(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
What do travelers love about these 9 hotels around Joshua Tree? The highly specific vibes
- Share via
For decades, the lodging options near Joshua Tree National Park were decidedly limited. Travelers in the know might have stayed at the 29 Palms Inn with its historic adobe cabins or the Joshua Tree Inn where Gram Parsons famously died in 1973 (and where Room 8 is still named for him today). There were a smattering of budget hotels that were fine if you just needed a place to sleep while exploring the park, and of course you could always camp — either at one of the park’s many campgrounds or on BLM land if they were full.
Then came the rise of Airbnb in the early 2010s, transforming high desert lodging for better and worse. The proliferation of rentable homes made the national park and its environs more accessible to families and groups with no interest in camping, but left locals struggling as rents and home prices skyrocketed. As the short-term rental market reached a fever pitch in the early 2020s, investors snapped up all available housing, flooding the desert with an excess of Airbnbs.
Planning your weekend?
Stay up to date on the best things to do, see and eat in L.A.
Now, as the short-term rental boom dies down at last, a new way to visit the desert is coming to the fore: Enter the highly specific hotel.
A new crop of entrepreneurs have crafted unique retreats that appeal to a widening expanse of travelers. Today, you can choose from the luxuriously revamped motor court Hotel Wren in 29 Palms, the cheerful hostel-like hotel Field Station in Yucca Valley or the futuristic Reset Hotel also in 29 Palms, all of which opened in the last 18 months.
At the same time, more established spots are celebrating their niche identities. The historic Campbell House Inn offers a traditional bed and breakfast experience while Hicksville Trailer Palace has positioned itself as an adult playground complete with themed trailers, ball pit and a rooftop hot tub. The French brothers have turned the Pioneertown Motel into the embodiment of modern Western cool while Spin and Margie’s Desert Hideaway hearkens back to the days before Coachella and Instagram, when Joshua Tree was still funky, eclectic and weird.
To help you decide which high desert hotel is the best fit for your next trip, here’s a guide to nine of our favorites. — Deborah Netburn
About This Guide
Our journalists independently visited every spot recommended in this guide. We do not accept free meals or experiences. What should we check out next? Send ideas to [email protected].
Reset Hotel
Twentynine Palms Hotel
(Simone Lueck / For The Times)
The vibe: An otherworldly outpost that makes you feel like you’re sleeping on Mars.
The details: Reset Hotel, which opened in July, is the high desert’s newest hotel and the most futuristic. While the pool area with its hot tub, sauna and thoughtful landscaping is pure desert luxury, the rest of the hotel consists of 65 rectangular-shaped, free-standing rooms that look like shipping containers.
As one guest put it, “It feels like a test case for Elon Musk’s first colony on Mars.”
Each sparsely furnished room, from $245 on weekdays and $390 on weekends, is outfitted with carefully selected amenities that suggest a well-curated camping trip — a stylish solar lantern, in-room pour-over coffee, an outdoor fire pit and, most importantly, a sturdy cushion on the private patio for stargazing. “The best view is always up,” said Ben Uyeda, a designer, DIY influencer and the creative force behind the hotel.
Some guests may be taken aback by Reset’s severity but the hotel’s minimalism and clean lines quickly grew on me during a recent stay. Whether I was in bed, at the pool, or lying on my private patio, the thoughtfully designed spaces encouraged me to look out and up and appreciate. With the strange beauty of the desert as a backdrop, I felt like I was on another planet.
The details: Reset Hotel, which opened in July, is the high desert’s newest hotel and the most futuristic. While the pool area with its hot tub, sauna and thoughtful landscaping is pure desert luxury, the rest of the hotel consists of 65 rectangular-shaped, free-standing rooms that look like shipping containers.
As one guest put it, “It feels like a test case for Elon Musk’s first colony on Mars.”
Each sparsely furnished room, from $245 on weekdays and $390 on weekends, is outfitted with carefully selected amenities that suggest a well-curated camping trip — a stylish solar lantern, in-room pour-over coffee, an outdoor fire pit and, most importantly, a sturdy cushion on the private patio for stargazing. “The best view is always up,” said Ben Uyeda, a designer, DIY influencer and the creative force behind the hotel.
