Twentynine Palms

The desert town of Twentynine Palms has long attracted travelers in search of serenity, but a recent influx of entrepreneurs has invigorated this northern gateway to Joshua Tree National Park. With new businesses—luxurious lodgings, tempting eateries, eclectic shops, cutting-edge art galleries—and a blissfully brief drive to Joshua Tree’s wild, warm-hued landscapes, Twentynine Palms is the high desert’s hippest hot spot.

Where to Shop in Twentynine Palms

In downtown, desert-cool shops are located within easy strolling distance. Desert General Store owner Françoise Lazard brings a French accent to the Mojave landscape. Her shop sells chic hats, stylish tote bags, cozy blankets, and new and secondhand books. It also serves as the desert’s literary hub, hosting monthly author talks and the Twentynine Palms Book Festival.

Vintage hunters scavenge secondhand cowboy hats, festival wear, and 1970s lamps and furniture at Delilah’s Vintage. Readers flock to the Hi-Desert Times newsstand for mainstream glossies like Vogue and Vanity Fair, or lesser-known reads like Calling All Horse Girls and Troublemakers. At Very Very, design mavens fawn over desert-themed t-shirts, pins, jewelry, and lifestyle goods (don’t leave without an “Other Desert Cities” trucker hat).

Habitat features curated Mojave-style home furnishings, from artisan vases to clay candleholders and color-pop pillows. More desert-centric goods—vintage denim, sandals, bandanas, and hoodies—line the shelves at Sun of the Desert.

Where to See Art in Twentynine Palms

Drive along the city’s main thoroughfare, Highway 62, and you’ll notice buildings splashed with 26 colorful murals depicting local culture, flora, and fauna—gold-mining history, palm oases, wildflowers, roadrunners, sunrises, and more. (Download this mural guide to find them all.)

Art galleries and studios are scattered throughout town. Art-O-Motive Gallery is a tire shop turned gallery filled with quirky metalwork, sculptures, and prints by local creatives. The Glass Outhouse Art Gallery hosts art openings and displays found-object creations like a real glass outhouse and a hand-built chapel (new works are featured every month). The 29 Palms Art Gallery, owned and operated by the Twentynine Palms Artists’ Guild, features work by local painters, sculptors, and fiber artists.

You can even make your own art in Twentynine Palms. Throw some clay or putter with stained glass at the 29 Palms Creative Center, or join the weekly candlemaking and paint-and-sip sessions at Earth and Easel Arte Studio.

Where to Eat and Drink in Twentynine Palms

Tempting food stops are found on or near Highway 62. Splashed with murals inside and out, gastropub Grnd Sqrl has huge windows overlooking the main drag and a Swedish-born chef cooking hearty fare for hungry desert hikers. The menu focuses on burgers and hot sandwiches—grilled cheese, crispy chicken, smoked pork shoulder—plus a wide array of micro and macro brews. 

One block east is 29 Palms Beer Co., a craft beer oasis with a street-facing patio and a rotating selection of IPAs, red ales, and lagers. In the morning, the brewery morphs into a coffeehouse serving espresso drinks and breakfast burritos. A few blocks away, chef Everton Gordon runs Kitchen in theDesert, a side-street cafe serving Trinidadian jerk chicken, spicy Caribbean dishes, and mezcal cocktails. Diners enjoy live music on the cactus-dotted patio on weekends.

Back on Highway 62, The Rib Co. cooks up juicy babyback ribs, Tennessee-whiskey-glazed chicken, and steaks—top sirloin, rib eye, T-bone, porterhouse, and filet mignon. Campbell Hill Bakery specializes in dense, decadent pizzas with toppings like buffalo cauliflower and fried zucchini. The bakery case holds fresh scones, muffins, and cookies, too, but the pizzas draw the crowds.

Where to Stay Near Twentynine Palms

Opened in 2025, Reset Hotel offers a modern, minimalist getaway on a 180-acre parcel of sand. Owned by designer Benjamin Uyeda, the boutique hotel comprises 65 freestanding modular units that look like shipping containers. Inside each one, Uyeda’s hand-built furniture reflects his Zen-like aesthetic—spartan fold-out desks, simple platform beds, and minimalist shelving. French doors open to an enclosed patio and firepit for cool desert nights. A luxurious saltwater pool, sauna, and hot tub invite sun-worshippers to lounge, and a coworking space makes it easy for digital nomads to settle in for a while.  

The recently opened Hotel Wren originated as a rundown 1940s motel, but then along came desert-modern designer Jessica Pell, who spent nine years revamping the property. Now its twelve spacious guestrooms boast angular vaulted ceilings, kitchenettes, cherrywood furnishings, and private patios with fireplaces. A saltwater pool, hot tub, gourmet food shop, complimentary breakfast, and views of Joshua Tree’s boulder-studded hills add to the Wren’s charms. Note, the Wren offers accommodations only for adults 21 and older.    

For a taste of Twentynine Palms’ history, stay at 29 Palms Inn, a luxurious yet rustic retreat that’s been owned by the same family for five generations. Nature and creativity thrive on this 70-acre property that includes a smattering of palm trees, a large pond swarming with birds, an art gallery, a 2-acre farm, and 20 thick-walled adobe bungalows and wood-frame cabins.

Artwork decorates almost every surface. Look for Makoto Hashigami’s Spirit of Mara mural and Dean MacKenzie’s vivid desert paintings. The inn’s boho restaurant overlooks the swimming pool and serves artisanal cocktails and sourdough bread that could make San Francisco jealous.

How to Hike Joshua Tree Near Twentynine Palms

Revered for its whimsical Joshua trees, monolithic boulders, prickly cactus, smoke-tree-dotted washes, and starry skies, Joshua Tree National Park is a desert paragon. The park’s northeast entrance is only 5 miles from downtown, but before you go, stop at Twentynine Palms’ Joshua Tree Visitor Center and Cultural Center. The center has a bookstore, gift shop, and small museum devoted to the culture of local Native American communities. Pick up paper maps for your drive; cell service in the park is extremely limited.

Seven miles past the northern entrance kiosk, the Arch Rock Trail travels along a sandy track to a graceful span of ivory-hued granite. A few miles away, the Skull Rock Trail skirts past otherworldly rock formations dotted with alcoves and miniature caves. Energetic hikers can climb to the top of 5,458-foot Ryan Mountain, Joshua Tree’s highest summit, for sweeping views of the park and Southern California’s high peaks.

At day’s end, drive to Keys View to watch a memorable sunset, then linger till dark for stargazing in this designated International Dark Sky Park. On moonless nights, Joshua Tree’s jet-black skies dazzle viewers, thanks to low humidity and an absence of big-city lights. Ranger-led night-sky programs are offered on spring and fall weekends, and the nonprofit Sky’s the Limit Observatory and Nature Center hosts an annual Night Sky Festival, monthly lecture series, and public “observing sessions” on select Saturday evenings. On any night of the year, stargazers are welcome to visit the 15-acre property and set up their own telescopes or cameras.

Twentynine Palms Weather

The weather here swings dramatically with the desert seasons. Winter days are mild, averaging in the 60s, with chilly nights that can dip near freezing. Spring brings pleasant warmth and clear skies—ideal for afternoons spent exploring the desert. Summer is intensely hot and dry, with daytime highs often topping 100 degrees; mornings are pleasantly mild though, and the desert air brings a swift drop in temperature after sunset. Fall offers a welcome return to comfortable warmth. Year-round, the air is crisp and rainfall is scarce—making sunshine the area’s most reliable forecast, bring layers and sunscreen.