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Cathedral City, California

Between Palm Springs and the mid-valley

Cathedral City, California

Cathedral City sits directly between Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage and is the valley's most useful in-between city: cheaper hotels, a growing arts and design district on Perez Road, a genuinely good and unpretentious restaurant scene, and a five-minute drive to downtown Palm Springs.

Visiting Cathedral City?

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Perez Road

The Perez Road corridor has quietly become the place valley designers actually shop - vintage furniture warehouses, consignment showrooms, upholsterers and antique dealers filling former light-industrial buildings. Prices are meaningfully lower than uptown Palm Springs for comparable mid-century pieces.

Downtown and the amphitheater

Cathedral City's civic center includes a public amphitheater and fountain plaza that hosts free concerts, a hot air balloon festival and a large LGBTQ pride event. The Mary Pickford theatre anchors the block.

Eating and drinking

The food here is everyday-good rather than destination dining: long-running Mexican kitchens, Thai, a strong casual breakfast scene and neighborhood bars that feel like the valley before it was expensive.

Why stay here

Room rates run well below Palm Springs for the same season and the same drive time to most of the valley. It is the sensible choice during Modernism Week or festival weekends when Palm Springs prices spike.

Events

What's on in Cathedral City

All city events

Where to stay

Cathedral City hotels

Food & drink

Where to eat in Cathedral City

La Tablita

Mexican · Cathedral City · $$

Cathedral City favorite for homestyle Mexican - mole, carnitas and handmade tortillas in a colorful room on East Palm Canyon.

Trilussa Ristorante Italiano

Italian · Cathedral City · $$

Neighborhood Italian favorite in Cathedral City with handmade pastas. Trilussa Ristorante Italiano is an Italian spot in Cathedral City. Prices sit in the mid range. Worth knowing: pasta, wine list. Served here: dinner. Hours: Tue-Sun 5pm-9:30pm. There is a patio. Kids are comfortable here. Best for low-key italian dinner.

Trilussa Ristorante Italiano
Patio

Things to do

Sights and activities in Cathedral City

Neighborhoods

Where to base yourself in Cathedral City

Downtown Cathedral City Arts District
The civic plaza, amphitheater and Mary Pickford theater core of Cathedral City.
Cathedral City Cove
The hillside residential cove tucked against the Santa Rosa Mountains with trailheads at the top.
Perez Road Arts District
A warehouse arts corridor for vintage furniture, midcentury salvage, galleries and working design studios.

Guides

Cathedral City guides

Cathedral City

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