Some guests may be taken aback by Reset’s severity but the hotel’s minimalism and clean lines quickly grew on me during a recent stay. Whether I was in bed, at the pool, or lying on my private patio, the thoughtfully designed spaces encouraged me to look out and up and appreciate. With the strange beauty of the desert as a backdrop, I felt like I was on another planet.
Show more Show less
Route Details
Pioneertown Motel
Hotel
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The vibe: Modern and minimal Western cool, perfect for the aesthetic cowboy.
The details: Few people have been more influential in creating the modern desert aesthetic than brothers Mike and Matt French, owners of the Pioneertown Motel since 2014 and the driving force behind the Red Dog Saloon, also in Pioneertown, and the Copper Room, an upscale restaurant at the Yucca Valley Airport. With each enterprise, the brothers dug deep into the history of the property, using the past to create new environments that feel both updated and authentic.
The 19-room Pioneertown Motel, originally built in 1946 to house Hollywood movie actors, is in a constant state of evolution, said Mike French, who described it as “a living passion project.” Over the last 11 years he and his brother have redesigned the canteen, created an outdoor space for weddings, built a new covered area for events and decorated the otherwise spare rooms with leather rugs, custom cholla lamps and desert-themed paintings by the artist Brett Allen Johnson.
Located just steps from the popular restaurant and concert venue Pappy and Harriet’s, the motel where rooms start at $185 for a weekday and $331 on weekends is a great place to stay after a show. But with its hammocks and spectacular scenery, it’s also a great place to lay around and read a book on a quiet weekday. If you plan to visit on a weekend, be sure to put in a bagel order at 29 Loaves, a one-man operation that delivers freshly baked bagels along with a spicy marmalade to the motel on Sunday mornings.
The details: Few people have been more influential in creating the modern desert aesthetic than brothers Mike and Matt French, owners of the Pioneertown Motel since 2014 and the driving force behind the Red Dog Saloon, also in Pioneertown, and the Copper Room, an upscale restaurant at the Yucca Valley Airport. With each enterprise, the brothers dug deep into the history of the property, using the past to create new environments that feel both updated and authentic.
The 19-room Pioneertown Motel, originally built in 1946 to house Hollywood movie actors, is in a constant state of evolution, said Mike French, who described it as “a living passion project.” Over the last 11 years he and his brother have redesigned the canteen, created an outdoor space for weddings, built a new covered area for events and decorated the otherwise spare rooms with leather rugs, custom cholla lamps and desert-themed paintings by the artist Brett Allen Johnson.
Located just steps from the popular restaurant and concert venue Pappy and Harriet’s, the motel where rooms start at $185 for a weekday and $331 on weekends is a great place to stay after a show. But with its hammocks and spectacular scenery, it’s also a great place to lay around and read a book on a quiet weekday. If you plan to visit on a weekend, be sure to put in a bagel order at 29 Loaves, a one-man operation that delivers freshly baked bagels along with a spicy marmalade to the motel on Sunday mornings.
Show more Show less
Route Details
Hicksville Trailer Palace
Hotel
(Rosemary McClure / Los Angeles Times)
The vibe: An adults-only playground that will bring out your silly side.
The details: Don’t be deceived by the bright plastic lawn furniture, the ball pit or the putt-putt course — Hicksville Trailer Palace is for grown-ups 21 and over, except for a few weeks a year when the colorful trailer resort opens to families. “It’s an adult playground,” said Erica Beers, who bought the property with her partner Rebecca Slivka in 2020. “We’re a little hillbilly, a little rock ‘n roll and a lot midcentury.”
Each of Hicksville’s 11 small trailers, which start at $80 on weekdays and $119 on weekends, have a quirky over-the-top theme — the Pioneer is painted to resemble a wood cabin, the Lux, named after Lux Interior, the lead singer of the Cramps, is done up in shades of red and black and comes with a collection of horror movies, and the Pee Wee allows guests to sleep in the original vardo gypsy wagon from “Big Top Pee-wee.”
The fully fenced resort, located five minutes from the Noah Purifoy museum on Foxy Flats Road, advertises itself as both dog- and 420-friendly (except on those family weeks). It also offers a rooftop hot tub, vintage vending machines, a large shuffle board and an archery and BB gun range. Everywhere you look you’ll find something that makes you smile, and that is entirely the goal. “We don’t get people here in crummy moods,” Beers said.
