Travel & Planning in the Coachella Valley

Planning a trip to the Coachella Valley is mostly about the hours nobody puts on the itinerary. The 11am checkout against the 5pm flight. The drive in on a festival Friday, when the 10 through Banning stops being a freeway and starts being a parking lot. The night you assumed you’d find a room and didn’t.

These are the travel and planning guides — where to stay, when to leave, what to book ahead, and which trips out of the valley actually earn the gas.