What's around

Explore Anza-Borrego

Borrego Springs sits in the middle of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park — California's largest state park, with more than 600,000 acres of badlands, palm oases, slot canyons, and night skies. Here's what's worth your time.

Anza-Borrego badlands and ocotillo at golden hour

Already here? Sort it by how far instead.

What you can walk to, what is a few minutes out, and what is worth giving a whole day to.

Use the motel as basecamp

Trails & hikes

Trails inside Anza-Borrego Desert State Park: palm oases, slot canyons, badlands.

Borrego Palm Canyon

Three-mile loop into California's third-largest fan-palm grove. Bighorn sheep on the surrounding ridges.

~10 min drive·Best Oct–Apr, mornings

Hellhole Canyon

Four-mile out-and-back into a fan-palm oasis with a seasonal waterfall (Maidenhair Falls).

~12 min drive·Best Nov–Apr, mornings

The Slot

Narrow slot canyon north of the badlands — squeeze through walls that close to a few feet apart.

~25 min drive·Best Oct–Apr, golden hour

Viewpoints

Drive-to overlooks where the desert puts on a show.

Font's Point

Drive-to badlands overlook. The Borrego Badlands light up gold, then pink, then deep violet at sunset.

~25 min drive (last 4 miles unpaved)·Best year-round, golden hour into blue hour

Wildlife & dark sky

Bighorn sheep, wildflowers in bloom years, and one of the darkest skies in California.

Dark-sky stargazing

Borrego Springs is an International Dark-Sky Community. New-moon weekends in winter are the clearest Milky Way you'll ever see.

Outside the door, or 10 min to a pull-out east of town·Best new-moon weekends, Oct–Apr

Wildflower superbloom

After a wet winter, the desert floor erupts in February and March. Brittlebush gold, sand verbena violet, ocotillo red.

5–20 min drive depending on bloom location·Best Feb–Mar after wet winters

Art & culture

Galleta Meadows sky art sculptures produced by Ricardo Breceda

Galleta Meadows sculptures

Ricardo Breceda's life-sized metal animals — mammoths, raptors, a 350-foot serpent — scattered across the open desert.

5–15 min drive depending on sculpture·Best at sunrise or golden hour for shadows

Around town

Quick stops in town when you need a coffee, a snack, or a place to sit.

Christmas Circle

The town's central park — events, the farmers' market, and the meeting point for most of Borrego Springs' annual festivals.

~3 min drive (or 15 min walk)·Best on event weekends — check the town calendar

Anza-Borrego Visitor Center

Underground exhibits, wildflower updates, and trail maps — the right first stop on day one.

~10 min drive·First stop on day one

Golf

Yes, there's golf in the desert. Two courses are less than ten minutes from the motel.

The Springs at Borrego Golf Course

Friendly 9-hole executive course inside The Springs RV Resort. Walkable, affordable, easy to fit between hikes.

~5 min drive·Best Oct–May, mornings

Rams Hill Golf Club

Tom Fazio-designed 18-hole course on the south side of town — semi-private, the most challenging round in Borrego Springs.

~7 min drive·Best Oct–May