The year-round sun and warmth of Southern California makes it an ideal destination any time of year, and especially in the fall around the Thanksgiving holiday. Take a well-deserved break in beautiful Palm Springs. There are plenty of Thanksgiving and year-round activities and things to do that welcome all ages this Thanksgiving in Palm Springs.
Thanksgiving Dinner
There are a number of restaurants around Palm Springs with delicious fare throughout the year. Some will be totally switching gears from their normal menu to offer the traditional Thanksgiving feast. Others will be offering the special meal alongside their regular menu.
If you just can’t stand not preparing the feast yourself, there are several grocery stores near your rental to pick up what you need, and a fully equipped kitchen in your rental to handle any size meal.
Escape Room Palm Springs
You’ve escaped the hustle and bustle of home, now escape a themed room with the help of your loved ones. The escape room craze of the last several years has made its way to Palm Springs. In fact, the largest escape room games in Southern California are located right in Palm Springs!
You have your choice of six rooms with varying degrees of difficulty and number of players to solve. Solve the clues and break out of the room within 60 minutes to win. There are themes like Bank Heist, Vampire’s Lair, Merlin’s Magic School, and others. There may even be holiday-themed rooms available. Ask about age requirements or other accommodations before booking.
Palm Springs Walk of Stars
Get out and take a walk this Thanksgiving. A Southern California must-see on many travelers’ to-do lists is the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where you can seek out the stars of your favorite movie and TV personalities. Save the two-hour trip, take a walk to work off a delicious dinner, and admire the stars in Palm Springs.
The walk spans Palm Canyon Drive, Tahquitz Canyon Way, and Museum Drive in downtown Palm Springs. See the stars of well-known celebrities like Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Shirley Temple, and Elizabeth Taylor. Even presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, have been honored. Kids and adults alike will love looking for a favorite celebrity or TV show that’s been honored. The first stars were installed in 1992. Ron Nyswaner, known for the 1993 movie Philadelphia and many other projects, was the most recent honoree in 2024.
Moorten Botanical Gardens and Cactarium
Named for its founders, Patricia and Chester “Cactus Slim” Moorten, this Palm Springs garden has over 3,000 examples of desert cacti and other desert plants, grouped by geographic regions including Arizona, California, Colorado, the Mojave and Sonora deserts, and Texas.
You can also see species from other parts of the globe like South Africa and South America. Patricia and Slim have also designed and installed landscapes for Frank Sinatra, and consulted with Disney on their design for the western-themed Frontierland and the park that eventually became Disneyland.
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
Palm Springs is home to the world’s largest rotating tram car. The 80-passenger cars make their way along the breathtaking cliffs of Chino Canyon from the Valley Station to the Mountain Station – giving you a mind-boggling elevation change of nearly 6,000 feet in just ten minutes. At the top there are more beautiful views, as well as a restaurant and cafe, gift shop, nature exhibits, educational documentary theaters, and over 50 miles of hiking trails in the Mt. San Jacinto State Park Wilderness area for the whole family to enjoy.
Joshua Tree National Park
Years ago, two distinct ecosystems came together to form one breathtaking location. The Mojave and Colorado deserts merge in the Palm Springs area and host a variety of plants and animals in the landscape sculpted by strong winds and torrents of rain. You’ll love exploring the 790,000-acre park, which was originally declared a national monument in 1936 and became a national park in 1994.
Wander as you will this Thanksgiving, or take the self-guided audio tour on the National Park app, which will help make sure to hit must-see locations like Quail Mountain, the highest mountain in the park and the highest point in the Little San Bernardino Mountains, the Desert Queen Mine in the Colorado Desert – a long-lived but now abandoned gold mine, and many other trails and loops where you can get lost for hours at a time.
Accommodations to Be Thankful For
When planning your Thanksgiving vacation to Palm Springs and the surrounding area, make sure to book a home that’s near all the Thanksgiving fun provided by Ryson Vacations. You’ll be thankful to choose from a number of properties that suit your needs. We offer homes as large as five bedrooms, so you share all the Thanksgiving fun and excitement with all of your loved ones.
Prepare a delicious home-cooked meal – including the Thanksgiving feast – in the fully-equipped kitchen. Lounge indoors in beautiful living spaces, enjoy the view from a balcony or patio, or spend some time relaxing near the pool at select Palm Springs vacation condos.
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