Coachella the Town: What Is Actually There

Coachella sits at the far southeast end of the valley, past Indio, where the resorts give way to date groves and vegetable fields. Almost every visitor drives through it without stopping, which is a shame — it is the most distinct town in the Coachella Valley and the only one that does not feel built for tourists.

Pueblo Viejo and the murals

Downtown Coachella, branded Pueblo Viejo, runs along Sixth Street and Grapefruit Boulevard. Over the last decade the Coachella Walls project covered its buildings with large-scale murals about farmworkers, the Cahuilla and Mexican-American desert life. It is a genuine 30-minute walk with a camera, best in the hour after sunrise or before sunset when the light hits the west-facing walls.

Where to eat

This is why you come. El Campanario does mariscos and Sinaloan plates in a plain room at prices that will make anyone coming from Palm Canyon Drive laugh. Cafe La Jefa is the morning stop for chilaquiles and coffee. Neither takes reservations; both are cash-friendly and busy at lunch with people who work in the fields and the packing houses.

Where to stay

Coachella's three hotels — Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Quality Inn — are highway-adjacent chains, and that is the whole point. During Coachella and Stagecoach they are among the last affordable rooms within a 15-minute drive of the gate, and they include breakfast and parking. Outside festival season they are quiet and inexpensive, but you will drive 30 minutes for most valley attractions.

Practical notes

Coachella is hot, flat and agricultural; there is little shade downtown and summer afternoons are brutal. Everything is a short hop from I-10 at Dillon Road or Highway 86. Weekday mornings are the liveliest time in Pueblo Viejo, when the produce shops and bakeries are open.