Things to do in California Desert, California Desert: The Best Museums

The Imperial Valley Desert Museum preserves, interprets, and celebrates the Imperial desert, its natural history, and the history of the indigenous peoples who have inhabited it. We offer a variety of ever-changing exhibits that are fully interactive and suited for all ages. We boast a full events calendar, geared towards children and adults alike. Located immediately off I-8 at Ocotillo, we invite you to come explore the desert with us!

From treasures of the pharaoh to the mystical ritual of African masks to Mesozoic dinosaur skeletons, the Museum of Ancient Wonders awes visitors. More than 200 reproduction artifacts and laboratory fossil casts gathered from 30 museums worldwide.

Located in downtown Palm Springs (with a branch location in Palm Desert, CA), the Palm Springs Art Museum offers compelling art exhibitions from national and international artists. The museum's extensive permanent collection includes significant works by modern and contemporary artists, western, contemporary and glass artists, and features several temporary exhibitions throughout the year. The museum is open free every Thursday night and the second Sunday of every month. It also offers a range of theatrical and musical performances in its Annenberg Theater. Throughout all these programs, the museum is dedicated to creating memorable and inspiring interactions through educational and cultural opportunities.

The structure is hand-made, created from reclaimed and found objects. The Pueblo is four-stories, 5,000 square feet and includes 35 rooms, 150 windows and 65 doors. Visitors will notice many unique features: including windows and doors collected and reassembled from abandoned homesteads, old telephone poles, buck board wagon parts and many other materials used creatively.On the guided tour, visitors journey through the life of Cabot Yerxa and his family including artifacts collected from their adventures dating back over 100 years. Hear his story from the Dakota Territory to Mexico, Cuba, Alaska, France, throughout California and the Southwest, including the founding of Desert Hot Springs, California.

Rated by CNN as one of the top 14 Air Museums in the World. This facility Gives visitors an up-close look at the legendary fighters and bombers of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.

An interactive museum with hands-on exhibits allows children to explore and learn.

The Integratron structure is a machine that was the creation of George Van Tassel, and is based on the design of Moses' Tabernacle, and the science of Nikola Tesla. This one-of-a-kind building is a 38-foot high, 55-foot diameter, non-metallic structure originally designed as a rejuvenation and time machine. Today, it is the only all-wood, acoustically perfect sound chamber in the U.S.

The Museum of Western Film History is America’s leading institution of Western Film history that pays tribute to the legendary heroes and heroines of America’s West. Founded in 2006 the museum, located in Lone Pine, Ca, collects, preserves and exhibits a broad and diverse collection of western film memorabilia associated with the American western film genre. Film programs, artifact preservation and exhibits, including interpretive projects and displays, provide narrative support for the movies, actors, directors, producers and most importantly, the landscapes that served as a canvas for their stories. In addition, the Museum supports the annual Lone Pine Film Festival on Columbus Day weekend. The Festival features screenings, panels, western authors, entertainment and guided Alabama Hills tours of movie site locations where Hollywood’s biggest western stars performed and of the landscape that has been the venue to over 700 films and 1000 television commercials.