Annual Events in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley: Dates, Venues, and Trip Planning

The annual events calendar is one of the most useful ways to choose when to visit the Coachella Valley. A film-focused January stay, a Modernism Week weekend, and an April music-festival trip need different hotel locations, tickets, and transportation plans. For residents, the same calendar helps identify a one-day outing or an evening worth keeping free.

Use the seasonal overview to find your starting point, then check the event details below. Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, and Indio are separate destinations. The right base depends on the actual venue, not just the name of the region.

The Desert Event Year at a Glance

• Fall: Modernism Week’s October program, Palm Springs Pride, La Quinta Art Celebration, and McCormick’s car auction.
• Winter: Palm Springs International Film Festival and the main Modernism Week festival.
• Late winter and spring: BNP Paribas Open tennis, the spring art celebration, Palm Desert Food & Wine, Coachella, and Stagecoach.
• Summer: ShortFest’s usual June season, indoor culture, and evening outings. Confirm the next ShortFest edition rather than reusing a past year’s dates.
• Across the cooler season: Firebirds home games, weekly markets, and other performances can fill a single day or evening.

The dated listings below cover announced editions from fall 2026 through spring 2027. An event’s overall date range does not mean every activity operates every day. Use the official program for your specific session, tour, screening, or ticket.

Fall Events: Modernism, Pride, Art, and Classic Cars

Modernism Week October: A Compact Architecture Weekend

The October edition brings architecture tours, home visits, presentations, and social events into a shorter festival than February’s main program. It suits a trip built around a few carefully chosen experiences. An exterior walking tour, an interior home visit, and a bus tour offer different access, so read each listing before buying.

Use our Modernism Week planning guide to choose tours, then leave time between appointments. For architecture outside festival dates, see the architecture tours guide.

Palm Springs Pride: Festival Weekend and Parade

Pride combines downtown festival programming, a parade, and associated community and venue events. Decide whether your priority is the parade, live entertainment, a particular party, or volunteering. The official festival and independently ticketed events can have different admission arrangements.

Our Pride guide covers the trip-planning context. If you want to combine the parade with a restaurant or evening event, check the individual booking and allow for downtown street closures.

La Quinta Art Celebration: Fall and Spring Editions

This art event brings exhibiting artists and original work to La Quinta Civic Center Park. It can be a relaxed browse or a more focused shopping visit. Look through the artist information before arriving if you have a particular medium or purchase in mind.

Keep this outing geographically distinct from downtown Palm Springs plans. If you are staying farther west in the valley, leave room for the drive rather than placing an art visit between tightly timed appointments.

McCormick’s Palm Springs Car Auction

The auction offers a way to see classic cars and experience the bidding atmosphere without registering as a buyer. Spectator admission, bidding, and consigning a vehicle are separate arrangements. Use the auction schedule to choose a visit, especially if a particular car or auction segment interests you.

For an overnight visit centered on the auction, our convention-center hotel guide compares nearby places to stay. A spectator ticket does not authorize bidding.

Winter Events: Film Festival Screenings and Modernism Week

Palm Springs International Film Festival

The January festival is an anchor for a cinema-focused trip, with screenings and festival activities across multiple venues. Choose the films or sessions you care about before arranging the rest of the day. Screenings, festival passes, and Film Awards attendance involve different ticket options.

Our film festival guide explains the planning choices in more detail. Avoid scheduling consecutive screenings as though they are in the same building; venue changes, entry lines, and meal breaks need time.

Modernism Week February: The Main Design Festival

The main February festival offers a longer architecture and design program than the October edition. Choose a few priorities before adding more tours. A ticket is generally for the activity described in its listing, so compare access, duration, meeting points, and physical requirements.

For a shorter stay, build the trip around one home visit, one broader tour, and time to explore at your own pace. Our Modernism Week guide and Architecture and Design Center guide can help connect festival plans with year-round design experiences.

Late Winter and Spring: Tennis, Food, and Music Festivals

BNP Paribas Open: Professional Tennis in Indian Wells

The BNP Paribas Open is a spectator tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Think about whether you want a specific stadium or session, or a broader day on the grounds. Read the ticket’s included access and choose the actual day you plan to attend.

Tournament admission is separate from reserving a court or signing up for a tennis lesson. Our Indian Wells tennis guide covers those playing options as well as the tournament context.

Palm Desert Food & Wine: Choose the Experience First

Palm Desert Food & Wine includes tastings and distinct culinary events, so start with how you want to spend the day. A seated meal, cooking demonstration, and grand tasting are different experiences. Read what each ticket includes and its applicable age or admission requirements.

The Food & Wine guide helps compare those choices. For plans before or after your ticketed event, use the El Paseo shopping and dining guide and keep the rest of the day nearby.

Coachella: Two Separate Festival Weekends in Indio

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival takes place in Indio, not downtown Palm Springs. Choose your weekend first, then compare festival access, transport, and accommodation as one plan. A hotel with a Palm Springs address may work for the wider trip, but it will require a separate journey to the grounds.

Check whether a package actually includes festival access and shuttle passes, and where its pickup is located. Buying a room or joining a waitlist does not by itself guarantee the festival access you want.

Stagecoach: A Separate Country Music Festival

Stagecoach follows Coachella as a separate festival with its own passes, lineup, camping arrangements, and transport rules. Even though the events share a venue, do not carry one event’s ticket or travel assumptions into the other.

Match the return journey to the event rather than assuming a late-night ride will be quick. Confirm the applicable transport plan and admission requirements before purchasing a hotel or camping arrangement.

Summer: ShortFest and Flexible Evening Plans

Palm Springs ShortFest is the Film Society’s separate short-film festival, usually held in June. The next edition’s precise dates have not yet been confirmed. Use the official ShortFest information page for the new announcement and attendance options; an old June listing is not a current reservation plan.

For a summer visit that is already booked, use current museum, performance, and venue calendars to choose an indoor or evening anchor. Our hot-weather guide helps arrange outdoor time around the conditions. Weekly markets and street fairs also change locations or start times seasonally.

Firebirds Hockey and Other Single-Night Outings

Firebirds hockey adds home-game options across the cooler season at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert. Use the official team schedule to identify a home game on your actual date, then follow that game’s ticket link. An away fixture is not an Acrisure Arena outing.

For an outing without a major festival commitment, the weekly markets guide is another useful starting point. These recurring activities fill a trip you have already booked, while the larger festivals can be the reason to choose the dates.

Conference Weekends: Check Access Before Joining

Industry gatherings also shape the valley’s calendar, but a conference at a resort or convention center is not automatically open to hotel guests or casual visitors. If your goal is networking or professional development, start with the professional-events guide and confirm the organizer’s audience, registration, and admission requirements.

For an event you are already attending, our conference trip-planning guide can help connect the venue, hotel, and transport choices. Keep professional registration separate from accommodation.

How to Book an Event Trip That Works

• Choose one main anchor: a particular event, screening, tour, or game gives the itinerary a useful starting point.
• Confirm the city and exact venue before choosing lodging. Compare where to stay by the outing you will repeat most often.
• Read what the ticket covers: dates, sessions, venue access, transport, age restrictions, and any separate purchases.
• Compare the full stay cost, including parking, resort fees, minimum stays, and the transport your location requires.
• Allow room for meals, entry procedures, and travel between venues rather than filling every hour.
• For local outings, choose a single day or session and check the same admission and transport details as an overnight visitor.

The easiest event trip usually has one clear reason to go and enough space around it to enjoy the rest of the desert. Once the anchor is confirmed, add nearby restaurants, culture, or a weekly market instead of turning every spare hour into another cross-valley transfer.