The details: Don’t be deceived by the bright plastic lawn furniture, the ball pit or the putt-putt course — Hicksville Trailer Palace is for grown-ups 21 and over, except for a few weeks a year when the colorful trailer resort opens to families. “It’s an adult playground,” said Erica Beers, who bought the property with her partner Rebecca Slivka in 2020. “We’re a little hillbilly, a little rock ‘n roll and a lot midcentury.”
Each of Hicksville’s 11 small trailers, which start at $80 on weekdays and $119 on weekends, have a quirky over-the-top theme — the Pioneer is painted to resemble a wood cabin, the Lux, named after Lux Interior, the lead singer of the Cramps, is done up in shades of red and black and comes with a collection of horror movies, and the Pee Wee allows guests to sleep in the original vardo gypsy wagon from “Big Top Pee-wee.”
The fully fenced resort, located five minutes from the Noah Purifoy museum on Foxy Flats Road, advertises itself as both dog- and 420-friendly (except on those family weeks). It also offers a rooftop hot tub, vintage vending machines, a large shuffle board and an archery and BB gun range. Everywhere you look you’ll find something that makes you smile, and that is entirely the goal. “We don’t get people here in crummy moods,” Beers said.
Show more Show less
Route Details
The Campbell House Inn
Twentynine Palms Hotel
(Deborah Netburn / Los Angeles Times)
The vibe: A New England-style historic bed and breakfast in the heart of the Mojave Desert.
The details: The Campbell House Inn rises from the dusty desert landscape like an unlikely mirage — a stately two-story stone house with white shutters and a glossy red door. First-time visitors may struggle to square the inn’s New England feel with its location in the high desert, but for Campbell House’s many repeat customers, it offers a welcome and familiar bed-and-breakfast experience.
“We get a lot of people from the East Coast,” said a longtime employee.
The B&B vibes continue inside, where you’ll find wide-plank floors, traditional four-poster beds and the occasional crocheted white table runner. The inn offers two suites in the main house and an additional 10 suites in the stone and wood cottages that are dotted throughout the property. There is also a swimming pool and hot tub, as well as a large garden with wrought iron tables and chairs and several bench swings.
The main building was built in 1925 by Bill and Elizabeth Campbell and changed hands a few times before being purchased in 2015 by the same family that runs the nearby 29 Palms Inn. The Campbell House Inn, where rooms start at $210 on weekdays and $265 on weekends, may not have the dreamy romance of its better known sister property, but its sheer unexpectedness makes it a very special place to stay.
The details: The Campbell House Inn rises from the dusty desert landscape like an unlikely mirage — a stately two-story stone house with white shutters and a glossy red door. First-time visitors may struggle to square the inn’s New England feel with its location in the high desert, but for Campbell House’s many repeat customers, it offers a welcome and familiar bed-and-breakfast experience.
“We get a lot of people from the East Coast,” said a longtime employee.
The B&B vibes continue inside, where you’ll find wide-plank floors, traditional four-poster beds and the occasional crocheted white table runner. The inn offers two suites in the main house and an additional 10 suites in the stone and wood cottages that are dotted throughout the property. There is also a swimming pool and hot tub, as well as a large garden with wrought iron tables and chairs and several bench swings.
The main building was built in 1925 by Bill and Elizabeth Campbell and changed hands a few times before being purchased in 2015 by the same family that runs the nearby 29 Palms Inn. The Campbell House Inn, where rooms start at $210 on weekdays and $265 on weekends, may not have the dreamy romance of its better known sister property, but its sheer unexpectedness makes it a very special place to stay.
Show more Show less
Route Details
Spin and Margie’s Desert Hideaway
Hotel
(Deborah Netburn / Los Angeles Times)
The vibe: A laid-back retreat for people who enjoy the desert’s quirkier side.
The details: I first started visiting the Mojave Desert in the early 2000s and no place on this list reminds me more of that particular moment in time than Spin and Margie’s Desert Hideaway, located just off Highway 62 in Joshua Tree. The landscape is soft and gentle thanks to an abundance of desert willows, mesquite trees and other flowering shrubs, and dotted around the property are reminders of the era before Instagram and Airbnb when desert design was still funky and eclectic — a picnic bench painted turquoise, two small deer sculptures standing guard by a cactus.
