's life, his artwork and objects collected during his travels. Look for the way materials were put to another use; the building itself is a central part of the story.

The museum also connects with the water history of Desert Hot Springs. Yerxa's wells on Miracle Hill encountered hot mineral water and a separate cold-water source. That history gives a pool-and-spa weekend a different point of reference.

This is a historic-home museum centered on Yerxa and the pueblo. For a separate institution devoted to the Agua Caliente people's story, use the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum guide for downtown Palm Springs.

Choose the right admission

The official visitor page lists three main options.

Guided interior tour: $16 general admission. Choose this when you want a guide-led introduction to the pueblo and Yerxa's story. Check the available tour times before arranging the rest of the day.

Self-guided audio tour: $13 general admission. This includes an interior route with audio accessed on your mobile device. Bring a charged phone with data and follow the museum's instructions on arrival.

Grounds option: $5 per person. This covers the grounds and the Water and Exhibition Galleries. It does not include the pueblo interior tour.

Reduced-price categories have their own eligibility rules. Use the current checkout to confirm the ticket needed for each adult and child, especially when a child's age is near a category boundary.

Opening hours and tour times are different

The museum's dated ticket page lists its October–May operating pattern as Tuesday–Saturday, 9am–4pm, and Sunday, noon–4pm. A building's closing time does not mean an interior tour begins then.

The visitor page lists guided sessions on selected weekdays and a different self-guided schedule. Choose an actual date and entry time on the linked ticket calendar. Do not assume that arriving at any point during opening hours secures an interior visit.

Summer has a reduced schedule. Check the museum's current seasonal information for a summer trip rather than carrying the October–May pattern into hotter months.

Give the visit its own space in the day

The museum describes interior tours as approximately 45 minutes. Add time for check-in and anything else you want to see. An appointment immediately afterward can make a short tour feel unnecessarily rushed.

Arrive with the ticket confirmation and the device you need for an audio visit. Read the current terms before paying; the ticket page states that sales are final, with no refunds or exchanges.

If someone in your party has mobility or other access needs, contact the museum before choosing a ticket. Ask specifically about the route and spaces that the ticket includes. A grounds option should not be treated as an automatic answer to every access requirement.

Build a Desert Hot Springs museum-and-soak day

Book the museum time first, then choose a mineral-springs outing or day pass around it. The museum does not include spa admission, and a hotel stay does not guarantee access to another property's pools.

Leave a gap between the museum and any treatment or day-pass arrival. That gives you room for transport, changing and lunch without having to hurry out of the tour.

If the pools are the main reason for the trip, compare Desert Hot Springs hotels by the particular water, room and access experience you want. Confirm day-use rules, ages, treatment availability and the full stay total directly with the property.

Arrival and choosing the rest of the trip

Use 67616 E Desert View Avenue, Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240 for the museum. Plan transport between the pueblo, a spa and your lodging from their actual addresses; a Desert Hot Springs outing is separate from a downtown Palm Springs walk.

For a wider cultural trip, the museum roundup compares other institutions across the valley. The Coachella Valley History Museum guide covers a different campus in Indio. Choose it for another day if that would otherwise turn a relaxed museum visit into a valley-wide drive.

Tour options, published admission and seasonal information checked October 15, 2026 against Cabot's official visitor, history and ticket pages. Follow the live calendar for your selected date.