Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage: Tickets, Tours, Gardens & What to Expect

Sunnylands has two very different halves, and knowing which one you are visiting saves a lot of confusion.

The Center & Gardens — free, walk-in

The visitor Center sits at the front of the estate and is open to the public at no charge, usually Thursday through Sunday in season (roughly mid-September through early June; the estate closes for the summer). Inside there is a film about the estate, rotating exhibitions, a cafe, and a gift shop. Outside are 15 acres of desert gardens designed with more than 50,000 arid-climate plants arranged in sweeping mass plantings, with a mile of walking paths, shaded benches, and reflecting pools. Parking is free.

Give yourself 60 to 90 minutes. Go early — the gardens are exposed and there is very little shade past mid-morning.

The historic house — ticketed, and hard to get

The 25,000-square-foot Annenberg residence, designed by A. Quincy Jones in 1966 with interiors by William Haines, is only accessible on a guided tour. Tours are limited in size, and tickets are released online in batches on a published schedule. Popular tour dates disappear within minutes of release, so set a calendar reminder for the release date rather than trying to book a week out. Tours generally run 90 minutes and include the sunken living room, the Rothko and Chinese antiquities, and the grounds immediately around the house. Photography inside is restricted.

There are also seasonal specialty tours — bird walks, garden tours, golf-course shuttle tours of the private nine-hole course, and open-air estate tours — which are easier to get than the house tour and often more interesting for architecture fans.

Why it matters

Sunnylands hosted eight U.S. presidents, the Reagans every New Year's Eve, Frank Sinatra's wedding, and, more recently, the Obama–Xi summit and the ASEAN leaders' retreat. The pink-walled compound is a working retreat center for high-level meetings, which is exactly why public access to the house is so tightly controlled.

Getting there

41-650 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage — about 20 minutes from downtown Palm Springs, five minutes from The River. Pair it with lunch in Rancho Mirage or a stop on El Paseo, ten minutes east.