With five suites arranged around a shade-dappled courtyard, some with enough beds for a family of four and a kitchenette, Spin and Margie’s makes a great landing spot for families on a budget to explore Joshua Tree National Park, which is less than 15 minutes away. Nothing here is fancy, but to me, it feels like home.
New owners purchased the hideaway about two and a half years ago and they are planning to slowly update the place. Already they have coaxed more flowers out of the landscape, and a few room improvements may be coming soon. The hotel also boasts a surprisingly nice pool area, perfect for a post-park swim. Also good to know: Rooms, which start at $156 for a fall weekday and $210 on a weekend, are through Airbnb.
The details: I first started visiting the Mojave Desert in the early 2000s and no place on this list reminds me more of that particular moment in time than Spin and Margie’s Desert Hideaway, located just off Highway 62 in Joshua Tree. The landscape is soft and gentle thanks to an abundance of desert willows, mesquite trees and other flowering shrubs, and dotted around the property are reminders of the era before Instagram and Airbnb when desert design was still funky and eclectic — a picnic bench painted turquoise, two small deer sculptures standing guard by a cactus.
With five suites arranged around a shade-dappled courtyard, some with enough beds for a family of four and a kitchenette, Spin and Margie’s makes a great landing spot for families on a budget to explore Joshua Tree National Park, which is less than 15 minutes away. Nothing here is fancy, but to me, it feels like home.
New owners purchased the hideaway about two and a half years ago and they are planning to slowly update the place. Already they have coaxed more flowers out of the landscape, and a few room improvements may be coming soon. The hotel also boasts a surprisingly nice pool area, perfect for a post-park swim. Also good to know: Rooms, which start at $156 for a fall weekday and $210 on a weekend, are through Airbnb.
Show more Show less
Route Details
Field Station
Yucca Valley Hotel
(Lance Gerber / Field Station)
The vibe: Adventure hostel for travelers on a budget who are not afraid to make new friends.
The details: Located in what was once a Travelodge in Yucca Valley, the newly opened Field Station (May 2024) is a 68-room hostel-like hotel with a variety of room configurations from a single king to a bunk room that can accommodate up to 10 people.
Owned by the same folks who run AutoCamp, a small chain of Airstream hotels including the one down the road, Field Station caters to travelers looking for a more affordable and bare-bones option in the high desert. The rooms, which start at $118 on a weekday and $258 on the weekend, are stripped down with pegs on a wall rather than closets, and concrete tile floors that I’d feel just fine getting muddy.
There are also several communal spaces around the hotel to invite mingling, including a fire pit in the courtyard, a bocce court, corn hole and a swimming pool. A cafe offers well-priced coffee drinks ($4 cappuccinos) and grab-and-go breakfast, snacks, lunches and dinner. The adventure gear selection across from the cafe gives off heavy REI vibes. The staff, many of whom have been there since the hotel opened, are especially warm and friendly.
The details: Located in what was once a Travelodge in Yucca Valley, the newly opened Field Station (May 2024) is a 68-room hostel-like hotel with a variety of room configurations from a single king to a bunk room that can accommodate up to 10 people.
Owned by the same folks who run AutoCamp, a small chain of Airstream hotels including the one down the road, Field Station caters to travelers looking for a more affordable and bare-bones option in the high desert. The rooms, which start at $118 on a weekday and $258 on the weekend, are stripped down with pegs on a wall rather than closets, and concrete tile floors that I’d feel just fine getting muddy.
There are also several communal spaces around the hotel to invite mingling, including a fire pit in the courtyard, a bocce court, corn hole and a swimming pool. A cafe offers well-priced coffee drinks ($4 cappuccinos) and grab-and-go breakfast, snacks, lunches and dinner. The adventure gear selection across from the cafe gives off heavy REI vibes. The staff, many of whom have been there since the hotel opened, are especially warm and friendly.
Show more Show less
Route Details
AutoCamp Joshua Tree
Hotel
(Autocamp)
The vibe: Luxury camping in a remodeled Airstream for people with more money than time.
