Indio calls itself the City of Festivals, and for two weekends every April the whole world agrees. But I've owned a home here for years, and the honest answer to "what is there to do in Indio?" is: more than the festival crowd ever sees. Here's the list I send guests.
The festivals (the reason most people come)
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival takes over the Empire Polo Club for two consecutive weekends in April, followed by Stagecoach, the country music festival, on the weekend after. The polo grounds are about two miles from Indian Palms Country Club — close enough that many of our guests bike or walk rather than deal with traffic. If that's your trip, read our festival planning guide.
Two smaller festivals are worth knowing about. The Indio International Tamale Festival, held in early December in Old Town Indio, is exactly what it sounds like — hundreds of tamale vendors, live music, and a very good time. And the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival in February is a proper county fair with an Arabian Nights theme, camel races included.
Polo Sundays at the Empire Polo Club
From roughly January through March, the same grounds that host Coachella run public polo matches on Sunday afternoons. It's a completely different experience: bring a picnic or grab lunch at the Tack Room Tavern on site, sit on the grass, and watch a sport most people have only seen in movies. Family-friendly, inexpensive, and one of the most underrated things to do in the valley.
Golf — a lot of it
The Coachella Valley has more than 100 golf courses. Indian Palms Country Club, where our home sits, has a 27-hole championship layout open to the public with mature, tree-lined fairways. Within 30 minutes you can play PGA West's Stadium Course, SilverRock, the Indian Wells Golf Resort, and Desert Willow. We wrote a separate guide to golf near Indio.
Date country
Indio and the surrounding valley grow the vast majority of America's dates. Shields Date Garden in Indian Wells, about 15 minutes away, has been selling them since 1924 — walk the garden, see the short film about the "romance and sex life of the date," and order a date shake. Non-negotiable.
Where to eat
- TKB Bakery & Deli (Indio) — a no-frills strip-mall sandwich shop that has spent years among the highest-rated delis in the country. Expect a line; it moves.
- Tack Room Tavern (Empire Polo Club) — burgers, beer, and live music at the polo grounds. The local hangout.
- Old Town La Quinta — 15 minutes away, a walkable district of restaurants, tasting rooms, and a Sunday farmers market in season.
- El Paseo (Palm Desert) — the valley's upscale dining and shopping street, about 20 minutes.
Casinos and shows
Fantasy Springs Resort Casino is ten minutes from Indian Palms, with gaming, a bowling center, and a concert venue that draws national acts. Augustine Casino in Coachella is smaller and more local. Both are open late.
Tennis in Indian Wells
Every March, the BNP Paribas Open — often called the "fifth Grand Slam" — brings the world's top players to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, 15 minutes away. The grounds are spectacular and day-session tickets are reasonable compared to the majors.
Get outside
- Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills, about 30 minutes southeast. A slot-canyon hike with actual ladders, best October through April. The dirt access road favors a high-clearance vehicle.
- Coachella Valley Preserve (Thousand Palms) — palm oases fed by the San Andreas fault, easy trails, about 25 minutes.
- Joshua Tree National Park and the Salton Sea — both day-trippable. See our day-trip guide.
Local history
The Coachella Valley History Museum in Indio occupies a 1926 adobe home and tells the story of the date industry, the railroad, and the Cahuilla people. Small, well done, and a good hour out of the heat.
Or do nothing at all
I'll be honest: a lot of our guests come to Indio to sit by a private pool with the Santa Rosa mountains in front of them and not move. That is a legitimate itinerary. The house is built for it.
Stay inside Indian Palms Country Club
Palms Place is a 5-bedroom home with a private heated pool and spa, two miles from the polo grounds. Book direct and skip the platform fee.
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