Presidents Day Weekend in Palm Springs: What to Expect

Presidents Day weekend is the busiest weekend of February in Greater Palm Springs, because two of the valley’s largest events are running at the same time in two different cities.

Modernism Week is halfway through its eleven days in Palm Springs. The Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival is running in Indio, and its Grand Parade goes down the street on the Monday holiday itself.

Why this particular weekend is full

Modernism Week starts on the second Thursday of February and runs eleven days across two weekends, which means Presidents Day weekend always falls inside it. The organisers put attendance at around 130,000 people across more than 350 events, in a city of about 45,000 residents.

Forty minutes east, the Date Festival has the Riverside County fairgrounds in Indio for most of the month, now running in separate Thursday-to-Sunday blocks rather than one continuous stretch. The Grand Parade through Indio is held on Presidents Day.

Two large events, two ends of the valley, one long weekend. That is why the rooms go.

One thing worth correcting

You will read that this is the busiest weekend of the year in the valley. It is not.

The City of Palm Springs publishes its hotel tax collections by month, and March and April both run well ahead of February. The tennis at Indian Wells and the festivals in Indio are what fill this valley to its actual limit. Presidents Day is February’s peak, and February is the third-strongest month.

That is not a reason to skip it. It is a reason not to assume everything is sold out before you look.

What the weather does

February averages a high of 73.7 and a low of 49.7, with 1.11 inches of rain across the month — the second-wettest of the year here.

The records for the month run from 99 degrees down to 24. February is usually excellent and occasionally does something else entirely; the single wettest day ever recorded in Palm Springs was in mid-February, when 3.69 inches fell in a day and washed out the road to the Aerial Tramway.

What to do with the weekend

• Modernism Week home tours are the draw, and they are neighbourhood fundraisers rather than a commercial operation — the houses are mostly lived in by the people showing you round. Tickets for the popular ones go long before the weekend.
• The Date Festival is the other half of the valley’s February and is a genuinely different experience: a county fair with a post-war Arabian Nights theme bolted on in the 1940s. The camel and ostrich races that every guidebook still mentions ended in 2019 — there are camel rides now, along with racing pigs, a stunt dog show and a sea lion act.
• The parade runs through Indio on the Monday.
• Everything outdoors. This is the best hiking weather of the year and the canyons are on their full seven-day schedule.

More: the Modernism Week guide · are the home tours worth it · is the Date Festival worth going to

Practical notes

• Book a room as far out as you can manage, and expect a minimum-night requirement.
• Do not plan to do Modernism Week and the Date Festival on the same day. They are 40 minutes apart in traffic that is worse than usual.
• Downtown Palm Springs parking is difficult all weekend. Park out and walk in.
• Bring layers. Evenings in February are cold enough to matter.

More guides

• February in Palm Springs
• March in Palm Springs
• Things to do in Palm Springs this weekend
• Valentine’s Day in the valley
• The best hikes in Indian Canyons

Weather figures are NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals for Palm Springs International Airport. Tax figures are from the City of Palm Springs. Event details change every year; check the organiser before you go.