The details: Are you camping if you have a thermostat, a walk-in shower of your own and linens suitable for a four-star hotel?
No, you’re not. But you might be a guest at AutoCamp Joshua Tree, a luxury “camp” with 47 Airstream trailers that opened in 2022.
The location is not ideal — a boulder-free, slightly sloped 25-acre lot on the north side of Highway 62. The national park and nearest mountains and boulders are on the other side, to the south, and the nearest trailhead is a drive away.
But the AutoCamp team runs park-adjacent locations across the country, and they have a potent formula. In Joshua Tree that includes a pool, communal fire ring and a sleek clubhouse/lobby that looks like a 21st century Quonset hut.
The Airstream units, which start at about $300 in fall, are each 31 feet long, featuring a spacious bathroom, bedroom and separate sitting room (to accommodate families with privacy). There are also eight rectangular “cabin” units (roomier than trailers).
This is lodging aimed at couples and families with more money than time. For less money and less comfort (but stars above and trailheads within walking distance), there’s always actual camping.
The property is one mile from the center of tiny downtown Joshua Tree, six miles from the national park’s west entrance.
Granola and coffee breakfast is included, and the Kitchen sells sandwiches, burgers, basic pizzas and booze. There’s a kids’ play structure and a rack of mountain bikes you can borrow.
The details: Are you camping if you have a thermostat, a walk-in shower of your own and linens suitable for a four-star hotel?
No, you’re not. But you might be a guest at AutoCamp Joshua Tree, a luxury “camp” with 47 Airstream trailers that opened in 2022.
The location is not ideal — a boulder-free, slightly sloped 25-acre lot on the north side of Highway 62. The national park and nearest mountains and boulders are on the other side, to the south, and the nearest trailhead is a drive away.
But the AutoCamp team runs park-adjacent locations across the country, and they have a potent formula. In Joshua Tree that includes a pool, communal fire ring and a sleek clubhouse/lobby that looks like a 21st century Quonset hut.
The Airstream units, which start at about $300 in fall, are each 31 feet long, featuring a spacious bathroom, bedroom and separate sitting room (to accommodate families with privacy). There are also eight rectangular “cabin” units (roomier than trailers).
This is lodging aimed at couples and families with more money than time. For less money and less comfort (but stars above and trailheads within walking distance), there’s always actual camping.
The property is one mile from the center of tiny downtown Joshua Tree, six miles from the national park’s west entrance.
Granola and coffee breakfast is included, and the Kitchen sells sandwiches, burgers, basic pizzas and booze. There’s a kids’ play structure and a rack of mountain bikes you can borrow.
Show more Show less
Route Details
Hotel Wren
Twentynine Palms Hotel
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The vibe: A luxurious earth-toned motel where design matters.
The details: Hotel Wren, which opened in March 2025, began its life in the 1940s as the Circle C Lodge following a tried-and-true formula: 12 rooms in cinder-block buildings bracketing a central pool. But the building was positioned well on a gentle slope, giving anyone around that pool a terrific view of the boulder-studded mountains to the south.
The L.A.-based Manola Studio’s reboot of the property, a roughly nine-year project, adds full-blown elegance and takes great advantage of a great location. Beneath the red-tile roof, room interiors are large (450 square feet) and feature cherry wood furniture designed by Manola design chief Jessica Pell (and milled in Joshua Tree). Pell kept the buildings’ original casement windows, pitched ceilings and kitchenettes, and surrounded the courtyard pool with olive trees, rosemary, palo verde and palms.
Rooms start at around $299 for weekdays and $412 for weekends. Each one has a kitchenette (with two-burner induction stovetop) and a private patio with fireplace (where parking spaces used to be). The pool is saltwater, with hot tub. In the former drive-up motel office, you find the Windsong shop, a “curated bodega.”
A light breakfast is included and the hotel is adults only.
The details: Hotel Wren, which opened in March 2025, began its life in the 1940s as the Circle C Lodge following a tried-and-true formula: 12 rooms in cinder-block buildings bracketing a central pool. But the building was positioned well on a gentle slope, giving anyone around that pool a terrific view of the boulder-studded mountains to the south.
