Thanksgiving Weekend in Palm Springs: What to Expect

Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest weeks of the year in Greater Palm Springs, and the weather over it is usually close to perfect.

It is also the weekend the valley gets up early and runs two separate 5Ks before lunch.

The best weather the valley produces

Late November averages a high around 79 and a low around 53, with almost no rain. Fewer than three days in the whole month get above 90.

This is the best weather the valley produces. Afternoons outside, evenings that need a jacket, and the light everyone photographs.

The two turkey trots

There are two races on Thanksgiving morning and they are in different cities, so pick one.

The Palm Springs Wild Turkey Trot 5K starts at 8 a.m. at Tahquitz Canyon Way and Palm Canyon Drive, right downtown. A portion of every entry goes to the Mizell Center’s Meals on Wheels programme. It has sold out several years running, so it is not a walk-up.

The Martha’s Village and Kitchen Thanksgiving Day 5K runs on El Paseo in Palm Desert and is the bigger of the two, drawing more than 5,000 runners, spectators and volunteers. It funds Martha’s Village and Kitchen’s work on hunger and homelessness in the valley.

Both are genuinely local events rather than tourist ones, which is the point of doing either.

The hardest reservation weekend of the autumn

November is the fourth-strongest month of the year for hotel tax in Palm Springs — behind March, April and February — and Thanksgiving week is a peak inside it.

Rooms book early and the good restaurants take Thanksgiving reservations months out. If you are reading this in November, the answer is probably a hotel dining room or cooking yourself.

What is open

• The canyons, on their full seven-day winter schedule.
• The Living Desert, back on 8 to 5 since October.
• The Aerial Tramway, well clear of its maintenance window.
• The Saturday farmers market, outdoors at the Cultural Center for the season.
• Lights — WildLights at The Living Desert starts on selected nights from late November.

Thanksgiving Day itself is the exception: expect reduced hours or closures at most attractions, and check anything you are counting on.

How to spend it

• Run one of the trots, or at least go and watch the downtown one — it takes over Palm Canyon for an hour.
• Hike on the Friday morning instead of shopping. The canyons are at their best and everyone else is at an outlet mall.
• Book dinner now, wherever “now” is. This is the hardest reservation weekend of the autumn.
• Save Saturday for the tram. It is cold at the top in late November and there may already be snow.
• Look at the lights before you leave. The season is just starting.

More guides

• November in Palm Springs
• December in Palm Springs
• Things to do in Palm Springs this weekend
• Where to see Christmas lights
• The In-N-Out stuffing recipe

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