Things to Do in Palm Springs in October

October is when the valley switches back on, and it does it on two specific dates rather than gradually.

It is also still hot at the start of the month — the all-time October record was set on the first of the month — and it is the best-value month of the year here.

The first and the second

Two dates do more work than any events calendar.

• 1 October — The Living Desert goes back to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. after a summer of 7 to 1:30.
• 2 October — Indian Canyons and Tahquitz Canyon return to seven days a week, after being Friday-to-Sunday only since early July.

VillageFest also moves its start time back an hour, from the 7 p.m. summer slot to 6. The farmers markets and art walks that run October to May start their seasons. Riverside County’s cool centers stay open until the 15th, which is a good reminder that the first half of the month is not really autumn yet.

The economy switches on, visibly

The City of Palm Springs publishes its hotel tax collections by month, and October is where the line turns.

Hotels go from roughly $1.9 million in September to $2.8 million in October to $3.3 million in November. Vacation rentals go from about $544,000 to $913,000 in the same step. That is the season arriving, in money, in one month.

Which is also the argument for coming in October rather than November: the town has reopened but the rates have not fully caught up.

117 degrees, on the first of October

October’s normal high is 91.1 and its normal low is 64.5, with about a fifth of an inch of rain. By the end of the month evenings are genuinely cool.

But the all-time October record is 117 degrees, set on 1 October 2024 — the same day The Living Desert went back to winter hours. The record low for the month is 30, set in 1951. October has an 87-degree spread in its record book, which is a polite way of saying plan the first week like summer and the last week like the season.

Modernism Week has an October edition

The four-day October festival is run by the same organisation as the eleven-day February one, with something like fifty activities — home tours, talks, parties. It is smaller, cheaper, and much easier to get tickets to.

It used to be called Fall Preview. The organisation now calls it Modernism Week – October, so search for that.

More: the Modernism Week guide

Two October anniversaries worth knowing

The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument was created by an act of Congress on 24 October 2000. It covers roughly 280,000 acres and runs from the valley floor up to San Jacinto Peak at 10,834 feet. Most of the good hiking near Palm Springs is inside it.

And on 31 October 1994 the California Desert Protection Act was signed, which abolished Joshua Tree National Monument and made it Joshua Tree National Park.

Both of those are reasons the landscape an hour in either direction looks the way it does.

What else lands this month

The Joshua Tree Music Festival holds its autumn edition up the hill. Firebirds hockey opens at Acrisure Arena, which quietly puts something on most Friday and Saturday nights from now until spring. And Halloween closes the month, which downtown Palm Springs takes seriously.

More: Halloween in Palm Springs · Joshua Tree Music Festival parking and camping · what Acrisure Arena is like · Oktoberfest in the valley

What to do with October

• Go back to the canyons. They have been shut four days a week since July, and the first cool morning in Andreas or Tahquitz is the best hike of the year.
• Eat outside while it is still a novelty. Patios reopen this month.
• Book now if you are coming in the winter. October is when the rest of the season sells.
• Do not treat the first week as autumn. See the 117 above.

More guides

• Things to do in Palm Springs this weekend
• November in Palm Springs
• September in Palm Springs
• The best hikes in Indian Canyons
• Apple picking at Oak Glen
• Best happy hours in the valley

Weather figures are NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals for Palm Springs International Airport. Records are from the National Weather Service; tax figures are from the City of Palm Springs. Hours and dates change; check the operator before you go.