The L.A.-based Manola Studio’s reboot of the property, a roughly nine-year project, adds full-blown elegance and takes great advantage of a great location. Beneath the red-tile roof, room interiors are large (450 square feet) and feature cherry wood furniture designed by Manola design chief Jessica Pell (and milled in Joshua Tree). Pell kept the buildings’ original casement windows, pitched ceilings and kitchenettes, and surrounded the courtyard pool with olive trees, rosemary, palo verde and palms.
Rooms start at around $299 for weekdays and $412 for weekends. Each one has a kitchenette (with two-burner induction stovetop) and a private patio with fireplace (where parking spaces used to be). The pool is saltwater, with hot tub. In the former drive-up motel office, you find the Windsong shop, a “curated bodega.”
A light breakfast is included and the hotel is adults only.
Show more Show less
Route Details
Ramsey 29
Twentynine Palms Hotel
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The vibe: A back-to-basics 1940s motor court in the heart of the 29 Palms revival.
The details: In 1946, when jackrabbits and homesteading World War II veterans dominated the dry, remote open spaces of the Morongo Basin, the Mesquite Motel went up along the main highway in Twentynine Palms. By 1962, it was called La Hacienda and had a tall, yellow, utterly utilitarian sign (and a little, rectangular pool). Later it became the Motel 29 Palms, the Sunset Motel and the Mojave Trails Inn. In 2019, owner Ashton Ramsey said, he bought it for $350,000 and dubbed it Ramsey 29.
The old yellow sign hangs out front. But Ramsey turned L.A.-based Kristen Schultz and her firm K/L DESIGN loose to take these 10 rooms in a desert-eclectic direction.
Furniture is hand-built, brick walls are whitewashed and coat hangers carry their own clever slogans. Headboards are upcycled from Italian military stretchers, canvas armchairs bear the words “soiled clothes large” and the new tiles on the bathroom floor say “29,” as do custom blankets and other items. The floors are concrete. Room 9, closest to the highway, now has triple-paned windows. Six rooms opened in 2020, the remaining four in 2024. Guests check themselves in digitally.
Ramsey plans changes around the pool next, including more palm trees. But he’s not shying away from the word “motel.”
“I’ve leaned into that,” Ramsey said. “You’ve got to be proud of what you are.” In fact, he said, “We didn’t just renovate a motel. We’re trying to renovate a town. If we don’t brag on 29, nobody else will.”
Spring rates typically start at $185 a night on weekends (plus taxes), $95 on weekdays. Free parking. Pets OK for a fee. (The hotel website routes bookings through Airbnb.)
The details: In 1946, when jackrabbits and homesteading World War II veterans dominated the dry, remote open spaces of the Morongo Basin, the Mesquite Motel went up along the main highway in Twentynine Palms. By 1962, it was called La Hacienda and had a tall, yellow, utterly utilitarian sign (and a little, rectangular pool). Later it became the Motel 29 Palms, the Sunset Motel and the Mojave Trails Inn. In 2019, owner Ashton Ramsey said, he bought it for $350,000 and dubbed it Ramsey 29.
The old yellow sign hangs out front. But Ramsey turned L.A.-based Kristen Schultz and her firm K/L DESIGN loose to take these 10 rooms in a desert-eclectic direction.
Furniture is hand-built, brick walls are whitewashed and coat hangers carry their own clever slogans. Headboards are upcycled from Italian military stretchers, canvas armchairs bear the words “soiled clothes large” and the new tiles on the bathroom floor say “29,” as do custom blankets and other items. The floors are concrete. Room 9, closest to the highway, now has triple-paned windows. Six rooms opened in 2020, the remaining four in 2024. Guests check themselves in digitally.
Ramsey plans changes around the pool next, including more palm trees. But he’s not shying away from the word “motel.”
“I’ve leaned into that,” Ramsey said. “You’ve got to be proud of what you are.” In fact, he said, “We didn’t just renovate a motel. We’re trying to renovate a town. If we don’t brag on 29, nobody else will.”
Spring rates typically start at $185 a night on weekends (plus taxes), $95 on weekdays. Free parking. Pets OK for a fee. (The hotel website routes bookings through Airbnb.)
Show more Show less
Route Details
No matching entries.
Please reset filters to see all entries.
No matching entries.
Please reset filters to see all entries.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Top